Comparing an opponent's A game and B game

Posted by Marcus Bateman 17/03/10

The importance of being able to identify regulars, analyse their behaviour, and think about what kind of edge (if any) you have of them should be obvious to any poker player. One of the problems you will see over and over again when people make these sort of calculations is that they tend to analyse players in a vacuum. 

In particular, they tend to compare their A game with their opponent's B game. This is a huge mistake, as assuming that how a player is doing at one time is indicative of their game as a whole, will often lead you down a very dangerous path.

In particular, they tend to compare their A game with their opponent's B game. This is a huge mistake, as assuming that how a player is doing at one time is indicative of their game as a whole, will often lead you down a very dangerous path. A great example of this is to look at a player like Chip Reese. Arguably the most calm and calculated player to ever grace the felt, Chip Reese was renowned for his ability to never tilt and stay in total control. There were many, many players whose A game was probably slightly better than Chip's some days. The difference was that Chip's B game (or even F game to be honest), was vastly superior to any other player's B game.

It does not really matter if you have a slight edge over a player when playing perfectly if they have an enormous edge over you when you play badly - against that player you will lose in the long run. No one plays perfectly at all times, and when looking at the players around you it is crucial that you factor this in. People who appear to be playing a certain style that you regard as weak, might actually be playing a very good style considering the hands they are being dealt and the setups they seem to find themselves in at this point in time, when they start running well they may very well be a completely different animal.

Not losing money is just as important in poker as winning it. Some of the best players in the world are masters of creating images to play on this point. Some go the route of playing wild frequently, tricking players into thinking they are a target in the game; others simply keep grinding away, using consistency instead of a crazy style to slowly bludgeon away at any player not completely mentally stable.

Both styles play on the fact that people do not really understand the long term consequences of playing style and perceived edges, and the very people who think that they have an edge against these players, pretty quickly find out the very fish they came for ends up eating them. 

By Markus Bateman 

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