As for other games you can find at an online casino website, in the eventuality that you are thinking of switching to high stakes poker, then you should be prepared to see a completely new facet of the game. In addition to the obvious difference in the money being bet, high stakes poker implies playing against opponents who have acquired a different set of skills. Once you begin playing high stakes poker, the game starts revolving around what you do with the cards, while your ultimate goal becomes to extract maximum value and minimizing loss.
Despite the fact that you will be playing the exact same game, there are several notable dissociations between high stakes and small stakes poker. Let’s explore how high stakes are different from small stakes.
Mistakes start to matter in high stakes poker
If every player at the table would play a perfect game, then all of them would accumulate the same amount of money during the match. Since everyone brought his A game at the table, the only element that determines who wins is the variation in the cards dealt. In reality, card variations matter very little and winning is directly influenced by the player’s ability to identify and act on his opponents’ mistakes.
Playing high stakes poker doesn’t only entail keeping an eye out for errors, but it’s also about deceiving the other players and forcing them to commit mistakes. For instance, providing false information at a critical time could make it increasingly difficult for your opponents to make the right decision.
Hand reading becomes fundamental in high stakes
Unlike small stakes where hand reading resumes to guessing whether the opponent has a weak or a strong hand, in high stakes the process is more refined. Skilled players start out with a range of possible holdings for opponents and then narrow them down based on their actions and decisions. The betting pattern and the flop as well as the behavior tendencies of the other players are all important indicators you should learn to interpret correctly.
High stakes poker players have an advanced understanding of the game
More often than not, small stakes poker is played by amateurs who mostly engage in the game for fun and who are only concerned with the cards they hold. Playing high stakes poker implies a deeper understanding of the game and a new way of thinking the play: instead of focusing on yourself and your hand, in high stakes poker you need to know what the other players are holding and even determine what they think you’re holding. For example, if you realize that a player at the table thinks you have a strong hand and yet, he keeps re-raising you, then chances are he is holding a strong hand himself.
Bet sizing
Since the stakes of the game are higher, it is only natural that you also alter the way you approach betting. While in small stakes you may not care about losing a hand, in high stakes your ultimate goal becomes creating the best value from the winning hands. In addition to losing the least cash, that note that high stakes poker players also have a reason for betting certain amounts at a given time.