Tournament play - Playing Styles

[Tractor]

Ive been playing tournaments (low level buy ins upto £100 freezeouts) for about four years.
For the first two years i played what i would describe the classic tight/aggresive style, waiting very patienly for big hands and then playing them very hard, I kept bluffing to a minimum and rarely strayed off of premium hands, Using this style I made myself quite a few tournament wins and final tables and a good profit.
Over the last 2 years to 18 months my style has definatly swayed to more aggresive/ playing  much wider/ varied starting hands my results still have been ok but i was wondering why has this changed happened?

My question is...

Do players naturally go down this road or is it because of the interenet and what we read that influences are playing style does are playing style keep evolving?

Are people destined to be a certain player by their nature, or can you train someone to play in any particular style?

Not sure if this post makes much sense actually but I wondered how you would class your style of play and how much has it altered sinse you first started and how long have you been playing?

ie - Did the Rookie always play 4/7o or has his style evolved over a long period of time??

Please discuss....

[byronkincaid]

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_magazine/archives/?a_id=427&m_id=15&PHPSESSID=4c420b2003c77c30f5bea2149896418a

[AndrewT]

I believe that, minutes after being born, the Rookie cracked the midwife's AA on a 356 flop...

[wsopin07]

My style has always been aggressive, I think ones personality does play a big role in their style! I have talked w/ DC about this, his comment was that an aggressive player has the possibility of becoming more conservative, but a tight player will always be tight!

I have been working on my style, changing gears is the most important thing for me. My aggression has broght me this far, now I am trying to become a real player like DC, Mr Cool, Mr. Sunar ect. Now if I can just make sure my game never goes the way of  I will be in great shape.

[Highstack]

I am a gambler in life and a gambler with cards. Its just the way I am. My starting hands have always been too many and the marginal ones for that very reason are what they say - marginal! Over time the marginal ones even themselves out, but being looser I believe that you can get your big hands paid off. This however is not true at the start of tournament play, when I, like many others are just feeling my way in.

The key characteristic I believe that we must evolve beyond patience and discipline is not the starting hand requirements, but the ability to make correct decisions. That is not just in big laydowns that we hear people wittering on about, but also in value calls and bets. If you think that you can outplay your opponents after taking a flop with good decision making then you are well on your way.

[wsopin07]

I am a gambler in life and a gambler with cards. Its just the way I am. My starting hands have always been too many and the marginal ones for that very reason are what they say - marginal! Over time the marginal ones even themselves out, but being looser I believe that you can get your big hands paid off. This however is not true at the start of tournament play, when I, like many others are just feeling my way in.

The key characteristic I believe that we must evolve beyond patience and discipline is not the starting hand requirements, but the ability to make correct decisions. That is not just in big laydowns that we hear people wittering on about, but also in value calls and bets. If you think that you can outplay your opponents after taking a flop with good decision making then you are well on your way.

  , could not have said it better myself

[Tractor]

Yes good post,
It amazes me at my club players have been turning up week in week out fir the last four years and still play the same dross hands they did for years ago and havnt learnt on e thing, do they enjoy losing?
Im not sure but one thing I know is they do like gambling, and I think this is where the divide is...
Look at DC, Sunar, Brian, you know what I mean, there personality comes across as a methodical player.
It phycoligy(sp) of poker if far greater than we initially see, and in my opinion it is very hard to change styles, born a gambler always a gambler imo.

[wsopin07]

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