I’m assuming a lot of us have either heard the played out Amarillo Slim quote, “Poker is a game of people… It’s not the hand I hold, it’s the people that I play with.” Even if you haven’t heard the quote (where’s Amarillo Slim at anyways these days), you probably get the idea that you really need to know the people you’re playing against in order to be successful.
However, just analyzing player’s cards and tendencies won’t always do you a whole lot of good. That’s why it is necessary to think about what level your opponents are at when playing poker. When you play at the lower stakes, you’ll find a lot of people who are at the first level of thinking when it comes to poker. Essentially, these first level thinkers are only worried about their own cards and will play on despite what you may have.
Second level players are going to be a little tougher to deal with since they know what good cards are, but they also realize that you could be holding a good hand as well. While a second level thinker will have superior skills to the first level players, they also are missing something in the equation. You’ll normally find these types of players in the $1/$2/ to $3/$6 limits.
The third level players, on the other hand, have put everything together and not only think about their cards and yours, but they also take into account what cards you’re thinking they have. These players are obviously the toughest to play against as they have a complete poker game. You will most likely encounter these players in the higher stakes. And depending upon what stakes you play, you’ll need to be aware of where your own game is at before embarking on certain limits in poker.