This is my first video at Red Star Poker, which would eventually become my main poker site. I moved a part of my bankroll to Red Star in order to take advantage of the deposit bonus and great 33% rakeback offer. I originally was planning on clearing my bonus dollars and moving on to a new poker room, but the players were so bad that I stayed for the next 3 years. Because the players at Red Star Poker played so much differently than at Full Tilt Poker, I review how you can adapt your own poker strategy to your opponents’ play style.
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Adapting to New Opponents
One of the interesting things about No Limit Hold ‘em is how you can play the exact same hand differently depending on who your opponent is. While the cards in our hand and on the flop are important to how you should play your hands, knowing your opponent’s tendencies can drastically change your normal lines of play. Against weak passive opponents, we must be the ones making value bets because they won’t do it. Against loose aggressive opponents (see LAG Play), setting traps by checking or betting smaller than normal can be good plays.
You can see how I adapt to new opponents by the shift in tone from Trikkur 10 at Full Tilt Poker to this video at Red Star Poker. At Full Tilt, I had to increase my preflop 3-betting range because I had to combat the regulars that were trying to steal my blinds frequently. I was also able to use more bluffs and advanced moves like the squeeze play against thinking opponents that were capable of folding a made hand.
On the other hand, once I started playing at Red Star Poker, I had to tighten up my game considerably. There were a lot more loose passive opponents that were willing to call my 3-bets and squeezes because they had hopes of getting a lucky flop. Because of this, I started calling when I had position on the weak players and taking a flop. Once you catch a big hand against a loose passive opponent, you can make 80-90% pot bets on the flop, turn, and river for great value. Red Star Poker quickly became very profitable for me once I learned to adapt my own poker strategy.
What is your opponent thinking? Image by jscreationzs
Thinking from Opponent’s Perspective
In order to take your poker game to the next level, you have to think about more than just yourself and your hand. You also need to think about your opponent’s hand range and what his future actions will be. I use this technique to know when I should check back instead of make a continuation bet. If you know that in your opponent’s shoes, you would call a continuation bet on a flop such as 
; then you need to just check back.
I’ve also used this to know when to check to induce a bluff on the river. If your opponent has a lot of drawing hands in his range, but likely doesn’t have much showdown value – then you know they will want to bluff you on the river because they can’t win any other way. This is the perfect spot to check to the villain and call their river bet.
Play at True Poker
After the closing of PokerStars and Full Tilt to US Players in 2011, most of us were forced to change poker rooms. I decided to start playing at a smaller poker room called True Poker in November of 2011 and have been happy to see them grow throughout 2012. They have been around since the early 2000s and have an amazing track record of fast cash outs and player security even after the events of Black Friday. They are the only poker room that accepts US players to receive an 'A' grade in payment processing throughout the entirety of 2012. Here are a few sample reports to prove my point, but you can view all the other months at the same place. January, February, ... , August, September, October. They offer a 100% up to $1000 bonus for all new players, but if you sign up at True Poker through PokerTrikz you will also receive 27% rakeback for every $1 you rake. Rakeback deals have been rapidly disappearing these last few years, so I wouldn't miss out on this chance to get a good rakeback at a trustworthy poker room.