Face up
Monday, February 22nd, 2010Sometimes playing face up isn’t a bad thing. In the hyper aggressive world of poker we now have created, it seems that straight forward play is quickly becoming the new deception tactic. With so many people wanting to try to make moves like check-raising, and double-barrel bluffing, trying to shift pot control on the turn, and being overly aggressive overall, straight-forward play is getting rewarded more and more.
It’s a simple concept when you think of poker in terms of a big game of rock, paper, and scissors. Strategies catch on, and soon the masses begin using them, as soon as that happens, someone comes up with a counter strategy. The thing is, these counter strategies aren’t anything new, they’re just reiterations of strategies that went by the wayside in times past. The hyper aggressive scissor approach, is countered by the tight rock play. The tight rock play is countered by the flexible play of the paper. The flexible play of the paper is cut when hit with aggression from the scissors.
It really just comes down to what the current climate is. And right now, it seems that deception is the way to play. Playing straight up anymore is considered a deceptive tactic. Best of all, it’s easy. When you play so transparently that your opponents are sure you’re on a hand, you can plant a seed of doubt that will as a result of unintended consequence, make them unsure. Strange how we think about how we think about poker online.