Playing Against an Aggressive Player

When you “sit down” at an on-line Texas Hold’em poker table, you are already the underdog. All things being equal, at a 10 person table you only have a 30% chance of ending up in one of the three paying positions and third place usually only covers the buy-in. However, some on-line poker sites have added a new twist to the average sit-n-go.

New “double or nothing” games have changed the payout at a single table sit-n-go. If the buy-in is, say, $104, five players will be paid $200 when the first five are eliminated. Your odds just went from 10% to 50% before the game even starts. You don’t have to come in first, you just have to stay in the game and I’ll show you how.

This first tip will sound completely opposite to every poker strategy you’ve ever learned, but there is a reason behind it. Contrary to what the greats like Doyle Brunson say, you want to play very, very tight in a double or nothing game. At least, you want to appear tight. At the start of the game, you don’t want to play many cards. Blinds are small and there’s no ante. Unless you have killer hole cards, throw them away. Even if the other players aren’t paying attention (and they usually aren’t) they will, unconsciously, peg you as a squeaky tight player.

As the game progresses you are going to see a lot of hole cards. Eventually, you will get A-A, A-K, K-K, A-Q, Q-Q and finally pocket Q’s. Watch the action, especially when you have a hand like K-K, A-A or A-K. Most of the time they will bet into you with an Ace or a King and you will be forced to fold. If you make a standard raise, you will usually get a call or an All-in. Remember, most of the time they are just checking to you, also known as lightening fast Triple-ups.

However, you are not forced to fold every hand. The idea is that you pick up a read on your opponents. If you know that they are a very tight player that will fold a lot, you can loosen up your play and get comfortable with your hand. At this stage, loosen up and get aggressive with any two cards, including the now popular suited connectors.

After a while, it doesn’t sound like that much of a difference, but the real trick is to know when to get aggressive and when to slow down. 12+3 against A-K and A-Q is not a very good hand to be playing when everyone else at the table folds. However, against the same suited connectors or small and medium pocket pairs, you have a chance of getting paid off nicely if you actually hit something and beat a few other players with this killer hand.

Once you develop a keen sense for the cards that will win pots or lose hands, you can take the guessing game out of the game and become a successful lapak303 player. You’ll be able to bet your opponents out of the game instead of letting them bet into you, guaranteeing your money every time.

Poker is not always about great hands. Sometimes you’ll need to do a great job with lesser hands to win pots. You’ll need to read your opponents to know when they are drawing better than you are, and then you’ll win as many small pots as possible.

But it all starts with knowing the difference between a bluff and a semi-bluff. A bluff is when you have a weak hand and you hope that an opponentilla plays a big hand, like a high pocket pair. When you have a weaker hand you can do this because often you will get paid off by a better hand.

Firstly, while you want your opponents to get big hands, they shouldn’t be getting big hands in certain situations if you know what to do. You want to keep your opponents in the pot with small cards, in case they have a big hand, but you want them out of the pots where a flush is likely to be.

Playing against an aggressive player can be tricky because your ability to put them out of the game can blindside you. The best thing about playing against an aggressive player is that you can call them a bluff now and again, and sometimes even reraise them.