March
17, 2004
Tim from Phoenix writes:
I was watching the WPT last week and I had
a question about one of Mike Sexton’s
comments. Fairly early on in the tournament,
I think there were still 4 people left Carlos
raises the pot with an “Ace Baby”
hand, I believe it was A/3 but I’m
not sure. Mike comments “Carlos mixing
up his play beautifully with the Ace.”
What is he talking about there?
Feedback: Thanks for the
question Tim. If you’ve watched much
World Poker Tour, you’ve probably
heard of changing gears. Changing gears
means switching your style of play to keep
your opponents from getting a solid read
on you. If you have been playing tight,
loosen up under correct situations. For
example, when you get an Ace without the
best kicker. This is what happened on the
WPT. Carlos had been mucking hands like
A/3o and decided to switch up his play and
keep his solid competition from getting
a read on him. Carlos looked down and saw
the Ace and decided it was time to switch
gears and he played it aggressively, raising
pre-flop and then re-raising David when
he tried to steal with his 7/2o.
If you are playing online at the low limit
tables, changing gears is a less important
tool to have in your poker arsenal than
in tournaments. From our experience, very
few are actually paying much attention at
the low limit tables. On Poker
Stars you can often times play rock
tight and get called down (and paid often)
repeatedly showing the nuts over and over.
People just don’t pay attention. Just
play solid poker and over the long run you
will be a winner. Check out our strategy
content over at our Texas
Holdem101 section.
Thanks and we'll see you at the tables!
KAP
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