Selective Aggression – Know when to Hit the Brakes
Aggression
n.
1. The act of initiating hostilities or invasion.
2. The practice or habit of launching attacks.
3. Hostile or destructive behavior or actions.
The ability to be aggressive at the poker table has many known advantages. You put
pressure on your opponents, you win pots that you would not otherwise win, you exploit
the weaknesses of your tight opponents, and you quite often get free cards because
people are afraid to bet into you.
In a tournament, this skill is extremely beneficial due to the increased pressure
of time and rising blinds. You tend to accumulate chips a bit faster when you’re
willing to push your weaker opponents around a bit.
While aggression is certainly a great skill, I would venture to say that having
the ability to turn it on and off at will is an even greater skill. There are many
players out there who can push people around very well. However, sometimes they
have a hard time hitting the brakes and wind up putting a few too many chips into
the wrong pots. They end up going from the first and second definitions listed above
to the third definition: “hostile or destructive behavior or actions”.
Possessing “selective” aggression allows you to push where people are likely to
fold, and play tightly where you’re not likely to steal the pot with aggression.
So…how much aggression is too much? How do I know when to turn it off?
There’s certainly no hard and fast rule for this. Figuring out the time to slow
down is based purely on table feel.
In general, when you find you’re getting played back at too much (people are no
longer respecting your raises/re-raises); you probably need to ease up a bit.
Once you cross over from the “tight-aggressive player” image to the “overly aggressive”
player image, you’ll find that your ability to bluff with mediocre holdings is greatly
diminished, and you wind up simply building bigger pots with weak holdings and opponents
who won’t back down.
Also, pay attention to who your opponent is. If they’re a rock, and they’re playing
back at you, it’s likely that they have been waiting for this extremely good hand
to get the courage to play against you. Be very wary of a player who’s played all
of two hands, and has now come back over the top of you.
I’m a tight player, where are some good places I can start being selectively
aggressive?
If you’re not used to playing aggressively, you should start with some simple tactics.
Find a range of hands that are outside of your normal range and start open-raising
with them in middle-late position. Suited connectors or suited one-gaps (5-7 of
clubs, etc) are a good starting point. Make your raises the same size as you would
with your premium cards. After the flop, if your opponent checks to you, bet out
half the pot. Most of the time, you’ll end up taking it down… especially against
an opponent who’s been paying attention to your tight play thus far.
Conclusion
Being aggressive at the poker table certainly has its advantages. But being selective
about when and where you display this aggression will have you taking down pots
when nobody wants to fight, and saving your chips when your aggression is likely
in vein.
LearnHowToPlayPoker.org
|