Juha Helppi's Story: The Difference Between Playing Pros And Beginners.

If you want to be successfull in major tournaments, you have observe your opponents all the time. Try to remember how they play hands, are they tricky or straight forward, do they bluff and how often and what kind of starting hands they play and from which position. You will notice that pro players are able to dominate tables where players are tight and straight forward.

Tight and straight forward is often a good strategy in a 10-handed NL holdem table. However you should use it mostly against beginners. Many beginners are unbluffable, so that is why you need a good starting hand to play against them. When the stacks are deep weaker starting hands are ok too, because you might get a big pot if you hit. Of course there are many types of beginners, some of them are so tight that you can bluff them a lot, but when I notice that someone is a beginner, I normally dont try to bluff him/her before I can see that it can be done. This means that I usually let someone else try first. However when I do have a hand and I play against a beginner, I like to make pretty big, about pot size bets in every street for two reasons. I want to protect my against a draw and I want to get good value if I get paid. Beginners like to call a lot against players that they have seen on tv and I try to take advantage of this when I play against them.

When I play against pros I choose a totally different strategy and I think this is why I have been doing good in major tournaments. Most pros have a somewhat tight image of me, because that is how I play against most opponents. Against pros I bluff a lot more, they are able to make big laydowns when they think they are beat. Of course they are better in noticing bluffs, but if I have weak hands for the same reason. Especially when the blinds are high and I have an aggressive pro on my right I like to even reraise allin with any two cards if I feel that he is weak.

I often play my strong starting hands differently against pros too. This is of course a bit dangerous, but against aggressive pros I use this strategy a lot especially when I have position on them. Many pros think you are drawing when you just keep calling and this is how you might be able to make them commit all their chips when they have no outs. They are the kind of players who will do it if they think that thats what it takes to win the pot.

Remember to observe your opponents and remember to play the player too, not only the cards!

Source: InterPoker