Posts Tagged ‘tight aggressive’

My latest poker strategy article, Standard Bet Sizes, has just been published in the November 2010 issue of 2+2 Magazine. Here’s an excerpt to give you an idea of what the article is about:

The ability to size your bet based on the situation and what you hope to accomplish with the bet is one of the primary factors that distinguishes no-limit from fixed-limit hold ‘em. Deliberately forfeiting this option is bringing a knife to a gunfight.

Every bet or raise should have a purpose. You can and should tailor the size of the bet to suit that purpose. When done correctly, you can even balance your ranges for various sizes so that your bet sizing is not exploitable.

Check it out and please let me know what you think!

It’s not really fair to call the Villain in this hand a nit, but he’s one of the tightest winning 5/10 regulars anyway. That’s part of the reason I bet the turn against him, rather than just check-calling the turn as I might against a more aggressive player.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($2982)
BB ($970)
UTG ($969.50)
MP ($200)
CO ($275)
Button ($3271.65)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, 9
1 fold, MP bets $20, 1 fold, Button calls $20, Hero raises to $90, 2 folds, Button calls $70

Flop: ($210) 3, 9, A (2 players)
Hero bets $177, Button calls $177

Turn: ($564) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $388, Button raises to $880, Hero calls $492

River: ($2324) K (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $2124.65 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $2324 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button shows 4, 4 (one pair, fours).
Outcome: Button won $2321

I told him in chat that 4′s were the best hand, but really even Kdx beats 44 by the river, so I doubt he believed me.

It’s pretty unlikely that I’ll have a flush by the river, but against a nit I don’t really consider calling with less. That’s the problem with exploitive play: it is itself exploitable.

I was curious who ended up winning the NAPT Venetian which I played last weekend and had to google the name “Tom Marchese”. Not only did I learn that he plays online as kingsofcards, a tough regular whom I avoid at 25/50, but I also found this kind of old but interesting interview with him. It’s not very long, but it’s a nice picture of what it takes to break through the “ceiling” of the mid-stakes games and start winning at high stakes poker:

For me my biggest problem was that I was always playing 9-12 tables. Because of this, I was making a lot of money but never really working on my game and improving. I think this is a problem that many mid stakes players struggle with as to improve and move up they most likely will need to sacrifice a little bit in the short run in order to progress as a player. I also found that playing heads up greatly improved my hand reading skills along with improving my game in blind battles and when playing OOP. Most of my success at the 5/10 – 25/50 level has come when I was playing 1-5 tables and truly concentrating on every hand instead of just going through the motions.  Read the complete post...