You don’t always get a lot of time to get a feel for your opponents in an EPT event. Maybe you’re short-stacked. Maybe you just got moved to a new table. Being able to make a snap-judgment of another player could be the difference between getting your money in good or bad. One way to quickly gain information at the table is to make some general assumptions based on the player’s country of origin. Here are some basic generalizations of poker players from different areas. Remember, these are just generic stereotypes that most certainly will not apply in every instance.
Scandinavian Players
In general, players from Scandinavian countries are known for playing relentlessly aggressive. Many of the best players in the world are from these countries. Patrik Antonius and Ilari Sahamies are Finnish. Annette Obrestad and Trond Erik Eidsvig are Norwegian. Erik “Erik123″ Sagstrom is Swedish. Gus Hansen and Soren Kongsgaard are Danish. All of these players have gained notoriety for their ultra-aggressive style of play. “Unknown” Scandinavians are also typically aggressive since they tune into the same learning channels are their more successful peers.
American Players
American players are kind of a mixed bag. Some Americans are pretty new to the poker scene while others have been playing for a very long time. Plenty of Americans, such as Barry Greenstein, Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, and Mike Matusow are not endlessly aggressive. Sure, they’re active players, but they aren’t constantly making huge bluffs for their whole stack. Americans tend to be more middle-of-the-road type of players who lack the courage to play completely erratic but have the pride not to play super-tight.
Canadian Players
Most of the successful Canadian players have a very strong mathematical sense for the game. A lot of them who have had success on the EPT, such as Mike McDonald and Glen Chorny, came up in the same school of having math serve as a fundamental basis for all of their decision making. Canadian players could best be summed up by the word “solid”. They won’t be the most aggressive ones at the table, but when their chips are going into the pot, you had better believe they’ve got the best of it.
Spanish and Italian Players
These players are perhaps the ones with the highest propensity to chase draws. The theme here is that they don’t like to fold. When you’re involved in a pot with a Spanish or Italian player, make sure to bet a little more than you normally would.
German Players
Like Americans, Germans are kind of a mixed bag. Some are very aggressive (Johannes Strassmann) while others are active, but sensible (Florian Langmann, Sebastian Ruthenberg). Most of the successful German players are very young, so like most young players, they don’t shy away from the action. The key is to find out how long they’ve been playing poker. New players who qualified through an online satellite might be pretty tight, while experienced Germans buying in directly will almost certainly be looking to establish themselves as very aggressive.
French Players
French players are known for being very, very active at the tables. They hate folding, even if their hand is terrible. If you flop a really strong hand against a French player, bet, bet, and bet again. There’s no need to get cute or try to trap them. Just play straightforward and take as much as you can.