Poker Kiwi

coralpocker.com – As I have often pointed out before, I believe that aggressive play in poker, is a profitable way to play. This is of course dependant on showing restraint when situations call for it. But probing for weaknesses with bets, and putting pressure on players when you perceive them to be weak, can help your chipstack growth considerably.

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Despite all this, there are other factors to take into account with aggressive play. Persistent aggressive play is likely to get you into trouble eventually, as although stealing blinds and picking up pots can be done successfully quite often, sooner or later you will walk into a hand.

If an opposing player has been observing your play and finds they then catch a flop very well when you are in the pot, they may well check, and allow you to build the pot for them. This is bound to happen eventually with such play, but when you think about it, a player does not necessarily need to hit a flop well to strike back. With an accurate read and enough courage, a player can wait for their moment, then reraise an aggressive player, even if they have no hand to speak of themselves.

So the bottom line is that you should be aggressive when you feel the timing is right to be, and you can bring in quite a few extra chips in this way. You must however, be wary about pushing players around too much.

www.pkr.com – In terms of your thought processes whilst playing poker, you can never predict what card will be turned over next, which goes without saying. But that does not mean that you cannot be completely ready to make a great move when the action gets round to you. When it comes to making such plans in the heat of the moment, you have to be prepared for what an opponent is about to do.

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Quickly considering your response to possible scenarios before the action gets to you, can be key to a bluff working or failing. An example of this would be a hand in which I was involved a few weeks ago in a live tournament. Three of us went to the flop which came down (3,5,9) or something similar. I was in second position having not connected in any way with the flop. The first player checked, and (knowing the third player to act loved putting out tester bets to try and pick up pots) I immediately thought ‘If I check too, I know the last player to act will raise in order to pick up the pot’ so I checked, and right on cue, the raise came in. Player one folded, and I moved all in, causing my opponent to instantly fold his hand face up. So of course I had to show him his high card was leading, and needless to say, didn’t find myself being bluffed for a while after.

But the only reason that play worked so well, was because I already knew what my opponent was going to do, perhaps even before he did.

Always try and read the game and the hands you are involved in, and be ready to react to what you expect your opponents are likely to do.

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www.pkr.com - Whether it is your own behaviour, or that of your opponents, reactions to circumstances play an important role in what decisions end up being made. Sometimes this behaviour can be talking an opponent into or out of calling, intentionally, or giving away signs in your body language unintentionally. I think different types of player will pay more attention to these reactions than others, and you can even try and throw a false signal to players who you know, look for these reactions.

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It has been said that players will throw chips into a pot with more emphasis to convey strength when they are actually weak, and vice versa. But if you depended on this type of behavioural change to make your decisions, you would leave yourself open to someone being aware of this and doing the reverse of what you would expect.

There have been players in televised games before who have seemed arrogant and talked incessantly, and I do not like this type of behaviour myself, but it does work sometimes for pro players such as ‘Tony G’. The reason he is being abrasive in his goading and talking on a regular basis, is to induce his opponents to make a call that they wouldn’t normally make. I think this goes against the spirit of the game and I would not do this. If you are ever faced by a similar type of player, it is always best to remeber, the only reason they do it, is to force you into reacting with your emotions as opposed to your logic.