Let's discuss aggressiveness in limit hold'em. Aggressive play is a key element to winning poker, but can aggression cross the line and become recklessness? While everyone defines that line in his own context, based upon his individual playing style and mood de jour, conventional wisdom always espouses selective, aggressive play as the most successful.
Play tight but aggressive has been the best poker advice for newcomers just starting out but online poker put aggressiveness in a whole new realm. That venue not only encourages it, but the speed of the game and ease of clicking buttons seem to fan the fires of macho behavior.
Since selective and aggressive play is rooted in the old adage that raisers are winners and callers are losers, let's examine some caveats that should be embraced regarding aggressiveness. While frequently raising is definitely a solid style of play, one should make the most of his raises when in good position. Your raises may well encourage others to raise or re-raise so don't forget to respect some of your opponent's raises. How many times, while holding second or third pair, have you called a raise or two only to find out you were drawing to a two outer?
That behavior is usually due to the inability to come to grips with the fact that your opponent wasn't just trying to move you off your hand, he was actually value betting. When one lets emotion drift into the equation rational thought often goes out the window. How many times have you seen, or been a part of, a raising war based more on testosterone levels than on hand values? Don't succumb to the visceral thrill of that activity-it really isn't heart smart for your bankroll.
The value of learning your opponent's tendencies is key to all elements of the game and can help guide you about who should be raised as well as who shouldn't, and help you determine which situations are best suited for raising. Being a little more aggressive by raising with marginal hand values is solid play against the tight, timid rocks. However, loose raises against maniacs only increase your standard deviation because unlike the rocks, who are prone to fold, maniacs will re-raise when given an opportunity.
How about stealing the blinds through aggressive play? You should always consider this play with the knowledge of how the players in the blinds are likely to react. Even if you feel that both blinds are tighter than Ebenezer Scrooge you should still throw away your worst 25 percent of starting hands in the muck so you can disguise the fact that you are raising with just about any two cards in order to steal the blinds. If you raise every single time you're in position to attack the blinds your chicanery will be duly noted, and even the tightest of rocks will begin playing back at you.
Our goal for this time together is to re-examine our aggressiveness and attempt to determine if we are using aggressive play to our best advantage or possibly crossing over the line into reckless play. If we determine that we might be a tad on the passive side, then ratchet up the aggression. If, however, we determine that the blinds are always playing back at us and we seem to be raising maniacs with marginal holdings from out of position then maybe-just maybe-we need to re-tool our game. It's something to think about. Remember, if the shoe fits-buy another just like it.
See you next "TIME"
