Win With Less Aggression, More Force

01:08 Jun 6th, 2020 Poker

Win With Less Aggression, More Force

Are you an aggressive player? That is good up to a point,

but sometimes you can be too aggressive for your own good.

That's the time to slow down.

Sometimes being too aggressive at poker will turn you into a loser.

Now:

I am definitely PRO-aggression. I admire Doyle Brunson and Daniel Negreanu for their stances on aggressive play. 

But I have concluded that people can raise on too many hands that fail to pay off.

I base this finding on experience. We have all played against super-aggressive players who seem to raise every other hand. Now we know that nobody gets a raising hand every time and this is where you can get an edge on your opposition.

How many times do you find yourself looking at pocket fives or sixes and you run into a raiser?

Let's say you have been keeping track of this raiser (something you should always do, by the way) and he has been raising more often than he should. You know this means he is probably raising with a less than premium hand. So…

…what is to prevent you from taking that small pair and re-raising him?

Absolutely nothing. Zero. Zilch.

When you re-raise a raiser, it makes him start to think. He puts you on a higher pair even if one does not exist. And when he misses his flop, which he will often do, it makes him vulnerable to fold when you come out betting after the flop.

Granted…

…you will sometimes run into a premium hand and when that happens, you will lose. But it won't happen very often and when it does, you simply fold and chalk up a loss.

This kind of play will make your opponents treat you with much more respect than they would normally and that is to your advantage.

You should also raise with fewer hands. I would limit my raising hands to A-K, A-A, K-K, Q-Q, and J-J.

All your other big hands like A-Q, A-J, K-Q and K--J should be restricted to calling hands. This kind of play will get you in much less trouble and should put you in a position to predominate in a hand over a lose raiser.

Be more aggressive when you call a raise from in the blinds. If a pair falls with a small card, come out betting on the flop as well as on fourth street. You will win more often than you lose, especially against a super-aggressive player.

If a person in early position raises and an ace falls on the flop, beware if he checks. This is the kind of flop where he could have hit big time and is just waiting for you to wager.

Remember, every hand is a winner and all the other hands are losers. Keep that in mind and take your knowledge to the bank.