Poker Players Different Poker Personalities Mean Profits For You

As I mentioned in a previous article, poker players have a variety of different personalities. With each kind of player, there are different things to watch for which means that your play will be constantly evolving. With every player comes a different personality which means you will also have to pay very close attention to how the game that you are in is changing from hand to hand. Depending on what kind of player you are, this continuous change in the game will determine whether you change your game, stay the same or change tables all together.

There are for the most part three categories of players that I have discovered. There are the recreational players who come to a casino to have fun. They don't really care if they are going to win or lose. Of course, they would always rather win. For the most part they could be playing any game in the casino but they might decide to try poker on any given day for any variety of reasons. They will tend to play poker much like they would any other game in the casino. They make their bet and wait to see what happens, leaving most of the outcome to chance.

The next group of player is the poker student in development. This could be any person. They tend to have participated in home games for quite a while. They enjoy the game and are looking to develop to another level of play. They have read a few books on the subject of poker strategy and poker etiquette and will do their best to implement what they have read. They have also watched a lot of poker on television and have probably chosen a professional player that they emulate. They will also tend to claim to know more about the game than they really do but they are not too terrible as players.

The final group are the pros. These are people who play poker for a living. They generally know what they are doing. They don't have a day job because they rely on poker as their primary source of income. Depending upon what level of play you venture out to, you may or may not encounter a real pro at your game in a casino. They tend to gravitate to games where the income potential is substantial enough to make it worth their time. You will generally not have a hard time spotting them at a game.

I mention these three primary categories of players but there are subcategories within each that I will discuss at another time. For now, just try to focus on recognizing each of these types of players for the following reasons.

If your game is made up of predominantly recreational players, it will be a loose game. That means there will be lots of action with far more players seeing each hand and generally the pots will be somewhat larger. This is not to say that if the other category players are at your game it couldn't be loose, it still could be, but with a preponderance of recreational players, many more of them will play a larger percentage of low probability hands on a much more frequent basis. The other categories of players generally will not do this. With a large percentage of recreational players in your game there will be more of an element of chance involved and it will be more of a challenge for you to protect your hand. You will have to adjust accordingly. Once you have adjusted, the pay off for smart play against a group of recreational players can be great. Just don't get frustrated when they hit those miracle cards against you. That's the chance you take with these opponents.

With developing players at your table, you will want to keep your eyes and ears open constantly. They tend to "think out loud" in that they share a lot of their strategy at the table. This will help you in developing your play against them. They are also a little easier to read in that they have developed a style of play at the moment that they are sticking to while they are working on their game. They generally will not stray from their game plan. These players are very aware of things like position and hand strength, which they should be, but their actions in conjunction with these things are always the same. They don't change gears very often. Paying attention to these kinds of patterns of play will earn you large profits in the long run.

Finally, the pros will be your greatest challenge. The reason is because they can change their games up on the fly and even alter playing during the course of a single hand. If they think you are looking for a piece of information, they will mislead you if it means they think they can take down the pot with the play. They are constantly implementing strategy. Another thing to keep in mind is that the chips are generally just a part of the game to pros. This means that the money is not really a concern to them. They are just trying to play the best game possible in order to reap the greatest rewards in the long run. As such, they will also have aspects of their game that you can take advantage of, so pay attention.

I prefer a game that has a mix of all these types of players. Too many recreational players means too much luck will be involved. I don't like to have to rely on luck to win every time. Too many pros generally means the pots will be a lot smaller because there will not be as many mistakes made or crazy hands pursued. The developing players won't make too much of a difference because they tend to be a balance of both of the other groups so they are kind of a mixed table in and of themeselves.

Generally, I like a poker game with just two or three recreational players, a couple pros and a mix of the rest. This will generally make for decent pots and a good game that I can follow and play appropriately. Remember, keep an eye on the personalities playing in your poker game and you stand to make some pretty good profit.