When it comes to poker, there is more than one way to skin a cat. There are many different strategies you can use in many different situations. A good afapoker player learns to identify these situations and adjust his strategy accordingly. This is the secret to becoming a pro poker player. Playing one strategy or doing things a certain way may work one time at one table against certain players, and it may be disastrous against others.
First of all, every likes to play aggressively. Raise, raise, raise. This will work in many No Limit Holdem games. However, you will have to scale back if you are playing Limit Holdem for example. What I think works and what doesn’t work? Well, what I learned in my many years of playing poker is that aggression needs to be toned down. It is not that you should play all the hands, but that you should make sure you are playing every hand. Against very tight players, check raises may be perfectly acceptable. Against loose players, aggression will lose its effect if you play too many cards.
First of all, when I play limit poker, I like to play extremely aggressive. I know a lot of players that seem to follow the same basic strategy of playing cards that are highest card, King or Ace. It doesn’t matter to me that these players win some hands, they always seem to me to play with a lot of cards. And sometimes, when I check, they bet extremely aggressively.
Now, this leads to the point that I don’t understand what the big deal is about these check-raises. It isn’t like I am forcing people to play with their hand when I have a hand. It is just that I have a really good hand. And sometimes, people shut it down too soon. They don’t want to scare everybody off with a big raise, so they check it down, or they make a small bet, or they do a continuation bet. But a double-edged sword, the reality of it is that these check-raises force players to make a decision.
Depending on what kind of player they are, a lot of them will call, and a lot will fold. Consider Ace Jack as an example. Players are not afraid to call the big blind with Ace Jack suited, are they? It is an Ace high. However, when you hit the Ace, they will fear you, and they will definitely pay you off. Here is why.
First of all, if someone has gone all-in, you will probably get some calls. Even if nobody out there has gone all-in, if there are a lot of players, a simple 4-card flush will get some money in the pot. Even if nobody out there has it, you can still get a lot of small money raises out of it. That’s especially true of online play. You can’t do this in cash games, because then people are just coming to see your cards.
Secondly, even if you get called, you are still at a disadvantage. Even if you hit your Ace, you will probably lose to a bigger flush the next one. You may still lose, however, if your opponent had two overcards (such as aces) and hits two pair, you will win all the money in the pot if you have the better hand.
Thus, although Ace Jack is a good hand to play, you shouldn’t get too attached to them. They are only ace high, but there are certain occasions when you will want to fold them for whatever reason, or for just quick rotations of the table. (Hi roll, or tournament game)
Playing aggressively
When you decide to play aggressively, you should be willing to put more money in the pot than you might normally would with passive play. This is key to the success of an aggressive player. You can’t sit on your great hands, wait for the perfect moment to come, like a proposes. That never happens for most people.
Those hands will come, one at a time. Many people become too impatient, and start to play too aggressively, and they lose as a result.ario when they should be playing passively. Finally, many people who are normally passive watch people so-so or even poor play so-so hands, and become progressively more aggressive. So, if you are one of those players who sit still or fold and then suddenly start raising people with very-so hands, then you are being a more aggressive player in the momentary hope of pulling out a win. And people will definitely call you because you are placing a bet, or bluffing the pot with very-so hands.
The key to playing aggressively is being selective. The more often you see people betting, the less likely you can be to call or fold after you’ve placed your bet.