The robotic poker player has played so many hands, and has such a consistent style of play, that he doesn’t even think about an action before making it. He has observed almost every possible poker situation so many times that he can act instinctively. The only inconsistent variable he occasionally must consider is you and any unorthodox moves you may make.
You may have noticed that many of your actions and decisions (as related to poker) have become nearly automatic. This is a good thing; it allows you to increase earnings by playing more tables at once and focuses your attention on more specific elements of the game. In particular, it frees up your mind to focus on details you may otherwise miss. You’ll be able to recognize robotic players by how quickly they react.
They will almost always pre-click their “buttons” prior to their turn. And they will almost always react as soon as it’s their turn. This is by no means a bad thing. You’ll probably notice that many of the regulars (players on whom you have numerous stats) play very robotically. There is certainly nothing wrong with it, but purely automatic betting patterns open players up to exploitation.
A robotic player generally uses the keypad when placing bets as opposed to using the “slide bar” that PartyPoker provides. Doing so allows him to enter specific bet amounts without fear of error. It’s also much faster. As soon as you see a robotic player raise a pot pre-flop, pay attention to the hand.
Make a mental note of how much he raised pre-flop in terms EARN $30,000 PER MONTH PLAYING ONLINE POKER 78 of BB: for example, player 1 raised 3xBB. If you are lucky enough to see which cards he raised with at the end of the hand, note it under “player notes”: Level 3, 3xBB JJ. Over several hundred tournaments, you’ll begin to amass notes on almost all of the regular players regarding their specific preflop betting patterns.
Conclusion
Robotic players play specific cards from specific positions (as do you!), and they often raise a precise amount every time they have a specific hand. Many players overrepresent medium hands, such as JJ or AQs. If you find that a player raises these hands more aggressively than huge hands (AA, KK), then you know you can overpush with hands like AK or QQ.
