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TEXAS HOLDEM RUMBLE FISH
Once you have overcome the fish level of play (some never do, but you studying on our site will) you are starting to climb the ladder.
The rumble fish – The next level up from the fish category is Rumble Fish.
You’re not the biggest and meanest fish in the sea, but you have experience and you’ve survived. And you’re making money when you play.
The Rumble Fish Player can safely play the Top 40 pocket cards as listed next:
You are now in the land of the medium-suited connectors namely
- KQs, QJs, JTs, T9s
- which do all right in small stake games as well as the biggish offsuit aces
- AQ, AJ.
Rumble Fish Tip: Pick your 10 player table carefully. Search players who appear to be having fun, and where at minimum half of them persist in to see the flop. Picking the right table is a major determining factor of how well your hands will hold up in the long run.
When other players know what you’re holding, you suffer tremendous disadvantage. Just playing good cards is not enough as a Rumble Fish. Raising AA and KK is clearly not enough.
You need a carefully planned but hard to read raising strategy as well. At the Rumble Fish stage you begin to experiment with more aggressive play. As you will read later, timing your aggressive strategy is the key. Being aggressive with a large number of players at the table, unless they are all very conservative, will not work most of the time. And no matter how aggressive you are, if you are surrounded by sharks, you will be chum.
As a Fish you were focused on the top 10-16 pocket cards dealt. You need to expand this now in two ways.
One, you need to be more aggressive before the flop on a wider range of cards.
Two, you need to mix up your betting strategy. As you will see later, the best player type is ‘tight-aggressive’. This characterization is based more on how the other players see you and less on your own strategy. In poker, perception is everything. You need to be seen by your opponent as someone who’s style is slightly hard to read and occasionally unpredictable. Then when you do raise aggressively, your opponents will take you seriously and surrender the pot.
Be well aware that in online Poker, because players come and go constantly, it is harder to establish a reputation at the table. It’s like acting on the stage; you need to amplify your moves a little more you would on a one to one basis. Because it is easier to be aggressive online, your aggressiveness needs to be clear-cut – that means thrusting the bets more than you would at a real table.
Slow play can have its rewards here as well. It tends to get the attention of other feebler players anxious to donate to the pot. Even if you know precisely how much you plan to raise, slow down. Let the counter click off. This is an awesome attention getting device.
If after stalling(aka always letting the clock run down), you fold, you transmit indecision. Then again, if you raise heavily, you have made the move quite clear – and you have got the other players guessing.
Mental stamina is one of the keystones to success as you go up the poker food chain. Being mentally tough means pushing aside the other players concerns about how bolted you play. To exhibit great Patience and keeping your cool in the midst of battle is extremely vital in playing a winning style as well. Keep your ego out of the game, be ridiculously patient and learn how to keep your focus and the chips will start to move in your direction.
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