By Eric Lynch
In all of my time playing poker, I’ve found that most successful players tend to fall into one of two categories. One category is the player who always attempts to be the table captain. This player attempts to constantly bend the will of everyone at the table to conform to his game or suffer the consequences. Typically, this player is aggressive and enjoys the fact that the other players at the table have to basically play their game with him. I realize that this sounds kind of negative, but it really isn’t. Some of the best players I know are table captains. They have a presence at the table that often commands respect and yields results.

There is also a second set of successful players, and this is more my camp. This set is not necessarily better or worse than the first set, just different stylistically. These players let the situation dictate their table persona rather than forcing the table to bend to their will. This style basically revolves around assessing the players at the table and then adapting your game to best suit the situation with which you are presented. For example, if you are at a table where everyone is superaggressive, you simply sit back and pick your spots to selectively play back at them, knowing that their overaggressiveness will eventually pay you off when they overplay a hand against you. Conversely, if the table is superpassive, you can put on your table captain hat and start raising a lot and running the table.

I mention these styles so that everyone knows where I’m coming from. Every player is different, and has a style that works for him. One of my biggest strengths is recognizing different table situations and…. read rest of article at Card Player Magazine