If there’s one thing I’ve learned from a few decades playing live cash games, it’s that most players only know how to play one game: their own. They can only play the style they’re used to. The style they like. The style they bring with them no matter what game they’re in or who’s at their table.
If I had one piece of advice for an aspiring live poker player, it would be this: don’t be like that!
Poker, obviously, doesn’t care what kind of game you want to play. It’s about the game that’s happening right there in front of you, the one changing every single session.
One thing that’s helped me avoid this pitfall is an idea I call The Poker Matrix—though that makes it sound much fancier and more complicated than it actually is.
The Matrix is not a complex system of selecting preflop hands or a rigid set of rules to follow religiously, but a way of analyzing the game you’re in so your can bring out the version of you that best fits this exact table.
The Poker Matrix
The Poker Matrix asks you to assess three simple factors:
- How strong are my cards today? Good, average, or bad?
- How aggressive are my opponents today? Aggressive, passive, or mixed?
- How is the overall game today? Loose, average, or tight?
That’s it. Three simple inputs that dictate everything else.
In my mind, understanding these three factors, and knowing what to do with each unique combination, is enough for most low-stakes cash game players to stop the bleeding and begin building the foundation of real edge at the poker table.
Speaking of unique combinations, with each of the three factors having three options themselves, we end up with 27 unique poker environments. Good cards/Passive players/Loose table, Average cards/Mixed players/Tight table, Bad cards/Aggressive players/Loose table etc.
Once we’ve outlined each of the 27 combinations, all that’s left to do is compile a baseline gameplan for each one.
Say, for example, that you’re sitting in a standard $1/$3 game. It’s loose and passive. Everyone’s limping into every pot, rarely 3-betting, and stationing everything. Meanwhile, your cards are average: some suited connectors, a couple of small pairs, middling hands like king-jack and ace-ten offsuit. What do you do?
If you take a little off-the-table time to think about how you’d enter an appropriate strategy for these conditions into the Matrix, you likely would arrive at something like: don’t bluff too much (since your opponents are stationary and your cards are average), see cheap flops in position, bet big when you catch a solid piece. Or even more simply: squeeze max value when you can, and don’t get fancy. That’s the version of you this Matrix needs.
Now switch to a different Matrix combination.
Same cards, but everything else is different. You move up to $2/$5 and the action is wild. The players are more aggressive, constant pressure, three-bets coming from every direction. What’s your move now?
Maybe you tighten up your opening range and play your value hands and high-equity bluffs more aggressively. Maybe you look for spots to trap more than usual, knowing your aggressive opponents will hang themselves. Maybe you keep in mind that wider preflop ranges means more postflop air when choosing your bet sizing. Maybe all you do is remind yourself that you’re not here to be clever or get in an ego battle, only to maximize your likelihood of making money.
Because that’s the real benefit of the Matrix: it reminds you that the right strategy only exists in context. That there’s not one way to play the game. No universal poker truth. Only the right decision for right now.
If you take the time to think through each of the 27 combinations and understand how to apply your skills differently in each one, you’ll always know which version of yourself to bring to the table.
In my opinion, that’s what separates the good live poker players from everyone else. Not the cards. Not the luck. But the ability to become who the game says they should be. Hopefully the Poker Matrix can help make that process easier for you as it has for me.
Good luck!
