12-21-04, LearnTexasHoldem:

Learning The Value Of Aggression

Question/Comment: Good evening,

Just wanted to say "thanks" for some great, no-nonsense articles and especially for sharing your mistakes...I was beginning to think that good poker players never made mistakes and that they were born that way (at least they would have you think that while they are taking your money)

Top 3 Beginner Rooms

I'm a 38 year old poker rookie and have been at it for about 6 months now. I got started because I had an open invitation to join a weekly poker group of guys that said they were more than willing to "teach" me how to play the game. Fortunately, I was able to cut my teeth by playing online first to get a feel for the game and did this for a couple of weeks before I joined the real game. I'd read some articles online but hadn't come across your site yet. Needless to say, I didn't do too well online or in person.

I was what you call a "weak tight" player which served OK online since there are so many new, loose players but was a disaster in my real game. I quickly earned the nickname of Nate "Too Tight" and typically one of two things happened when I did decide to play a hand...1-I'd get pushed out of the pot, usually with a bluff; or 2-Everyone would fold and I would get no action on the hand.

I came across your site and read the articles for the first time back in August while we were on vacation. It was quite a bit to take in all at once so I decided to work on a few things at a time and the first was to cure my raise-o-phobia. I even practiced saying "all-in" just to hear the words come out of my mouth. At our next weekly game, I wish I had a camera to take a snapshot of everyone faces when I not only re-raised a bluff to take down the pot but turned my cards over to show them that I had absolutely nothing....guess I wasn't Nate "Too Tight" anymore. It was a great feeling....I got 3rd that night in a 14 man tournament and would have done better except that my new found power caused me to get way too loose and the veteran players adapted their games to account for it.

Well, I read your articles again today and my comprehension was even higher this time around since I've played so many more hands since August. I am now concentrating on position play (both mine and my opponents) and on being the initiator when I decide to play a hand. I entered an 27 person online tournament tonight and made it to heads up....but what felt good was the way that I did it.

My goal beginning today, was to drastically reduce my limp in's and checks unless the situation really warranted it. What happened was that I won alot of pots without ever having to go to a showdown (even with marginal cards) and the hands I did loose weren't big losses because people would simply call me instead of betting and raising. People would figure me for loose-aggressive so they'd sit and wait to catch good cards and try to trap me...if it felt funny and I wasn't sure I leaned on the side of folding (staying out of the gray area) with the thinking of "I'm not the aggressor in this hand so let's wait for another hand where I can be".

Because I was the aggressor, things just seemed to work better...my bluffs worked better, my traps worked better, my big pairs worked better, even my losing hands worked to my advantage when I let someone call me down even though I knew I would loose to them. In the tournament tonight, everything seemed to slow down...I was thinking 2 or 3 moves ahead and even was able to rebound from my bad decisions and change the way I was playing at times if I needed to.

I think I got a glimpse into what it's like to be a tight aggressive player and I can see why you call this the top of the pyramid. I'm sure I'll be back to some of my old habits soon enough, but for tonight at least, I felt more like a poker player and less like an ATM machine if you know what I mean.

How did it all end? Since my play all night was more aggressive, I kept stealing his big and small blinds with preflop bets (which I'm sure he wasn't happy with). On the final hand, I had AcTc and bet to go after his blinds again...he called. The flop came...all clubs....I had the nut. I made a sizeable bet to make him think I was trying to steal the pot (something I'd done earlier)...he came over the top and I put him all in....he called....game over.

Keep up the great info and thanks for helping me to be someone people would refer to as a "solid poker player"...at least for one night anyways.

Nathan

Answer: Normally I don't post emails that are just complimenting the site (even though I enjoy getting them of course), but this one has some valuable lessons about aggression and why being a bettor instead of a caller is essential to winning poker. Remember a betting hand can win in two ways: make the people fold or by showing down a real hand.

A calling hand can only win in one way: showing down the winner. If you are just learning texas holdem this point may not sink in as much as it should. If I were you I would make a note of it and if you play online, leave it next to your computer or read it before you play in another live game -- it can't be over emphasised.

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