A game that has different characteristics, even if not in the basic rules, will have different adaptations by the players. We must think above all about how the casual player, who often has no solid foundation, reacts to the new dynamics. Most of the time it will react by passing multiple hands. In fact, the typical inexperienced recreational player is looking for action, so in normal tables he may play hands that should not be played regardless of position and opponents.
In poker online, things change. If we fold a hand we don’t have to wait for all the players to perform their action: we will be instantly projected to the next table, in an instant, right after pressing the ‘ fast fold ‘ button.
Therefore, the recreational player who does not want to be bored watching boards where he is not actively participating, and instead of playing with bad cards, will much more easily fold a series of hands that he would otherwise play on normal tables.
This can be considered the first of the adaptations, which obviously results in a chain reaction that, in fact, changes the game.
Which Hands to Play
As stated above, opening ranges will change
It will be better to widen the ranges a bit in early position because we can count on greater fold equity. At the same time, if we play exclusively recreational, we may not touch the ranges in late position too much, but if we are interested in hourly profit it can become more convenient to fold marginal hands in late position, so as to jump to the next table rather than playing a hand that has only slightly positive expected value. So we can tighten the ranges a bit.
If you play idn poker after a raise, however, you will need to evaluate your opponent’s range and tendencies well, in the case of a regular with whom we have played many hands. And, again, consider that casual players are usually more closed when opening from early positions. So when I have no data on a player in the HUD (statistics provided by tracking programs such as Hold’em Manager or Poker Tracker based on our history to the player himself), you are led to think that if he opens from UTG, i.e. position that immediately follows the big blind, which is the first to ‘speak’ in the preflop phase, this will have a tighter range of hands than it would at a normal table.
The Right Notes
This obviously happens on average: specific cases can also be different, but to make assessments of this type we must have a history that helps us to define the scenario more precisely. Let’s imagine the player as a tailor, he has to sew the suit on the customer, and to do it he must have the measurements. If we do not have these measures, and we have to produce the garments in series, we will rely on averages that meet the needs of customers as much as possible. There will be a size S, an M, an L and an XL, and we will normally produce more Medium sized garments.
