Playing the fox- Everyone has a general archetype when it comes to their style of play at the poker table; the aggressive internet kid, the crafty old veteran, the cantankerous old man that plays locks and locks only. But, in order to secure the biggest profit from our opponents, we have to adjust our play from time to time in order to keep our opponents off guard and play in a way that profits larger in the long run. To do this, we have to think like the fox; blending our styles occasionally so that the internet kid can play snug for a round and get paid off, or the lock player can get a bit loose and bluff someone out of a pot with a draw. The most successful players will usually play a blend of two styles, allowing themselves to easily switch from one to another without much thought and before players can react to it.

Long Term Ramifications- Blending styles in the long term means making sure you have your two primary styles of play ready to go, along with a third you can switch to if the primary ones aren’t working. Make them easy to switch to, like, tight/aggro and loose/aggro, or tight/passive, tight/aggressive (although passive isn’t that great of a long term strategy, you may want to play 80% aggro with that archetype) and find spots that you can shift to and from the two respective styles. You may want to start out by playing a few rounds of the tournament/cash game using your primary style, then switch to your secondary style for a round or two, and see who catches on to your shift, and who doesn’t notice at all. It’ll be harder for players, even perceptive ones, to catch you shifting due to the blending of the styles you’ve selected.

Short Term Ramifications- Something that also comes from the blending of styles is the ability to quickly shift, in the middle of a hand, even, from one style to another. You start the hand off as your loose aggressive self, opening to 3x for the 4th time in the past round with a real hand, KK. A perceptive opponent decides to three bet you from the small blind, and you’re both deep. Super aggressive you may want to four bet here, but you can blend back to loose passive here and just flat call, with the bonus of position and a monster hand to entice your opponent to lead out at most flops with a wide range of hands; you can either continue the passive play and flat, or switch back to aggro you and raise it up here. Having the option to shift during a hand allows you to add multiple dynamics to your play that you’d never have a chance to take advantage of otherwise; use these shifts and blend your styles, and you’ll maximize your potential to profit in the long and short run.