Well I've looked at a few styles of play, and I've tested them out. The Phill Hellmuth tight agressive play and the Brunson agressive play. What I've found is you really have to combine the two and adjust depending on what kind of players you are against. Some tables you just can't bluff anyone off a pot, it doesn't take too many tries for it to fail and people see you fail at it before everyone is eager to call your bluff.
That is where you have to be aware of your table immage, what do the players think of me right now. One of the things that Brunson says is " I give action so I get action" this is very true. The tightest player in the world can sit and play nothing but the top cards, the problem comes from three things. #1 It takes alot of time to wait for those cards, and then sometimes the flop won't even help , you'll miss a pair or your JJ finds a flop of over cards. #2 If you are only playing those cards and only betting on them if people are aware they will cut off your action, ah the "rock" just pre flop raised $2 for the first time in 25 minutes, everyone folds. So next time you slow play it, which brings us to #3 You can still lose with premium cards. So you wait all night, now you got AA, you can't bet it too hard before the flop you did that 40 minutes ago and won 35 cents, so you slow play it ... ahh ... 6 people in the pot flop comes 5,6,8 with a flush draw .... eek ... I better go for it now raise $15 :( someone called on the flush and won it.
Brunson's stratagey is super agressive, in theory picking up alot of small pots cause people are scared of you, you use that pot money to gamble on big hands that have outs. Since your not always buying, not always gambling, sometimes you'll have the best hand, some times you'll get "lucky" sometimes people will think your loose and give you action, it all works out in the end... in theory. The hard thing is establishing this in the players minds. Some players it just won't work against, sometimes you have a bad string where 3 times your bluffs fail, and you run into the nutz when you think you have the better hand, then your immage is ruined, you have to play tight for a hour to get the money back off the action you'll get since you seem to suck, then another hour to get it threw your opponents minds that you are a dangerous man, with out going broke again.
Some where in the middle is where i'm trying to keep it. The one thing I am learning to do alot of though is play alot of pots and buy alot of pots. The two go hand and hand, also learning the difference between isolation hands and drawing hands. Hands you want people in and hands you want everyone out of. That blew my mind that i'd ever want more people in a pot as it takes away my chances to win, but believe it or not sometimes you do.
If i am in the big blind and i have Q,7 i've invested 25 cents in it, now someone raises it to $1.75, and the next two guys call. That's a pot of $5.50 and i have to put in $1.50 to have a shot at it. I'm willing to go with a Q,7 off suit at that pot. If no one else had called the raise and it was $2 pot and $1.50 for me to get in it heads up with Q,7 ... what's the point?
As this particular hand played out 2,6,7 rainbow comes up, i make a bet of $2 and have one caller, I believe he is the original raiser. Next card comes up Q, I think it is my bet and i bet $3, he comes back at me putting me all in for $30. I go for it and he has AQ, my Q,7 holds up and wins, he leaves the table in disgust.
Relative pre flop hand strenght is all based on , if nothing comes up, if nothing comes up AK has Ace high best kicker, AA is very strong cause it's a pair of aces with out any help etc. The thing is no one knows what is going to happen on a flop. If it's going to be all Spades, if QQ9 is going to come out etc etc, even the strongest hands can get beat by the flop. If i was playing like i used to , very tight then i would have folded that Q,7 off suit with out even thinking.
Give action .. get action. Now people see i call $2 raises with off suit rags? Now they either think i'm loose , stupid or very smart. Either way they dont' know what I play with and wether that flop of 4,9,J that came up gave me the nutz or not after they raised with AK suited and missed and now i'm betting out the pot. So they fold, or maybe they call, and maybe I have the jack etc etc .
Earlier i had a hand where i had J,4 off suit and the flop was 3 rag's with a clubs flush draw. Everyone checks then one guy bets $3 at the pot of $5 , I take it to be a weak bet and see how he will react to my reraise up to $5 , he calls it. Now it's my turn to bet as the next card isn't a club. I bet $5 and he calls it. River comes up no club, now my gut is saying you've put like $12 into this hand and if you bet him $5 and he has the nutz or any of these cards he may come back at you for $20 and you have nothing, you have jack high also known as jack shit lol , but yet the voice of good poker, the voice of how i win this hand says, Bet and if he missed his flush he will fold, i bet $5 and he folds the hand.
If he had come back at me? I would have lost ... if he called? I would have lost ... You have to be at peace with that, if that happens. If he happens then everyone see's I bet $5 at absolutely nothing, then I rebuy my chips and start to play like a rock, makin the same bet plays as I did when i was bluffing hopeing someone walks into my nutz. Rest assured I don't make plays like that very often the total bluff, but i felt weakness and I decided to pounce on it , god i love saying that.
That is where you have to be aware of your table immage, what do the players think of me right now. One of the things that Brunson says is " I give action so I get action" this is very true. The tightest player in the world can sit and play nothing but the top cards, the problem comes from three things. #1 It takes alot of time to wait for those cards, and then sometimes the flop won't even help , you'll miss a pair or your JJ finds a flop of over cards. #2 If you are only playing those cards and only betting on them if people are aware they will cut off your action, ah the "rock" just pre flop raised $2 for the first time in 25 minutes, everyone folds. So next time you slow play it, which brings us to #3 You can still lose with premium cards. So you wait all night, now you got AA, you can't bet it too hard before the flop you did that 40 minutes ago and won 35 cents, so you slow play it ... ahh ... 6 people in the pot flop comes 5,6,8 with a flush draw .... eek ... I better go for it now raise $15 :( someone called on the flush and won it.
Brunson's stratagey is super agressive, in theory picking up alot of small pots cause people are scared of you, you use that pot money to gamble on big hands that have outs. Since your not always buying, not always gambling, sometimes you'll have the best hand, some times you'll get "lucky" sometimes people will think your loose and give you action, it all works out in the end... in theory. The hard thing is establishing this in the players minds. Some players it just won't work against, sometimes you have a bad string where 3 times your bluffs fail, and you run into the nutz when you think you have the better hand, then your immage is ruined, you have to play tight for a hour to get the money back off the action you'll get since you seem to suck, then another hour to get it threw your opponents minds that you are a dangerous man, with out going broke again.
Some where in the middle is where i'm trying to keep it. The one thing I am learning to do alot of though is play alot of pots and buy alot of pots. The two go hand and hand, also learning the difference between isolation hands and drawing hands. Hands you want people in and hands you want everyone out of. That blew my mind that i'd ever want more people in a pot as it takes away my chances to win, but believe it or not sometimes you do.
If i am in the big blind and i have Q,7 i've invested 25 cents in it, now someone raises it to $1.75, and the next two guys call. That's a pot of $5.50 and i have to put in $1.50 to have a shot at it. I'm willing to go with a Q,7 off suit at that pot. If no one else had called the raise and it was $2 pot and $1.50 for me to get in it heads up with Q,7 ... what's the point?
As this particular hand played out 2,6,7 rainbow comes up, i make a bet of $2 and have one caller, I believe he is the original raiser. Next card comes up Q, I think it is my bet and i bet $3, he comes back at me putting me all in for $30. I go for it and he has AQ, my Q,7 holds up and wins, he leaves the table in disgust.
Relative pre flop hand strenght is all based on , if nothing comes up, if nothing comes up AK has Ace high best kicker, AA is very strong cause it's a pair of aces with out any help etc. The thing is no one knows what is going to happen on a flop. If it's going to be all Spades, if QQ9 is going to come out etc etc, even the strongest hands can get beat by the flop. If i was playing like i used to , very tight then i would have folded that Q,7 off suit with out even thinking.
Give action .. get action. Now people see i call $2 raises with off suit rags? Now they either think i'm loose , stupid or very smart. Either way they dont' know what I play with and wether that flop of 4,9,J that came up gave me the nutz or not after they raised with AK suited and missed and now i'm betting out the pot. So they fold, or maybe they call, and maybe I have the jack etc etc .
Earlier i had a hand where i had J,4 off suit and the flop was 3 rag's with a clubs flush draw. Everyone checks then one guy bets $3 at the pot of $5 , I take it to be a weak bet and see how he will react to my reraise up to $5 , he calls it. Now it's my turn to bet as the next card isn't a club. I bet $5 and he calls it. River comes up no club, now my gut is saying you've put like $12 into this hand and if you bet him $5 and he has the nutz or any of these cards he may come back at you for $20 and you have nothing, you have jack high also known as jack shit lol , but yet the voice of good poker, the voice of how i win this hand says, Bet and if he missed his flush he will fold, i bet $5 and he folds the hand.
If he had come back at me? I would have lost ... if he called? I would have lost ... You have to be at peace with that, if that happens. If he happens then everyone see's I bet $5 at absolutely nothing, then I rebuy my chips and start to play like a rock, makin the same bet plays as I did when i was bluffing hopeing someone walks into my nutz. Rest assured I don't make plays like that very often the total bluff, but i felt weakness and I decided to pounce on it , god i love saying that.
posted by Muffinman at 11:35 PM
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