Poker Strategies: Comfort Zones

Poker Strategies: Make your opponents UN-comfortable.

Ever wonder just how it is that a professional poker player can sometimes make more with a "junk" hand than you can with AA? How they can force a player with the better hand to lay it down? Here's one possible answer:

Watch how your opponents play, whether they're loose/aggressive, tight/passive, etc. When you have identified the players who seem to be the most cautious, keep an eye on their chip stacks. Most players have their "comfort zones" and these zones will move during the course of a tournament. What you need to do is to identify specific "break" points in order to attack these comfort zones.

Most people tend to want to segregate things into groups, be it groups of 5's, 10's, 100's, etc. This is also true of many poker players and their chip stacks. If you are observant, you may notice a player who seems to "tighten up" whenever his stack breaks new ground; say, the first time he gets over 10K, 25K, 50K, etc. These players may be vulnerable to folding when calling a particular bet or raise has the potential to put them back under that newly established level.

Example:

Let's say you are on the button with a marginal hand such as pocket 6's or 7's. The blinds are at 500/1000 Ante 50 and the BB (big blind) has just gotten over the 25K mark for the first time (27,500), and action has been folded around to you. If you have identified him/her as the type who hates to lose ground, a bet of 4-5 times the blind should get them to fold any but a premium hand such as AK, AQ, or any pair higher than 10's. If so, you can pick up the blinds and antes for a tidy 1950. If they do call, you will have "position" and you will have gained valuable information on the probable strength of their hand.

Always pay attention to your opponents. The more information you have, the easier (and better) your decisions will be.

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