Spotting Betting Patterns
If you want to succeed at online poker, then one of the first skills you need to develop is the ability to recognize betting patterns. There are just a few main player types, and as you develop your poker skills you will learn to identify these types, and will be able to spot changes in play and figure out what they mean.
The first thing to look at is how the player tends to approach the game. Are they tight, or loose? A tight player plays very few hands, only getting involved if they are confident that they are in a strong position. A loose player plays lots of hands, even ones where they are at a disadvantage. Each of these styles has its own advantages and disadvantages – loose players tend to lose a lot of hands, while tight players are predictable – if they’rebetting, they probably think that they can win.
The second thing to consider is how aggressive the player is. A passive player tends to call other players’ bets rather than engaging in raising and bluffing. An aggressive player will raise and bluff more frequently. This can be an expensive strategy to maintain, especially for beginning players.
You can use these patterns to your advantage. If you are playing with a very aggressive player, and you have a strong hand, you can let them lead the betting rather than giving away your own position. The best players adopt different styles at different points in a game, responding to the way the table is playing and making it harder for their opponents to guess what they are thinking at any point in time.
