By
seal
From their humble beginnings a few years ago, poker training sites have become almost as common a tool as poker books. Chances are that if you haven’t been a member of one yourself that the next guy was or is a current member. Even the online poker forums have contributed with strategy discussions and more that rival anything in print.
This has changed the game quite a bit. With more and more players making good plays instead of just waiting for cards all the time, there is a lot less room for the pros to make plays. The only books I can think of that had as much impact on the game are the Harrington series. Suddenly every high school dropout who wouldn’t know calculus from detritus can tell you what your “M” value is.
The fact that there has been an impact is incontrovertible. What that impact has done to the game is up for discussion. As a long time private instructor and trainer for Realpokertraining.com, I have contributed to this internet education process. I offer my two cents on what has happened to certain plays and how I have adjusted.
The Resteal From the Blinds
This is when the button or LP (late position) player makes a standard type open raise and one of the blinds pushes/reraises in response. Long ago, when it wasn’t uncommon to see three or four walks in a row, this was a very powerful and little used play. These days, a walk is almost unheard of and the resteal is fairly standard. My own advice to my students was always that cards don’t matter when stealing the blinds, and most understand that these LP steals are often done with air.
I still pick my spots more than some players, but I don’t let this trend slow down my own attempts to pick up the blinds when I am in position. The interesting thing is that I have dropped my calling standards quite a bit on the repop. Whereas I would’ve instafolded to a repop before, I now consider calling if certain conditions are right. If I have the guy covered by at least 3 to 1, and if my thoughts are that the guy may be making a play, and if my hand has any kind of potential at all, I just might call.
I even take it a step further and use all this to set up the fake LP steal. If I am dealt aces on the button and it gets folded around to me, I will almost always just make a standard raise now. I will have raised enough times in that same spot before that one of the blinds may be ready. I love hoping that one of the blinds will try to get cute, and I can watch my aces go down in flames to their 3 7 when 4 5 6 flops....err, I mean, take all their chips.
The Min Raise
This is when the raiser simply doubles the initial bet. It used to be that when this happened it was often done by a newbie to NLHE who didn’t know how to slide the bar. This is far from the case lately. Depending on the skill and experience level of your opponent, this little bump can suddenly mean a big hand.
One of the best NLHE players I know told me recently that from a weak player, a min raise is often a sure sign of strength. He went on to say that it seems to have spread beyond this and that now even some pros are using the min raise when they flop a monster.
How this has made me adjust my game is very dependant on the situation. Where I once would give little or no mind to a min raise and often just come over the top, I now hesitate and think it out almost all the time. If it seems fishy to me in any way, I will lay down my big hand that didn’t hit or my pair of tens on a 7 9 9 board. I make smaller opening bets at times to see where I am at, so that if I do have to lay it down it doesn’t hurt me. And I always look for the times when that min raise doesn’t fit in at all with my opponent’s usual betting pattern. This one fact alone has saved me a lot of chips lately.
In discussing these two plays and how I have changed my game to deal with them, I hope I have provided some food for thought. The game is always changing, and dealing with the changes helps us to stay ahead. I think the question all poker players need to be asking themselves now is, “Am I adapting to new plays and styles or am I stuck in a poker rut, blaming bad luck for my results?” If the answer is “stuck,” you can always join a poker training site. ;o)