Basic Aggression

An early attempt to convince myself to play aggressive. Simple, basic poker concept. I am posting this only to see what my new blog looks like. I'm assuming that I'll be the only one reading this (at least for a while).

There are two key components to poker – cards and chips. Most poker players focus on their cards. By playing more aggressive, you put your chips to work for you, and the cards become less important.

Poker Lesson 101 (which we all forget from time to time): There are two ways to win at poker –

1. You have the best hand at the showdown.

2. You make your opponent fold before the showdown.

The only way to make you opponent fold before the showdown is to play aggressive.

Aggression doesn’t mean playing loose, playing a lot of hands, or playing like a maniac. Playing aggressive means taking the lead in betting when you play a hand. You don’t have to play a lot of hands, but you should be aggressive when you do play a hand. You can take the lead in betting by simply betting if you are the first to act, or raising if someone has bet in front of you. This is the essence of aggression, plain and simple.

Your goal with aggression is to make your opponent respond to your actions. If you find yourself facing lots of difficult decisions, this means that your opponent is betting and making you respond her actions. You want your opponent to make lots of difficult decisions, and you can do this only with betting first, or raising after she bets.

So, this sounds simple enough. But how can you actually make your play more aggressive? Initially, there are three very simple rules to follow. This can be incorporated into your play each time you sit at the table, which has the overall effect of raising your aggression level:

When in doubt about whether to check or bet – bet.

When in doubt about whether to call or raise – raise.

When in doubt about whether to call or fold – fold.

A key part of each rule is “when in doubt.” There will be certain situations that warrant a call, and other situations that warrant a check. When you are confident that the correct action is a check or a call, do it. But when you are in doubt about the best action (which happens frequently) err on the side of aggression. For example, in a no-limit hold ‘em cash game, you raise in middle position with pocket jacks, the button calls and everyone else folds. The flop is Ks-7s-3h. As you expected, there’s one over-card to your jacks, but at least its not an ace. Where do you stand in the hand? Since you are in doubt, make a bet and find out, rather than checking and then calling her bet or folding. If she calls your bet, you have some information about her hand. If she folds, then you win, and basic aggression pays off.

Another simple way to raise your aggression is to limp less and raise more pre-flop. You’ve heard this before, but do you really practice it? Early in tournaments, the tendency is to limp along with everyone else and see a cheap flop. Many NLHE cash games take on this texture, also. If you play along by limping, you fail to take the lead in the hand. By raising pre-flop, you have announced that you have a hand that is at least stronger than a limping hand (even if it actually is not), and you make the other players respond to your action. Then on the flop, this allows you to again take the lead in betting and continue to make opponents respond. If you happen to hit your hand, you are in great shape. If you didn’t hit your hand, you still have the chance of winning the pot by making your opponent fold the best hand.

And, since you raised pre-flop, many players will expect you to make a bet on the flop, since you took the lead in betting pre-flop. They will anticipate your aggression, and will be thinking that they should be responding to your action rather than making you respond. This is where the game gets more interesting, and allows players to set traps, slow-play, and other tricky stuff. But, the point is that by taking the lead pre-flop, other players naturally have the mind-set that you started with the best hand and will therefore be responding to your action.

If you incorporate these suggestions in to your overall game and raise your aggression, other players will learn that you are aggressive and that they will have to respond to your actions. If you play with a regular group of opponents, they will learn your aggressive tendencies over time. If you just sat down at an on-line table with a bunch of anonymous players, they will also observe that you regularly take the lead in betting and will have to respond to your aggression. In either case, your opponents will anticipate that when you are involved in a pot, they will have to respond to your actions.

This will give you the lead in any game. If a player acts before you, you want them to be thinking: “If I limp in and she gets involved in this pot, then I’m going to have to call her raise, because she’s always raising the limpers.” If you act first and open for a raise, you want any opponent acting after you to think: “If I call her raise, I’m going to face another bet on the flop because she’s aggressive.” You want your opponents to be constantly concerned about your aggression when you are involved in a pot. This enhances your chances to win by method #2 – win the pot before the showdown.

Couple your enhanced aggression with tighter pre-flop hand selection, and you’ve got a winning style.