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The Evolution of Poker[ return to main articles page ]

By: AJKHoosier1
Published on May 6th, 2008
It is common knowledge in the poker community that the game is rapidly becoming more and more difficult to beat. Information is becoming available to the entire community that never used to be, through websites, poker schools, forums, etc. The average player today is stronger than the average player yesterday, and will be weaker than the average player tomorrow. However, there is more to this evolution of poker than just the improvement of the players; the game is changing, and those players that are best able to recognize and adapt to these changes are those that will be most successful throughout their poker career.

There are many plays and concepts that as of recently were considered advanced that have now become standard. A good example of this would be the re-steal or “squeeze” play. A year ago, it was a lot safer to try and steal the blinds from late position. Nowadays, the average online player is far more aggressive than ever before. It has gotten to the point where one shouldn’t be raising weak hands from obvious steal spots – the button, cutoff, etc - if the stacks aren’t right, because the odds of getting re-raised are far too high. This is the current stage of evolution that online poker has reached.

Perhaps you’ve heard someone say “the re-steal is the new steal”. This is a perfect illustration of the evolution of poker, and the winning player must be able to adapt. If 3-betting has become a standard play in online poker, then the obvious adjustment would be to either open less, or 4-bet more. As the general community begins to catch onto this, the game will once again evolve. In a year, maybe you’ll hear someone say “the re-re-steal is the new re-steal!”

This is not to say that we should be expecting every hand to be 8-bet preflop in a couple years- the evolution of poker strategy moves in cycles.

Recently I was playing a tournament with a friend watching by my side trying to learn. There was a spot where I picked up KK preflop with 15 big blinds, and a well-known player opened in front of me. Instead of just going all-in, I re-raised to about 2/3 of my stack. What I told my friend was this:

A little while ago, it was standard to make this kind of re-raise because most people feel it looks stronger than just reshoving, meaning it was done mostly with weaker hands. Nowadays, most people recognize this, and consider that sort of re-raise to be weaker. So, I am making it with KK to convince him that I am trying to make my hand look stronger and induce him to play with me.

This is a great example of the “cycle” of poker strategy. Just by putting this concept in this article, I am helping to disseminate this concept throughout the entire community. Eventually, perhaps even soon, most people will agree that one should re-raise in this fashion with big hands because it “looks weaker.” This also means that further down the line, people will recognize this and that style of re-raise will be considered most likely a big hand, like it used to.

Confused? You probably should be, but this is just one example of many of the cyclical evolution of poker strategy.

In my opinion, the main difference between fields in live tournaments and online tournaments is the “stage of evolution” that poker has reached in each arena. The evolution of online poker happens more rapidly than that of live poker, because those that are playing online are also most likely to be visiting the myriad places online that expedite one’s improvement as a player. This is not to say that “online players are better than live players,” just that the skill sets and concepts that are important or widely accepted in each arena differ, sometimes drastically. With the popularity and size of major poker community forums, it is easy to see how information from expert players can trickle down through the ranks faster than ever before.

Since the weaker players are being scolded for their bad plays and instructed as to how to play the hand next time, often by the same people, the community “moves together” up the ranks of poker skill. Slowly but surely, people conform to the playing styles of the top players. In the ranks of strictly live poker players, information and poker conversation generally goes just from one person to another. I don’t need to explain how massive amounts of information spread online faster than in any other environment. With the influx of online players into these major live tournament venues, the evolution of live poker will probably be catching up very soon.

Instead of just adapting to “keep up” with this evolution, one must be adapting to stay ahead of it. Rather than conforming one’s play to the same style as everyone else, the most successful players will be changing in ways that will keep them ahead of the curve. Therefore, it is crucial to recognize these signs of evolution as soon as possible, so that plans to develop a counter-strategy can take place as soon as possible.

The old guard is fading and the game is changing – you can either be left in the dust, or you can adapt and thrive. Good luck!

Cutty: The game done changed...
Slim: Game's the same, just got more fierce.

-The Wire

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* Alex AJKHoosier1 Kamberis is a Contributing Writer for PocketFives.com, and is currently ranked #8 in the world at online tournament play. For more poker-related content, visit our Poker Articles section.

Comments

  1. DJam21 DJam21 is offline

    Posts: 3,762
    Joined: Jan 07

    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 3:47am)

    <p>Well that just takes meta-game to a whole new level dunnit.</p>
  2. paul328 paul328 is offline

    Posts: 6
    Joined: May 08

    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 4:19am) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>i'm a beginner, and i was thinking about that topic the other day. </p>
  3. DFish DFish is offline

    Fort Lauderdale, FL
    United States

    Posts: 770
    Joined: Dec 06

    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 4:38am) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>this is really spot on, as i think many people fail to realize that in poker, it doesnt matter how good your opponent might play, as long as you are able to make better decisions than him based on what you know about his play, so as you said, its all about staying ahead of the curve, and being able to counter what is thought of as "standard" play.</p>
     
  4. andressoprano andressoprano is offline whaddya think of my game?

    Anchorage, AK
    United States

    Posts: 5,224
    Joined: Jan 07

    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 4:56am) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>Absolutely agree. What's funny it's that playing low stakes tourneys, you find out right away who the weaker players are: Those making the moves that were the " right " ones 6 months ago. Maybe they saw a "pro"making that move once, and they got stuck to it, doing the same thing over and over again. </p>
    <p>Excellent article AJK</p>
     1
  5. The ChAOS! The ChAOS! is offline

    Alexis, IL
    United States

    Posts: 540
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    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 4:59am) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>One MILLION BILLION GILLION KACHILLION</p>
  6. LVpokerdealer LVpokerdealer is offline

    Las Vegas, NV
    United States

    Posts: 12,111
    Joined: Apr 06

    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 5:02am) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>AJK is tha man! Very nice article!</p>
  7. andressoprano andressoprano is offline whaddya think of my game?

    Anchorage, AK
    United States

    Posts: 5,224
    Joined: Jan 07

    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 5:08am) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>Excellent article AJK. Pretty soon what we used to know as "A B C " poker will be " A B C D E  F G H I J  K", and the successful ones will be those who can play " A B .....X Y Z " poker. </p>
    <p>Wait.....It hasn't been always that way? </p>
     1
  8. Roothlus Roothlus is offline

    Vancouver
    Canada

    Posts: 2,205
    Joined: Jun 05

    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 5:23am) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>great article ajk you might inspire me to come out of retirement for an article. but a little anecdote regarding this topic...a few months ago i ran into a spot against amak316 where i flopped a set of sevens on a very dry board. it was J7x rainbow and we were both pretty deep with about 80bbs each. I was in the bb and decided to take a check/call line on all three streets because I felt he would try to get in 3 streets of value if he did in fact have an overpair or even AJ. He had KK and I stacked him. It's just very interesting to use the exact same line that I would have used had I literally just started playing poker and for two wayyyy different reasons. So yes, there won't be any 8betting going on anytime soon but metagame has definitely come full circle and is well on it's way around again.</p>
    574 
  9. MrFelter MrFelter is offline

    Sea Cliff, NY
    United States

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    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 5:49am) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>I completely agree and believe I am on the front lines of this poker evolution as a low-mid stakes player. I have been a pxf member for about 4 months and my thought process has drastically changed since, the squeeze play is now standard for me in $5-$10 tourny's and I see it used by other players at this level. Like AJK said, this is not a problem for a player who understands the cyclical nature of the game. The top players will adapt the strategy and the squeeze play will become ineffective by the time it becomes common knowledge to the general poker public . Even the pxf videos from >10 months ago seen a little outdated in their game theory. Thanks for the read and the thoughts AK.</p>
  10. Mr_BigQueso Mr_BigQueso is offline

    Melbourne
    Australia

    Posts: 6,132
    Joined: Mar 07

    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 6:03am) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>some pristine shadowing done by the photographer.</p>
    572 1
  11. kice32 kice32 is offline

    Posts: 864
    Joined: Dec 05

    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 1:17pm) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>great article AJK</p>
    <p>one other point i think is relevant here is that sometimes online players are on all different levels of this cycle, so paying attention and trying to figure that out is sometimes the biggest challenge</p>
    875 
  12. Snurby Snurby is offline

    Denton, TX
    United States

    Posts: 5
    Joined: Nov 07

    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 1:29pm) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>You mean there will be a day when I don't get called down to the river by an opponent holding 93o?  OMG!</p>
  13. WeyNot WeyNot is offline

    Satellite Provider

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    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 1:43pm) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>Since the game changes in cycles, I plan to keep my once winning style (current losing style) until it becomes a winning style again.  PLEASE HURRY!</p>
  14. teamnolimit1 teamnolimit1 is offline

    Florence, SC
    United States

    Posts: 11
    Joined: Feb 08

    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 1:58pm) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>Well said online poker and live poker are 2 diffrent animals. I am trying to learn to switch from live mode to online mode. It can be a tough change sometimes. </p>
  15. cyrsvtf150 cyrsvtf150 is offline

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    Joined: Mar 08

    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 1:59pm) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>very nice article AJK, makes you think no matter what level your playing at, high stakes like your self or low limits like myself, that you always need to be evolving your game.  Do you think that when a new player or an inexperienced one makes it far in a high stakes MTT, Sun Mil for example, that it is tougher for you pros to play against them? That their style throws u off? Good read def makes me re examine my game, would have loved to have been your friend watching you play for sure.</p>
  16. TheGfactor TheGfactor is offline

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    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 2:12pm) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>I wanted to send a pm mid article to say how right on point this is.  Really great writing and shows how fast a game can progress in a  short period of time.</p>
  17. stsitron stsitron is offline

    Henderson, NV
    United States

    Posts: 1,526
    Joined: Jul 07

    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 2:17pm) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>Nice article dooooooooode</p>
     
  18. Acidrain77 Acidrain77 is offline

    Ottawa
    Canada

    Posts: 183
    Joined: Sep 06

    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 2:18pm) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>problem is for me I'm playing the re re re re steal. How do I know where to come back too</p>
  19. pauliewlnuts pauliewlnuts is offline

    Woodstock, GA
    United States

    Posts: 1,210
    Joined: Mar 07

    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 3:08pm) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>Nice article, good read...</p>
    <p>Ending quote says it all</p>
  20. RYBONN RYBONN is offline

    Posts: 4
    Joined: Mar 06

    May 6th, 2008 (5/6/2008 3:08pm) in reply to AJKHoosier1

    <p>Yes, I agree with your sentiments that the game is evolving quicker.  However, it is difficult to compare the online world and the live poker world.  They are two different animals and one could actually argue that the live poker world is changing faster, but it just kept more secret.  People tend to blab too often online because their identity is concealed.  If they were smarter, they would keep quiet and not let pride get in the way of profit as is mostly the case in the live poker world.</p>
 
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