Adjusting to Different Skill Levels

There are a variety of different types of poker players and they all have different skill levels. As a skilled poker player you must be able to adjust your playing style to the different skill levels. Sometimes it can actually be harder for a solid poker player to play against a terrible player than a good poker player; if that makes any sense. When you get used to playing against good players it can be really hard to play against bad players. It can also work the other way around as well. You are probably not going to use the same strategies against bad players that you would against good players.

If you are a serious poker player and you must learn to switch up your strategies accordingly. It shouldn’t matter if the players are bad or good. You will play a different style against good players than you would against bad players.

What often happens is you will get used to playing at a Casino with some pretty good poker players. Then when you go play at a little home game half of the people don’t know what they are doing. It can be hard to read these players and play your game because they are going to do things you wouldn’t expect. The problem here is that you should expect it. The best poker players realize these kinds of things and they adjust their playing style to match up against these people who do not know what they are doing.

It shouldn’t be that hard; but it is for many players. You can tell when people do not know what they are doing so why wouldn’t you be ready for them to do stupid things? The problem is that you just get so used to playing against the good players you do not switch up your mindset when it comes time to playing with bad ones. That is the hardest part, but you can definitely change it. All you have to do is get your head on straight and know what you are getting yourself into.

For the sake of this example, pretend like you have been playing at a higher stakes casino No Limit Texas Hold’em game. One of your buddies calls you up and tells you he is having a game at his house with a bunch of guys from his work. You then decide that these guys are probably not very good and that most might even be pretty bad; so you decide to go make some money.

Now already, before you go the thought is that they are not going to be good. If you think that then you should know they are not going to play anything like the guys you are used to playing with. They are going to do stupid things and they are going to play like they don’t know how to play; with the exception of a couple guys here and there.

All you have to do now is remember that, and play in a way that is adapted to how they play. If you see they have terrible hand selections and they play anything, you should know that while making decisions. If they are all very loose and call everything, you are going to want to tighten up. The problem with so many good players is that they go to games like these thinking they can just bully people around. This is not an ego game, and your ego will only lose you money. These are the worst games to bully.

The main thing is that you have to be able to switch up your playing style. Different skill levels will call for different playing styles. If you keep that in mind and play according to the style your opponents play; you will be a better player then most.