Poker chipstack reality check, identity swappers, and why online bluffing sucks
You've got to guard your cash, know your enemy, and adjust your poker play to the terrain
CHIPPING AWAY AT YOUR CASH One of the deadliest mistakes you can make in poker is not to treat the stack of chips in front of you with exactly the same respect you would a pile of cash. Taken one step further, electronic chips purchased by your credit card online, feel even more removed from the real thing. They are not. When you win, the site will pay you out with the real green stuff. If you lose, you’ll be losing real money. When I watch online play I can almost always tell who has been playing for a while and who has just discovered the delights of heaving chips into the pot for the first time. Play within your bankroll and you’ll survive long enough to become a winner.
IDENTITY ISSUES You may have built up a few notes on the guy playing as “6gun” and begun to get a good picture of how he plays under certain circumstances. Just when you’re about to get the drop on him his style changes totally. Either he’s an experienced poker player who knows exactly how and when to change gears or there’s been a “player switch”. Although swapping identities online is against site rules, it does happen, and you need to be alert to it. Just because the name remains the same doesn’t necessarily mean you’re up against the same profile that you’ve been taking notes on. The chat-box won’t always reveal much in these circumstances because players working in tandem tend to think ahead about these things. I call the types who do this “lorry drivers”. One guy plays for six hours and then his mate takes over while the other sleeps. Stay alert and adjust your game when you spot the switch. It’s no more difficult to play them than it is a nutter with a split personality.
ONLINE BLUFFING Personally, I’m coming more and more to the conclusion that bluffing doesn’t work as well online and should be used cautiously. For some reason players are less fazed during online games and seem to me to be far more likely to call you down than they do in social situations. I find playing good cards and really getting aggressively behind them when they arrive pays the best dividends on the web. If my own experience is right about this there’s an advantage to be gained. Think about it. If online players are more likely to call you down you can afford to over-bet a good hand on the basis that someone at the table is going to follow you down to the turn and the river, matching your extended bets as you go. The net result is pot value above what you would normally have expected to collect in a social game. I’ve been playing to this logic over the last week and so far it’s been rewarding. Step up your bets on good hands and see if it pays off for you.
