Playing Against The Herd

Marcus Bateman / Marcus Bateman / 20 April 2009 / Leave a comment

Often in poker you have to make decisions based not only on the hand in question, but also on future hands that you will play with the same people. When playing large, low buy in online tournaments or freerolls many of these considerations are largely irrelevant, as you will probably never play any of these players again.

....against people you will never see again you hardly ever should make big bet bluffs - it is simply not worth the risks because if you get caught out it will pay no future dividends.

This is particularly true for bet sizing and bluffing frequencies. Against players that you play regularly, you have to bluff at a sufficient frequency that they continue to give you action on your big hands.

Compare this to playing with people you will never see again, where you hardly ever should make big bet bluffs - it is simply not worth the risks because if you get caught out it will pay no future dividend as none of the players will ever see you again.

This is also true for bet sizing. In games against players you know you will see next week, making massive overbets with big hands quickly becomes a bad play as you simply never get action on them. In games against the herd this is not the case, and you can often make very large over bets if you feel you are up against a weak player who simply wont fold, as showing them the nuts when you over bet will not affect how they perceive your future bet sizing again, as you will simply never see them again.

Always try and think about exactly who you are playing with when thinking what to do. Some plays that are necessary in games with regulars are completely pointless in games with unknowns, and conversely some plays that work really well in games against the herd are very bad in the long run against regulars.

If you start recognizing the same players over and over in your game you will have to adjust your behavior accordingly, but against massive unknown groups you can often make a whole host of different plays than your normally would in your regular home game.

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