Older Playes Vs. Younger Players
The main difference that you will see when sitting down at a live poker table is whether a poker player is young or old. When a poker player is young you can see that, and when a poker player is old you can blatantly see that as well. One key to figuring out the type of player that this individual is can be as simple as asking them how they are doing. Remarkably almost every poker player out there will be able to carry a conversation with another poker player simply because you both have chosen poker as a career. Every poker player when out in the real world can relate very loosely to jobs and real people, but when in a casino everyone knows each other. It is a happy world for most poker players because playing poker is a form of an addictive personality that never goes away. When you play poker you don’t care about anything else and that is the way it should be, but also you should realize how players view you at the table.
When you are a young poker player you instantly sit down at a table and get looked over by other players at the table and categorized into a very aggressive and reckless fish of a player. This is something that you should use to your advantage if you are a younger poker player. You don’t want to have a tight image at the table because that can only harm you in the long run, but also you don’t want to be seen as reckless. How to do this is simple, just play your game, and exploit the players you feel are lesser competition. Most young players steam roll tables mainly because of aggression, but also from confidence. When you harm a young players ego sometimes that is all it takes to watch them go into a downward spiral. That downward spiral could be from you showing them a bluff, or putting a bad beat on them for a large sum of money. The main thing about young poker players is the volatile nature of their play. When losing one or two big pots you will see them go on instant tilt and most times go broke. The sickness that is a poker game will always be there tomorrow morning and there is no reason why these players should go on tilt or play too long. When you play too long you play wrong, and that should be something that fits nicely into your head at all times. Most young players do not understand that leaving is sometimes the best option. You can always come back the next day or a week later. This lesson is something all poker players learn at some point in time, and one that you should learn quickly if you are a young poker player.
If you are in the older crowd of poker players you are most likely someone who has been thrown through the ringer and come out clean on the other side. Poker is a lifelong game and you have almost fulfilled your destiny by dedicating your life to it. The successful older poker players are the ones that can always carry themselves with class at a poker table, and also the ones who know when it’s a good time to sit in a poker game. For instance, you don’t see the old poker players sitting down at 3 am to play in a poker game too often because they realize the games are going to be dead. Also, you don’t see the old guys sitting in a poker game that is unprofitable. The subtle things about older poker players make them long term winners or long term losers and you will know which one they are by asking simple questions like how have you been? Most old players respond with business has been doing well or just terrible. It’s tough to gauge old poker player’s reactions simply because they have been doing it for so long, you might just never know the difference. One thing that is consistent is they play similar. Most old poker players don’t move all in with a bluff and also they don’t throw their chips away. They all more or less play tight and passive and look to make small dents in your chip stack throughout a poker session. This is clearly a bad strategy and to exploit older poker players all you have to do is raise their blinds, and play pots in position against them. If they three bet, you should realize that they have a big hand and either fold or shove back all in if you have a made hand.