Avoiding Predictable Play at the Poker Tables

Predictable play at the poker tables is easy to exploit, if you spot an opponent who always raises strong hands and checks when weak you will have a very profitable advantage. There are actually several forms of predictable play, these happen before the flop and on later streets. This article will outline those plays to help you avoid making them, then discuss how to ‘switch up your game’ to add further advantage at the tables.

Consistent Tendencies

Imagine a player who always checks before the flop with aces. This can be a useful play if used on rare occasions, but also gives you important information about this player. The information is actually ‘in reverse’, that is when this player raises before the flop you know that they do not have aces!

Now imagine this same player decides that 50% of the time with aces they will raise and 50% they will check. Even this simple strategy has denied you the information you gained from the ‘always check’ scenario.

In fact the pre-flop betting round is the easiest stage of the game to spot predictable plays. These include mini re-raising when strong, making over sized re-raises only with ace-king, always limping with small pocket pairs – and many others.

Varying Your Bets

In order to succeed in poker you need to ensure that you do not give away valuable information with pre-flop bets. This is actually very easy to achieve – all you need to do is vary your bets on some occasions. Whether this is 20%, 30% or 50% of the time will depend on the tendencies of players at your table and your personal playing style. The key point is that your opponents can not guarantee the accuracy of your betting information.

Picking Up Tendencies

Later betting streets also provide profitable opportunities to spot predictable play. An example here is an aggressive player who always bets on the flop after raising before the flop. Often these players will check their very strong hands (such as trips). This should set alarm bells ringing – the deviation from their usual predictable raises has shown you that something is different this time.

A good strategy for avoiding predicable play is to let your cards and the natural table image they give you determine when to make certain plays. For example if you have been dealt ‘rags’ for the last 20 hands then making a strong raise as a bluff with medium strength cards is a good way to vary your play. There will also be times when you have been on a run of good cards and won several pots without a showdown. In this case then raising strongly with a pair of aces may be optimal, your opponents are more likely to be ready to play back at you due to your ‘predictable’ raises!

To summarize, predictable play leads to opportunities to judge your opponents hand strength, both before the flop and afterwards. Avoiding predictable play is simple, just change your bet sizes a certain percentage of the time so that the information you are giving contains an element of doubt. Using the natural flow of the cards to switch up your betting styles is a great way to avoid playing predictably at the tables.

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