There are several ways to prune a tree and
there are several ways to win at online cash games. I personally have
always been a fan of tight and aggressive play when it comes to poker. I
also am a huge advocate of taking your game to a whole new level with
the art of switching gears once you have established such an image.
Being able to successfully switch gears when your opponent does not
expect it can not only be self rewarding but very lucrative when implied
odds are calculated into the equation. I have found success online
mixing up my game in cash rings playing minimum micro levels and up to
$2-$4. The key to doing this successfully is to build the image first
and then strike when an opportune situation arises. Let’s examine this
idea a little closer and then I will share with you one of many real
experiences I have had implying the strategy of changing gears.
As stated earlier this play is not going to
work that well unless you have first built an image at the table as a
tight yet aggressive player. If you do not have this image you will
either get more action than you bargained for or you will not get paid
off, making the reward not worth the risk. Let’s assume you have built a
tight and aggressive image and everyone at the table is leery of you
when you enter a pot. A good indication you have achieved this status is
when you now raise from an early position you continually have most all
players fold behind you. The trap is set and now it is time to switch gears.
Here is a real scenario that presented itself while I was playing $1-$2 NL. I had sat down with $100 in front of me. I had played very few hands but when I played I won nearly all of them and when called at the showdown I continually flipped up dominating and intimidating hands, as to say, “Don’t even mess with this guy unless you are holding something very special”. I now had just about $400 sitting in front of me and after relentless folding in concession two of the more tight aggressive players at the table raised and re-raised one another. The first player (we will call him pA for player A) was second to act, raised it to $8 and the other in mid position (we will cal him pB for player B) re-raised it to $32 dollars. Everyone folded around to me and I was in the small blind where I looked down at 5, 6 of spades. I thought,
this is a good time to switch gears and perhaps get lucky and hit a flop. Both players, A and B were sitting with more than $600 and $400 respectively and I thought if I could hit this flop I could potentially triple up with virtually little investment. It was going to cost me $31 dollars to get into a pot with huge implied odds. I eagerly called and the BB folded and pA obliged as well with just a call. We went three handed to the flop where I hit lightning in a bottle with a flop of 9s 5c 5d. How the rest of the hand played out is not important. What is important is that I was able to accumulate over $600 that hand breaking pB and taking roughly $200 from pA in a hand that I would never have been in had I not switched gears.
Before wrapping this up I would like to throw caution to this play. First this is a play that should only be attempted when you have built a tight aggressive image. Second you need to know your opponents and the dynamics at the table. Third in order for this high risk reward play to work you need to have the implied odds in your favor. For example had the pA and pB had a combined $100 or even $200 dollars in front of them the implied odds would have out weighed the probability of your hand connecting. I think it is important to note that I am specifically talking about cash ring games and not tournament play here. In tournament play you have a set amount of money in front of you and if you lose it you can cost yourself an opportunity to finish in the money. In cash games there is always the potential to reload. Pick your spots when trying this and have fun with it.
Author JC
BD
