Saturday, September 22, 2007

Aggressive VS Passive

Aggressive and passive refer to the amount you bet in any given situation. The more you bet the more aggressive you are. Most professional poker players recommend a tight-aggressive general playing style. The truth is your playing style should be flexible. You need to be able to adapt your style to fit different situations, for instance a ten player sit and go should be played differently then a three hundred player tournament. Table position should also be taken into consideration when determining your level of aggression in a hand. Also you need to be able to react to the other players and their styles.

Generally aggressive works better then passive. When playing texas holdem poker you need to bet when you have good cards because most of the cards played are shared with all the players. Being aggressive makes players on a draw take a big gamble or fold. I like to implement a passive strategy against loose players. When I have a big hand I limp in, then they bet aggressively and I raise the pot with the best cards.

You must play different styles when faced with different situations. In ten player sit and go I start out passive then later in the tournament I change to aggressive. You can win pots with the second best hand by betting big against a passive player. On the other hand you can trap an aggressive player by playing passively. The question in the back of your mind should be what does the other guy have? An aggressive bet can help you to answer this question because if someone calls or raises a big bet it usually means that they have a big hand.

Table position needs to be taken into consideration. When in early position you should ease off a bit so that you have a chance to see what the other players do before you have allot of chips in the pot because it is easy to walk into a trap playing aggressively in early position. Late position on the other hand is where you can turn it up a little as it is easier to judge the value of your opponents hand by the amount they bet.

Aggressive wins over passive most times. All you need to do is pay attention to the other players playing styles, as well as your table position and you will know when to turn it up or down. Take every hand serious and pick your moments, then you will be raking in the chips.

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