| Archive for Tagpoker Forum A friendly place for winning poker players to share their strategy to making money playing poker. |
| U Cook Socks |
What's your edge ?I think this is a very important question to ask yourself.I think it is common knowledge that you basically have to be better than the players you are playing to make money at poker. So what is it that makes you better than the competition ? Or I guess if you are a losing player, why do you feel you can't beat the games. Looking forward to some interesting answers. |
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| BetMagicMoney |
been able to see an edge no matter how small and shipping in the money, im never afraid! | ||||||
| Borg7 |
There's a big edge to be had if you understand the concept of ranges. Accurately defining ranges and adjusting your own ranges well is key. | ||||||
| U Cook Socks |
Be good if you could elaborate on this, and maybe give some hints and tips on how to get better/practice this, as a well respected member of the forum, and obviously a great player. |
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| Borg7 |
Sure. Poker is entirely about two things: Defining people's ranges and adjusting your ranges accordingly. Everything else that people think is a seperate aspect, is only a sub-category of the above. If you perfect both these skills, you'll reach maximum +EV. Defining villain's ranges is the easier part (not saying that it's easy). You need to pay attention to tendencies and go off basic general population tendencies in order to define a range that, to your best knowledge, comes as close as possible to villain's real range. Adjusting your range so that it plays in the most +EV way against your perception of villain's range is the tough part. It involves a lot of "feel" for mathematics and mathematic abilities. |
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| aggsyb |
Re: What's your edge ?
because im an absoloute animal ..... Will eloborate later lol |
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| StasKo |
in the words of Tommy Angelo: Reciprocality
it basically means that if you and your opponent were to face the exact same situation the long term winner is the one who loses the least and/or winning the most. since most fish are either paying too much or cant stop their losses i stick to an ABC game with a bit of tightness. from that basis i adjust to player type with respect to hand ranges (like borg said) for example betting more streets and bigger with relatively weaker holdings against stations or being more inclined to fold stronger holdings against tighter players. but basing your game on ABC type of play (meaning no FPS at all) will in itself make you better than your competition (especially at lower stakes) |
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| AxeMage |
i think in the smaller stakes... so far, i find that just finding a good read or pattern that the opponent uses for certain types of hands, and exploiting those patterns (adapting), is where i find the edge (small edge right now)... for example, when they pot-sized bet and when they half pot bet, and when they check, and when they re-raise/check-raise, what each of those mean... there's not much variety in their play at this level...
but i agree with borg, and it's not something i used to focus on too much or all the time... but i will definitely try to focus more on ranges as well... i think that's what might be lacking in certain hands when the pots get inflated... and i've actually thought about it a bit more and i think for me in particular is that i tend to leave out the 'preflop' actions when i put people on hand ranges.. not sure yet, if it's cause i forgot how the hand went preflop or if i just forget to even consider it... but that's something i'm definitely gonna try to focus on more... nice post/question blazing... very insightful to get into the minds of good players... really got me to analyze my game... thanks! 
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| doodiewiz |
what Borg said has got me thinking lol. Because i'd say my edge if there is one comes from adjusting to player types and paying attention to frequencies at the small stakes i play at. All the time while im playing i take tonnes of quite in depth notes depending on the player. When you think about it though all you're ever doing is adjusting your ranges. For example, if someones really tight preflop and they're folding preflop more then 50% of the time your're making money(disclaimer:this is what ive always thought and im probably wrong. Also i dont use a hud) and if you factor into that when they call and how often they give up to a cbet you can often play any two cards and by adjusting you're basically feeling your way to these kind of optimal plays....i'm rambling:) I would love to have any of this confirmed....I think players with real edge would know or have investigated a lot of this type of stuff and more of course... | ||||||
| AxeMage |
I think this is a sticky worthy post! Something all players should definitely think about when trying to improve their game. Can't wait to hear everyone else's thoughts on this. | ||||||
| Jakester1288 |
This. I think my edge (if I do have one) comes from finding as many +EV spots as possible, especially in endgame where most people suck (me included). |
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| U Cook Socks |
I think it's a question everyone should ask themselves, whether you are a winning or losing player.
I loved Borgs post, makes it sound so simple 
Fwiw, I have done reasonably well at the lower stakes $5s through to $30s, never managed to take it any further than that, probably cos I'm not good enough at the things Borg mentioned. I think my edge at the lower stakes, is being able to value bet well, and fold a big hand when I know I'm beat. Most lower stakes players (and higher I guess) just can't fold top pair, and definitely can't fold 2pair + . I can't, and I think that gives me an edge. They also can value bet Ace high/bottom pair etc, (intentionally!) I think this has given me an edge at the stakes I have played. Now to work hard on hand ranges. |
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| _red_dog |
being the most insanely aggro kent in the world  Adapting to game flow and being better than most regs at levelling spots (im referring to MTT's here)
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| U Cook Socks |
Yes, the question wasn't actually exclusive to Heads Up, even if it is in the Heads Up Poker Strategy section. |
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| icemanv6 |
Although I don't play poker hardly at the moment, Id say my edge is/was similar to the one about making less mistakes then your opponents when both are of equal ability. A lot of it is not just about exploiting opponents but not letting them exploit you. If you can frustrate your opponent they will make mistakes out of frustration/boredom. As you move up the stakes i believe you have to adapt your edge in new areas to become successful, and people seem to get frustrated when a reg sits them and this causes them to donk off unnecessary. So id say that would be an edge for me, staying calm and as solid as I know how to be vs better players more then they are able too. There's one or two other areas where I think my edge is but I think the above is an important and often overlooked area. | ||||||
| wowbobwow |
Thank you for this awesome post! 
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| chesslw |
Sorry for a late reply- could you elaborate on what you mean by a "mistake" in poker? I find it very difficult to define. Do you mean things like making bad calls/bad barrels vs your range, or more technical concepts such as betting when it isn't for bluff nor value? Or perhaps endgame stuff like the classic 3x/folding under 30bb? When both players are of equal ability- what is going to be classed as a mistake? |
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| icemanv6 |
Sure. By a mistake I guess I could explain it for one example, If you become frustrated you can become stressed and that nearly always leads to making an error, calling lighter range then you should vs said opponent, chasing draws without the pot or implied odds, although there all potential mistakes there more apparent when you become frustrated. I guess what I was trying to say is mental ability and control is just as big an area to have an edge as is playing ability, and if you two players of equal playing ability that barrier can be separated if one has a much stronger mental toughness. If you can frustrate your opponent and they are not as mentally tough you are likely to force them into a mistake, and this often happens when the edge against 2 players ability is small.
Think of all the times you made a game changing error or mistake and you knew it and it changed the course of a match. I mean the kind of mistake or error you did out of pure frustration or because you could not get a solid lead. All the things you mentioned could be classed as mistakes
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| U Cook Socks |
A mistake is any action you don't play the same way as you would if you could see your opponents hole cards isn't it ?
Which obviously you are going to do loads, but you just need to do it less than your opponents. |
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| icemanv6 |
Chessw add me on skype and I can discuss it better there, im a bit poor with replies off my phone as Its hard to read back what I've written! | ||||||
| chesslw |
Cool thanks- what is your Skype? The internet here is really weird, and Skype isn't supported and sometimes doesn't work... So it could be a while for me to add you/log on. |