Poker Animals - Players Classification
The need for you as a student of poker, to observe and take notes on your opponents cannot be stressed enough.? If you have good starting hand requirements, you will fold a great majority of your hands.? This will give you plenty of time to study your opponents and see how they play.? Most online poker tables allow you to ???right click??? a player’s avatar and fill in notes about him, that will be saved on their server, and thus, there for you to browse? when you see the player again.
However, during the course of a game, you can fill up a huge amount of space.? This can become cumbersome, and make the notes almost not worth reading, as they become a jumbled ream of random thoughts.? ? I think the reader would agree then, that a good way to organize these notes would be most helpful!
Recently, I stumbled across and purchased a book by 7-time Texas Hold ‘em champ Phil Hellmuth, titled Play Poker Like the Pros.? In it, I found Hellmuth’s strategy for characterizing poker players as animals.? This organizational strategy is both humorous and effective, and after adding it to my game, I have been able to cut down on? the endless reams? of note taking.
Hellmuth classifies poker players in 5 general catagories, only 4 of which most of us will ever get the chance to play against.? They are the mouse, jackal, elephant, lion and eagle.? Their poker characteristics are as follows:
The Mouse
The mouse is an ultra conservative player who plays very strict starting hand requirements (see Hellmuth’s Top 10).? The mouse will bet, but rarely ever raises a bet or reraises.? The mouse almost never bluffs.? If a mouse actually does raise or re-raise, it probably means they have an almost unbeatable hand.? The mouse’s weakness is that he or she is simply too predictable.? When the mouse starts to raise, good players typically fold their hands, and in the mouse loses out on some chips they may have won, had they not earned themselves such a stodgy reputation.? This character type is also referred to as a rock? For the record, mice tend to make more money than they lose, espeically at low limit loose games.? Their pots are not always the largest in the world, but they take down way more pots than they lose, due to their conservative play.
The Jackal
I have found jackals to be pretty common animals in low limit, online poker rooms.? This type of player plays alot of cards, and bets and raises with abandon.? He is the direct opposite of the mouse.? The jackal’s chip stack often resembles a roller coaster ride, as it will climb when he has great cards, and then fall back to near nothing when he has a string of bad cards.? You can make alot of money off a player like this.? Do not ever be afraid to call a jackal, because since they play loose, you will catch them bluffing with trash often.? A jackal is destined to lose his money if he ventures far beyond 50 cent ante poker, where good players see him for the loose player that he is and take advantage of his weaknesses.