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There are occasions when a loose player may play tighter than normal.  This can happen when the player has just rallied back from a significant loss to the point where he is close to even or slightly ahead.  This player will now be more cognizant of that breakeven point and will be more
risk-adverse than normal.  He does not want to get back in the red since he had to battle so hard to get out of it.  Another time this can happen is when a player has a decent win and is close to leaving.  You can see this when he starts to rack up his chips and looks like he is waiting until the big blind gets to him before he leaves.  Since he had a nice win, he does not want to leave and give some of his winnings back, at the same time, he does not want to give up on the positive expectancy of getting “free” hands when not in the blinds.  Another time is when the player is talking to a friend who is not playing at the table but is just “visiting”.  In that case, the player will usually try not to embarrass himself with poor play, and will play as solidly as he knows how.

Deception can be a useful tool in poker.  It is nice when an opponent is playing against you thinking you have one hand when you actually have another.  You are forcing your opponent to act incorrectly.  An example of deception was used in the previous section where a check on the Turn convinced your opponent to think he had the better hand than you had.  Bad players make these mistakes without another player deceiving them.  They deceive themselves and will often call you down when they are very unlikely to have the best hand.  Against good players who can play more correctly, you will want to vary your play now and then.  Play the same hand differently in the same situations if you can do so without giving up much edge.  This will make your opponent think twice on future handsto future hands.
Here is a situation:
You are in the big blind and you hold ATs.  Everyone folds to the button who is a good player.  He raises and the small blind folds.  In a situation like this, re-raising or calling is fairly close in value.  It is nice to mix up your play by sometimes re-raising and sometimes calling so your opponent will not have a good handle on what you have when you are re-raising him.
Continuing on with the hand, let’s say you simply called his pre-Flop raise.
Your hand: ATs
Flop: A-Q-3 rainbow
You check and he bets.  A check-raise may scare off your opponent if he does not have an A, but since you want to also sometimes check-raise when you have KJ and JT (for just a gut shot straight draw), you also need to check-raise sometimes when you do flop an A.  When you are
check-raising without the A in future hands, your opponent may assume you do have an A and fold if he does not have one himself.  If you play a hand like this the same way every time, it will allow the more astute players to put you on a hand too easily.  For example, if you always check-raise when you have an A in this spot, but never when you have a straight draw, then your opponent knows he can fold a hand like QJ.  On the other hand, if you never check-raise when you have a weak A, but always check-raise with the inside straight draw, then your opponent can feel comfortable calling you down with the same QJ hand.  Mixing up your play will put him on the defensive, and he will not be sure exactly what you have.  Scenarios like this come up more often in shorthanded games than they do in full games.
When you vary your game, your play may look dumb once in a while.  In the above scenario with a flop of A-Q-3, if you had check-raised with KJ and lost the hand while being forced to show it down on the River, it may look like you were gambling it up and taking unnecessary risk.  Some observers may even think you are on tilt or playing poorly, and not give you the rightful respect you deserve as a poker player.  When this happens, it is best to try to use this to your advantage.  Now you should play a bit tighter and semi-bluff less in future hands because the observant opponents are going to be more likely to call given your previous play.
With all that said, it would be wrong to vary your play too much if it means you are giving up too much expectancy on the current hand compared to the possible expectancy you may receive on future hands.  Some players will take this idea too far and play wild and crazy just to establish an image of a maniac.  They will surely increase their expectancy on future hands when they do get back to playing correctly.  However, they may be losing too much on the current hand in order to establish that wild image.  A good way to vary your play is to change up in situations where there really is not too much difference how you play.  This way you are not losing much edge and yet gain the benefit of making it tough for your opponents to read your hand correctly.

The typical conception of players who play tight pre-Flop is they can be bluffed out of a pot in later rounds with a well-timed bluff raise or semi-bluff. Although this stereotype may be used when you do not know the players well, it shows the importance of observing and judging individual players on how they play their hands. Tight pre-Flop players who have entered a pot are entering the pot with higher quality hands than other players. If they are entering the pot with higher quality hands that means they will typically have more reason to continue on through the hand than they would if they played more starting hands. It may turn out that a pre-Flop tight player folds less often, on a percentage basis once he is already in the pot, than a looser player because the looser player often has little reason to continue with the hand after the Flop. Any player will find it tough to fold a big pocket pair, overcards to the board or inside straight draws with overcards (such as AQ when the high card on the board is a J or T). Many players, even those that are tight pre-Flop, will fall in love and get married to these premium pre-Flop hands. This can especially happen if they are selective and it is one of the few hands that they have played recently. Your observation of your opponent’s play is useful as you would be able to identify this type of minute difference that others may miss.

Professional players are sharp and observant. They will observe your play and have a better idea of how you play than other players will. Normally you want to stay out of their way if you have a marginal hand. But if you are involved with a professional player, you need to think about what he thinks of you. If you have been playing tight, they may peg you as a tight player. Then you can bluff or semi-bluff with a higher degree of success. If you have made some fancy plays, such as semi-bluffing and raising for free cards, they may be more inclined to call you down. However, in the long run, it will be difficult to trick a sharp, observant player into thinking you are what you are not. You have to accept the fact that these players will have a decent handle on your game. The money you expect to make at the table is going to come from other players.

It is possible that sharp players will play differently against other players than they would against you. If you are a decent player yourself, the sharp players will likely know this and play against you accordingly. They may bet for value against weak calling stations, but would not when you are their opponent. They may call down aggressive semi-bluffers, but may not when you are the player doing the raising. They may semi-bluff the tight players, but may not if they think you are likely to call. It is useful to know what they think of you and how they will play against you in specific situations. All of this takes time in studying the players to pinpoint their level of understanding.

In order to identify how players play, you should get a sense of their pattern of play. Players tend to be consistent with their styles, so if you observe their play, you will have a better idea of what you are up against in future hands. Here are a few things to watch for and what they may mean.
1. Do they like to be the bettor or raiser or do they like to be the caller?
Players who like to bet or raise are aggressive in general. This may mean they are a bit unpredictable as they can bet or raise with a wider variety of hands. Players who like to call or check are more predictable because when they bet or raise, you can be more assured they have a strong hand.
2. Do they play straightforward or are they tricky?
Players who are predictable tend to play in a straightforward manner. When they bet, it means they have a quality hand, when they check it means they have a mediocre or poor hand. Tricky players like to check-raise, slowplay, semi-bluff, bluff and raise for free cards. Many of these plays constitutes playing in a disguised manner in one round but showing the true strength of the hand in another.
3. Do they like to raise with a draw or will they only raise with a made hand?
Players who like to raise with draws are more unpredictable. They could be raising with made hands as well, so when they do raise, it is less clear what type of hand they have. Players who only raise with made hands are more predictable. If you do not have a better made hand yourself, you know you have to catch to beat them.
4. Do they have a good understanding of the game of Hold’em?
In all of these cases, it is important to know if your opponents have a decent understanding of the game. If they do not, then they may be acting based on their misconceptions. For example, a player who has a straight when there is a possible flush on board may disregard the possibility of his opponents holding a flush and may think of the strength of his own hand in isolation. These players are unpredictable only because they have a poor understanding of the game, thus their actions are tougher for an experienced player to rationalize.

If you plan on becoming a great poker player, it’s important that you CHANGE GEARS… Changing gears prevents your style of play from becoming PREDICTABLE… and we all know that predictability is your enemy.
One minute you should be cruising along in first gear… folding and watching everyone else play. And then the next minute you should kick into fifth gear and bring your game to a different level.
Let me give you some examples.
It’s 8 P.M. and you sit down at your local cash game… and the very first hand you look at is a 9-8 of spades while you’re just to the right of the button.
A few players limp-in and the action is to you.
“Make it $25 to play,” is what you say… throwing out five red chips.
You decided that you’re going to start this game in FIFTH gear… which is your aggressive gear. You do this because you want to SET THE TONE of the game and establish your table presence. This will also set you up for action later in the game when you get some real hands… like Cowboys or American Airlines.
Then… once the table gets used to your fifth gear, you shift all the way back down to first and only play premium hands. And you’ll get ACTION.
So anyway… you continue your aggressive play for the first hour or so of the game. You make raises with a wide variety of hands like J-10, 10-9, 5-3, and so on. And your opponents have NO CLUE as to what you’re making raises with.
They’re confused as hell, which puts you in a DOMINATING position. They see you as an aggressive, manic-like player who continues to push the action. And you’ve also established yourself as table leader… even though you aren’t necessarily CHIP leader.
So you began the night with $200 in chips and now it’s 9 P.M. You’ve played for an hour and now you’ve got $180 in chips. Do you care? No!
That one hour was for the purpose of “paying your dues”… because you’ve set yourself up for the rest of the night. Now you’re going to get paid off when you finally DO catch a real hand. Now it’s just a matter of being patient.
So you decide to shift gears again… and drop into third gear. You’ll still make the occasional raise with 9-8 suited, and you’ll still bluff from time to time. But ONLY when you sense weakness and have good positioning.
What you’re really doing is waiting on that big hand like Queens, Kings, or Aces. When that happens, you get paid.
Finally, at 9:45 P.M. you get dealt Cowboys when you’re third to act before the flop. You decide to make a large pre-flop raise that’s likely to create heads-up action. After all, you don’t want four guys seeing a flop when you’ve got Kings… you’re practically guaranteed to get run down.
You throw out a raise… say $50. This is an aggressive raise at this table… but you’ve established yourself as an aggressive player. Hey, last time you made it $50 to play you were holding 10-8 suited! (Of course, that was a different story… because you were on the button and you sensed weakness when everyone limped-in last time. You KNEW everyone was going to fold last time… and that’s why you SHOWED your cards too. It
was all about setting up for THIS hand.)
So anyway… Brad, the guy on the button, is the only one who calls. And to make a long story short, you end up doubling up on poor little Brad, who had AQ.
So anyway… now it’s 10 P.M. and you decide to shift down to first gear. This is your TIGHT PLAYER gear. You’ve got $475 in chips and you just want to chill out and only play premium hands.
And once again, you’ll get paid off if you’re lucky enough to catch another big hand while playing in first gear. Because remember… your OPPONENTS don’t know you’re in first gear. For all they know you’re still in fifth.
Personally, I usually use first gear as a time to regroup and think about my game plan. I spend this time attentively studying my opponents for tells and betting patterns. So an hour goes by and you’ve basically been unheard from. Your opponents have practically forgotten you’re even sitting at the table!
It’s time to let your opponents that you’re still in the game… still ready to play. Josh and Rodney both limp-in and the action is to you.
“Make it $30 to play”, you say… not really caring if your opponents call or fold. If they call, you’ve got positioning on them. If they fold you can rake in the blinds… which add up over the course of the night.
Josh folds, Rodney folds. They haven’t heard from you in awhile and are therefore a little scared that you might be sitting on a big hand.
As you rake in the blinds, you throw over your 5-3 face up on the table and say, “Hey c’mon guys… give me some action here… I know you’ve got my five high beat!” And they both smile and shake their heads. They know you’re just messing with them… and they’re used to it by now. They’ve seen this behavior before.
So you’re back in fifth gear and you start playing aggressively again. You push the action for the next hour or so and hope to catch some favorable flops. If and when that happens, your chip lead increases.
The night rolls along and you continue to switch gears… from first to fifth, third to first, fifth to first, and so on. This style of play keeps your opponents on their toes and continually guessing… never quite able to put you on a hand.
This is what strong poker playing is all about. You’ve got to harness your ability to completely change gears… back and forth and back and forth throughout the night. If you stay in one gear for too long you’ll never win on a consistent basis.