Stereotypes often times hold some truth. The same is true in poker.

Poker is a game of imperfect information. I try to use these stereotypes and imperfect information to my advantage. Being  that I am black pro poker player I am sure people group me in stereotypes at first glance. I love this.  You must use and embrace this. People who choose to change their mind slowly or not at all is to your advantage. The following is how I choose to stereotype. Please do not no take offense. This is just my opinion based on what I have seen over the years. Older Caucasian men are usually nitty passive fish. Most of them are very patience and some may nut peddle. Asians middle aged to older and Armenians seem to gamble it up more, especially on the west coast. Young players with book bags are usually regular grinders/ professionals.  I generally don’t give woman much credit to being competent players until proven otherwise. I can only count one hand of profitable woman players I see regularly in south Florida. They are usually very tight or extremely aggressive. I think this is to over compensate for being a woman in male dominated game. Younger black guys seem to love to gamble it up. All these players have leaks some pre-flop some post-flop. Your stereotypes may differ from mine in your home casino, take the time to figure out which hold true.  

Its important to note that my opinions do change once the villain has given me a reason to.

Their are a few other stereotypes I have noticed that hold true. A player who buys in the maximum in a cap game seems to be more skilled. If you see a player top off his stack he probably is a pro. If you see a player buy in the minimum it’s likely be is a player of less skill. Pay attention to how players stack there chips. A neat stacked usually means tight. A sloppy usually means lose.

Next entry I will take a look at a strategy many beginning players overlook, floating and when to float.