Omaha Rules | Beginner Tips For Poker

What type are you?

What type of player are you? Ever thought about it?

Reading cards

A very important skill when playing poker is the ability to read the cards of your opponents. The more information you have about the opponents hand, the better choices you will make for yourself in order to win. Unfortunately there is no real science existing about this but with common sense you should be able to go pretty far. For starters, you'll need to get an idea about the playing style of your opponent. Is the player tight or loose? Passive or aggressive? Is he/she good in misleading or always very obvious about the purpose of his/her actions? You should have a lot of time to analyze all those characteristics when you're at the poker table, given that you should normally fold a lot of your own hands (especially in case you play tight-aggressive). So instead of being bored while waiting for good hands to come, it would be way better to keep on following the game and observe your opponents. You should aim for having a short description of every player at the table. Please also check our article about “making notes” for more info about this.
We are aware that it could be the case that you are very lazy and therefore do not feel the urge to observe your opponents (join the club:)). In that case the least you should do is realize that some of your opponents do observer their opponents and because of this very likely becoming rich faster then you are!
That might be shitty but it still doesn't motivate you to do that very boring “observing your opponents” – job. You are probably going to be rich anyway and you don't care if it takes slightly longer because you are lazy.
OK have it your way.
In that case however it would be very wise to at least determine for yourself what your opponent is dealing with. In other words: You should be aware of what type of player you actually are! If you would be honest about this for yourself you will be able to see your own weaknesses more easy and therefore see your own mistakes coming. It will make you able to anticipate on your own mistakes. You will have to be honest to yourself thought!

Below you'll find an overview of the most common stereotypes of poker players:

Weak player

This player is loose-passive. He/she plays way too many hands and is not aggressive. This opponent is very easy to win from. However, sometimes he/she might surprise you because he/she does not show her own strengths.

Entertainment player

This player is loose-aggressive. He/she is only playing in order to have a good time and therefore does not fold often enough because he/she wants be part of the action as often as possible. This player is not afraid to bluff or be aggressive. Not the easiest opponent but in the end you will win with a good constant strategy. This player too often does not have a decent hand.

Frightened player

This player is tight-aggressive. He/she is very selective, plays very few hands and possibly plays on limits which are slightly too high. He/she is very reluctant to show his/her powers. Because of this the frightened player is very easy to beat. Besides that they are also very predictable.

Educated player

This player is tight-aggressive. He/she plays according to the facts of the game. This is not an easy opponent to play against because he/she will hardly give away any info and will make it expensive for you before they give in. However, also this type of player is predictable and a good player will be able to anticipate to this.

Maniak

This player is extremely aggressive and very loose. He/she rarely folds and almost always prefers to either bet or raise. This is a slightly difficult opponent because he/she is very unpredictable and very expensive to play against. However, this player should be pretty easy to beat when following a good strategic game and will definitely loose when playing against an advanced player.

Bluffer

This player loves to bluff. He/she thinks that you can win any game as long as you put some effort in it. Although this type of player is very unpredictable they are pretty easy to win from solely given that they very often do not have a proper hand at all.

Expert

This player is capable of adapting his/her game to the circumstances and is therefore able the get the maximum out of every situation. His/her style is very hard to read because he/she knows how to balance between good basic strategy and misleading the opponent with unpredictable actions.

In case you don't know which type of player you are then we advise to check our article about “Common poker bloopers” and ask yourself I've you've ever made one or more of those mistakes mentioned. With that you might be able to determine what type of player you most likely are.

Anyway, once you've been categorized by your opponents, they will start analyzing based on your actions what type of hand you most likely have. It speaks for itself that a raise from a maniak means something totally different that a raise from a educated player. In case your opponent thinks you are a maniak (which is totally not profitable in the long run however we have to admit it is pretty cool:)) they will conclude that you do not have a good hand. However in case your opponent thinks you're a educated player he/she will be more willing and probably decide to fold against your raise. Below we give you an example of how a player makes a profit by making notes (let's name him Fred):

Fred makes a lot of notes about players. Imagine Fred plays Texas Hold'em against someone of which he thinks, based on the notes he has made about this player, that he/she is an educated player. This educated player raises before the flop in early position. Because of this Fred concludes that this educated player must at least have a high pair (probably nine or higher), or 2 high suited cards (Ace Ten or King Queen), or Ace King or Ace Queen unsuited.
The flop hits the table and has only low unsuited cards. The educated player chooses to call a bet from a player before him/her. Fred now concludes that the educated player does not have a high pair, otherwise (according to Fred) the educated player would have raised the bet of the player before him/her.
The turn appears, it is a Queen and the educated player chooses for a bet. Fred concludes that the educated player must have at least a Queen in his/her hands and probably with a high kicker, like an Ace King or Jack.
The river is a low card again and the educated player chooses to bet again. This is a confirmation for Fred that the educated player must have a Queen and thus he decides to fold.
It is very likely that Fred made the right decision.

And that is how they get your money.

So what are we going to do? In case you're very very lazy then the least thing you should do is avoid tables with players you have seen before! No doubt that some of them are not lazy and did make notes about you. The higher the limits at the table, the more likely that players will make notes about you.

What else are we going to do? Keep the above mentioned example in mind and check our article about “the most common poker bloopers”. All bloopers you make are the result of the type of player you are. In case you make some of the in that article mentioned bloopers, you will be able to get an idea of what type of player you most likely are. Be aware that it is very likely that your opponents (who made notes about you) have exactly the same idea of you. This might make you able to predict how those opponents respond to you at the table.

So be one step ahead of them and get their bankroll!