random thoughts on preflop variation

[mmmmmbeeeer]

i was just thinking abotu this so i thought i'd post it. now we all know that making unorthodox plays every once and a while preflop can be profitable based on the reaction our opponents may have in accordance with said plays. for example, in a full 6-max game one might, on an occasion, raise 67s or limp aa, and this may cause our opponents to misplay future hands against us.

that isn't the point of my post though, as these are well known concepts. the point is that from my experience, people tend to do things like this when they are running badly, e.g., raising 67s utg with the pseudo-justification that they are varying their preflop play, but while the real reason is that there are steaming a bit.

however, doing these things while running well can yield much better results b/c your opponents at these times are already somewhat frustrated with you (even if it's just b/c you've been out-decking them) and if they now see you showdown a 76s utg they are going to be even more frustrated/confused ("maybe all of those pots they won without a showdown before were with rags like those") and may tilt badly.

so, in short, i think these small preflop variation plays can have large metagame effects, and can be used most profitably when one is running hot.