05-25-05, LearnTexasHoldem:
Smart Aggressive
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Then came the dreaded big mistake.
I was holding a pair of Jacks. From the button, I raised two early callers to 1,000. (blinds were 200/400 at this point) The blinds folded and as did one of the early callers. Good deal - I wanted to be heads up at that point. Flop came A-A-x. My opponent checked. I fired at the pot - 4K bet. (my thinking was that he did not have the Ace or would have done more than call on his original pre-flop bet) Oops, he goes overtop and puts me all in. At that point, I had about 10K to my name. I made myself think again about him having the Ace and decided he must have a mid-pair. I call. Oops - he has the Ace and I don't suck out. What I didn't consider enough was how willing this guy would be to go all in without the Ace. He is a wiley player, but doesn't over-extend very often without cause. In retrospect, this was my mistake.
Next tournament, again, I was doing well early on (around 15K I think). From the big blind, I'm allowed to play for free with 8d-2d. Flop comes Ad-Kd-5d. There were 3 others in the pot, so there was $1,600. I led out with $2K hoping someone had hit the A or K and I'd get a call. Well, I got more than that. One guy went all in over the top. It would have cost me most of the chips I had left to call. This guy is not as good a player, but in this situation, that made it a tougher decision.
I was afraid of two things - two pair that sucks out on me for the full house and the bigger flush. I ended up laying down because I didn't want to risk my stack remaining stack at that point.
After the hand, he made a comment about having a lot of cards that could have helped him.(I told him I laid down the low flush looking for him to tell me what he had) This means I was winning and he had the two pair and probably the chance to pull the higher flush.I ended up winning this tourney eventually, so it couldn't have been too bad a decision.
Enough long winded set-up…
How does one balance being an aggressive player (with appropriate tightness of course) with the ability to lay down properly?
In the first example, should I have laid down?
In retrospect, I think the answer is yes - I focused too much on the math of the situation rather than the player.
In the second example, should I have called?
Against an inferior player, should I fear a one in three (his approx odds if my math is right) chance to double up vs. being out?
Last aside - I'm having to guard against players like the first example guy using my aggression against me now days. But the evolving nature of this game is what makes it so great!
Rico
Answer: In the first hand, I would be curious as to what the other card on the board was with the pair of Aces. If the board is AA7 or something, you have to ask the question is the person capable of reraising all-in against you with a hand worse than yours? He called your raise preflop, then instead of betting into you on the flop to possibly push you out, he check raised all-in. Look at it from his perspective, you raised him preflop, then bet 4k into a flop with two Aces on it. It seems pretty unlikely that he would go all-in as a complete bluff after you already put so much of your own chips in. Granted, this isn't an easy lay down on your part, but it seems like the clear one to me.
Now for the other hand, I think you should have gone all-in. Your biggest concern in that hand is that the person would fold because they didn't have enough to call you with, not that you would be out drawn. Even if the guy did have a bigger card for the flush draw than yours, there are only 7 of them left in the deck. If he has two pair, he only has 4 outs left. Those are great odds for you.
Being aggressive isn't being reckless or stupid, at least not aggressiveness in a good player's game. An aggressive player is optimistic about most hands until the signs show the contrary, while a weak player is pessimistic until the hands are shown down. Raising your JJ preflop isn't overly aggressive, that's just regular play. Betting into any flop against one opponent after you raised preflop is a good aggressive play, but after they check raise you, then it changes.
At that point, you need to reevaluate lest you become a loose aggressive player. It is very difficult to play against opponents who exploit position and make you flop a hand, yet play well postflop and avoid calling down your good hands when you play back at them. There is value in position and being the bettor in a hand, but you can negate these advantages if you become a calling station afterwards. Let me give you an example...
Let's say you are on the button, or cutoff seat (one off from the button), with A8s after everyone has folded to you. Most likely your hand is better than the blinds hands, so you raise. The big blind calls, which will most likely happen. The flop comes back J-9-4. The big blind checks to you. The flop missed you, but there is no reason to think that the big blind flopped any of it either. In the event that no one flopped a hand, the person betting will win, so you bet. The big blind now raises. Depending on how much the big blind raises, you'll most likely need to just muck. Everything was going right for you in the hand until the big blind defined his hand, saying basically, "I have a piece of this." So you fold and go to the next hand. See the good aggressiveness allows you to do that for profit, the bad aggressiveness will get into trouble and make you call in spots when you shouldn't.
The higher up in limits you get, the more difficult it will be to walk the tight rope between being reckless and being aggressive, because smaller edges are exploited. In lower limit games, since people are playing so badly, you can get away with just playing a tight game, waiting for AA and KK all day. At bigger games, people are going to seize opportunities with even the smallest of edges, if they think they can get away with it. But with this aggressiveness, of even just raising based on position only, comes inherent vulnerability.
I suggest that whenever you sit down at a new game, start out by playing quality solid poker. Wait for good cards and see if you can win like that. If you get no action, you'll need to loosen up some and be more aggressive with position so you can get value on your good hands. In both situations though, whenever someone tells you with their actions that you aren't the favorite anymore in the hand, you should get out as cheaply as possible.
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