how to "mix it up?"

I've learned alot from reading my book and reading here but I still for some reason, am not able to win a game. My friends tell me my betting is obvious and I think they're right.

How am I supposed to "mix it up?" Do i play some cards wrong sometimes or not raise as much or raise alot sometimes? What exactly is the trick to using your betting to keep your cards ambiguous?

a lot of newer players tend to have betting tendancies that can give them away, such as, "when I get a good hand I'll bet $2" or, one of my friends does minimum bet after the flop every time he gets a monster hand, and the list changes from person to person- table to table. If you find yourself saying "I'm going to do this every time this happens" without worrying about any other factors, it can kill your game and make it really obvious when you have a monster hand/buying the pot/etc. Work on varying your game up depending on position, and how the other players at the table play.

Also, dont show people your hand when you get them to fold or when they take you to the river on a bluff etc, that will make you an even easier read, and that is the problem in the first place.

mike caro's advice talks about this and tells you how to bet effectively in no limit games.

he suggests you bet in a variant manner. by that he means:

if you would bet 10$ on TPTK all the time, bet 8 sometimes and 12 sometimes, trying to make your bets average to the amount you would normally bet to.

what is tptk

Originally Posted by nick87

what is tptk

Top pair, top kicker

I have AK
Flop is AJ6

I have the biggest pair (top pair)
and the biggest kicker (top kicker)

Being too obvious can also be said of a player that doesn't bluff. If that's the case, mix in some bluffing and blind steals, and bet them EXACTLY like you do when you have a hand. Think of the hand you're representing and bet like you do when you have that specific hand.

For example, everyone folds around to you, and you're on the button with 65s. Come in for a 3x BB raise if that's what you normally do with good hands in this position.

Now lets say the SB folds and the BB calls, in the situation above, and the flop comes Q84 with 2 to a suit that isn't yours. If in this situation you typically bet the size of the pot with an AQ or KQ type hand to protect yourself from the flush draw, do that now. Chances are they fold, even with a low pair or high cards, thinking that once again you obviously have a Q with a good kicker.

Take advantage of your image.