Here’s a pro tip from Jamie Gold – 2006 WSOP Champion.

Poker is as much an internal game as it is external competition, and like most sports, it takes more practice and knowing yourself than it does actually playing the game in a professional environment. Before I decided to make the leap to the Bodog Team, I actually played around 40 hours a week all in hopes of learning more about the game, my opponents, but most importantly, myself.

Something that I learned through the many online and actual tables I’ve played at is my own style of play, and I think this has been one of the most important components of being a successful poker player.

Before I even tried to start reading other players and figuring out how everyone else played, I needed to know my own style and how I could benefit from how I play as opposed to playing off everyone else. Poker is a game of control and whoever has the most control throughout the game will usually come out on top. I know there are a lot of other factors in gaining control, but knowing how you play is a great foundation you can build off of.

Generally there are two types of poker styles people play with, that being Tight and Loose. I would define a loose player as someone who is willing to play almost anything just to see the flop. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because what you are doing is paying to see more cards that could potentially help you. But it also gives the other players at the table an opportunity to figure out how you play. If you play loose and basically buy more cards, you could land something really big, and from there, it’s a completely different game. The consequence of playing loose is that it gets expensive fast.

The other style of play would be Tight, where you would wait for something quite high and then start playing. If you’re a tight player in a game like Texas Holdem, you would usually wait until you are dealt a monster hand, and then make a move. If you aren’t dealt anything worth playing, you would usually just toss the hand and wait for something better. This style can keep you in the game for a long time, but if you don’t make a move eventually, it can hurt you in the long run.

It really doesn’t matter what style you play, but it’s very important that you know how you play. If you aren’t conscious of your own style, it leaves the door wide open for your opponents to figure you out. Probably the biggest benefit of knowing your own style is that you can start to mix it up after a while. Think of it as bluffing your own style, it lessons the chances of your opponents getting a good read on how you play.

• Jamie Gold

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