People are creatures of habit. If something works for you the first time, there’s no reason to change your behavioural patterns in similar events, isn’t that right? Wrong! When it comes to online and mobile poker, changing things up is a key element if you want to succeed.
Every opponent you meet will try to figure out what kind of player you are from the first bet you place. Are you a tight or loose player? Passive or aggressive? They will look at every move you make as you play poker online in the hopes of understanding your gambling patterns and using it to their advantage.
Your job is to make it hard for your competition to follow your betting preferences. That means that you can’t become too predictable when placing bets, thus confusing the other players. Now is your chance to learn all about a mixed gambling strategy and how you can benefit from it and become a start poker player!
Mixed Strategies Explained
A mixed strategy describes a gambling style where you play the same hand in several ways. Every time it’s your turn to make a decision, you can act in one of three ways: you can either raise, check, or fold.
Each type of action has its own advantages. Checking from time to time, especially when you have high cards in your possession, allows you to control the size of the flop. You can bide your time and wait for the turn or the river to see how the other players react. That way, even if you’re sure you have the winning hand, you will trick your opponents into believing they are in the lead. In turn, they will keep raising the bet, and your potential wins will grow exponentially.
There are also a lot of advantages to raising the flop. First of all, this is the best way to intimidate your competition straight off the bat. But even if not all players fold straight away, you can keep raising your bets in the turn and river. That way, you will create the illusion that you have an unbeatable hand, and your chances of successfully bluffing rise immediately.
However, if you stick to either of those gambling patterns in a certain situation, you can rest assured that your opponents will pick up on that. And once they understand your decision-making process, they will be able to trick you and bluff more often.
That’s why it is important to keep your opponents guessing at all times. The recommendation is to make each decision at a certain frequency. That means checking, raising, or folding 33% of the time when having similar hands.
Changing your tactics will help you disguise the strength of your hand when necessary, as people won’t know whether you’re bluffing or not. It’s a great strategy to adopt if you’re planning on sitting at the same poker table for a long while.
In Conclusion
There is nothing more entertaining and satisfying than confusing your opponents as you play online poker. Don't forget: your way to victory is paved with successful bluffs and deceptive maneuvers!