Las Vegas Poker Strategies
When it comes to poker strategies, each player has their own uniqueness about them. Some players may use a variety of poker strategies while others only use one. The two most common types of poker strategies are loose and conservative. A loose player will often call or bet on lesser quality hands in hopes they will get lucky while conservative players often wait for better quality hands or more opportune moments to make their stand. Loose players will play more hands while conservative players choose to play fewer hands trying to call only those they are certain to win.
One of the most feared players at the table are the loose players, which may also be referred to as bully or caller. A bully thinks every hand can be a winner and will try to push other players around by using their large stack of chips. They often try to play the intimidating card which may work to their advantage in having other players fold their hands. Callers are basically those players who call just about everything and fold practically nothing. They often are impatient and want to play every hand just to be involved. They are often feared because there’s generally little chance of knowing what cards they are holding at any given moment and thus they can disguise powerful hands well. Once the other players catch on to the loose strategy, they often call off their chips more easily in fear of losing to a bluff and can thus be stunned when they occasionally lose to a very good hand held by the loose player.
Other feared strategies include aggressive players, hustlers and charmers. Aggressive players are well known for pushing other players to their limits and show no mercy when betting, calling or raising. They use aggressive bets that force players to make difficult decisions usually involving most or all of their chips. The hustler is a role/strategy often played by females who know the game well but pretend not to, only later to swoop in to steal most of your chips. Male players sometimes also use this style to bluff the table and take any targets off of their back. The charmer is a player who will be the friendliest player at the table and praise any other players on their tactics or win. They use this to help avoid too many conflicts until they have everyone at the table mostly figured out, at which point they will make their move.
Some other poker strategies that work well and can be intimidating include controlling, wild, trickster, and erratic. Each of these players has a different strategy but can be hard to beat for different reasons. A controller is an aggressive player who likes to use intimidation to maintain control over the table and shows no mercy. The wild and trickster strategies are similar to each other because they both play crazy. They will often call or raise when they have nothing and will rarely if ever show bad hands and always show good hands. Erratic players are the most unpredictable because never use the same style. Their choices are often spur-of-the-moment gut decisions and by the time the other players think they have the strategy figured out, the erratic player has moved onto a completely different strategy.
Social and passive players are the least intimidating of any poker players. This is because they don’t play the game very well and/or just don’t care if they win or not. Social players simply play for the fun of the game and are not really there to win and typically don’t care if they lose. Passive players fold to almost all bets and must have a perfect hand to even play, which any savvy player will pick up on and safely avoid.
The three poker strategies that are well known and may be the hardest to beat are the thinkers, calculators, and the “Iceman”. Thinkers are those individuals who know the game and actually take the time to think over their options for each particular hand. Calculators are those who generally play hands based on their calculated odds of winning or getting the card they may need. Most calculators rarely bluff and normally only play hands they are confident they can win or has a good size pot. Those who are considered to play the Iceman style are those who may be the hardest to beat of all players just because they are harder to read. The Iceman rarely shows emotion regardless of the cards they hold, the cards that come up on the flop/turn/river, or the outcome of the hand whether they win or lose. This can frustrate experienced players that heavily rely on making reads on them based on emotions or nervous tics because the Iceman shows neither in all situations.
These are just a few of the strategies that you may come across while playing at a table. Your poker strategy will define who you are and how you do as a poker player. If you are just starting out it may take some time before you know what works best for you but once you do then you will be ready to roll.
