5 Responses

1. Spadfa

   November 10th, 2009 at 5:11 pm

   1

   One thing to make clear here is aggression is not all about bluffing.
   Successful aggression is really based on 3 things.
   1.Insurance: Making people fold when you have the best cards at that point in the hand. Say you have JJ and the flop comes A of hearts J of hearts and 9 of spades. There is a possible flush draw and a possible straight draw. What you have to do is use your aggression to stop the hand at that point or make it prohibitively expensive for someone to play a draw.
   The same can be said for high pockets cards like AA KK QQ JJ you need to make a significant raise pre flop (say 6 times the blinds so that you “insure” that people make the wrong decision in calling.
   2. Making your good cards count when you have the best hand. There is nothing worse than when a new player has a monster hand checking or calling when they should bet. If you have the best cards make it expensive to see your winning hand. It is a science of how much you should bet, but it should not be cheap (like 1-2 times the blinds).
   3.Correctly reading the situation. If you are last to act (say the dealer) and there are two limpers (people who just call) to the flop and you think they haven’t hit, place a bet, ensure that your aggression is within limits and usually double blinds to pot size.
   Correctly reading the situation comes from reading the board for draws and knowing the player that are still in the hand and what they could have and how they play.
   The problem with TV poker is that they don’t show the hundreds of hands in which Phil Ivey folded, they only show the interesting hands. What pros do for the most part is highly calculated and if you are only just starting out in poker, only bluff when there is a very high chance that you will win.
   Also only try to bluff small numbers of people don’t try to bluff 4 people, it just won’t won’t work as “someone has something”.
   Aggression has many facets these are only a few.
   I have a blog that has more tips on it. Link below.

2. Alex

   November 10th, 2009 at 11:43 pm

   2

   It only really works if you’re playing for real money. Even then, it’s not until like $6 sit and go’s that it works. I wouldn’t recommend being uber aggressive in middle position. If you’re gonna be aggressive in early position, consider doing it only with minimum of AJ, maybe even minimum AQ, and with pocket pairs from 8’s and upwards only. In late position, you can probably do it with A10, and 7’s and upwards. The reason that Durr and Ivey are successfull at it is because they only play with $1000’s, so 1) people don’t want to lose that kind of money and 2) they know how good of a player they are.
   Of course opponents will twig on and know you’re being aggressivee, so be tight aggressive instead.
   Good luck.

3. TheDover

   November 11th, 2009 at 2:57 am

   3

   Use a positive thinking approach and banish your fear of losing.
   Here is a link to a pge on the effects of a positive attitude in agressive poker games. http://www.thedoverpro.com/poker-attitud…
   Good luck!

4. J-Money

   November 11th, 2009 at 9:13 am

   4

   the game is not all about luck… just get in cheap or raise with good hands and watch your opponents very carefully and any read of weakness by them you go over the top and if they are a halfway smart person they will fold.

5. Dr Pepper

   November 11th, 2009 at 3:37 pm

   5

   bet more
   and wear a cap facing forward and sunglasses dont let people read your eyes….
   the whole game is about luck
   try think what others are thinking make wacky decisions to stun your opponent