begginners help vs aggressive player one on one

Hey im from New Zealand, been playing holdem for about three weeks at my dorm, its great fun and we play low stakes no limit (we cant bring more than 5 bucks in coins to the table each week, but theres no limit on betting)

Theres usually only about 5 of us playing, but it comes down to just 2 or 3 players by the end of the night, which is where I lose out.
We dont use the blinds, we pay 5 cents ante before the game starts, then get dealt our cards, then theres usually a 5 cents bet before the flop. I usually fold on the flop if i havent a chance because the betting goes at about 10 or 20 cents here and 20 or 40 for the turn and river.

The best guy there whos been playing for a while has this betting strategy where he bets big in the middle rounds and forces everyone out. He rarely folds. He claims to have this big bluffing strategy that i cant figure out, although I think he just bets real big after the flop if he has a good pair or a flush/straight possibility, and keeps betting big trying to get a good hand on the river and/or force everyone to fold.

My problem is that I never bluff, I always pay to see the flop if the price is small and usually fold there if i dont have a chance. So Im always checking or calling, so if i raise he knows I have something good.

So we're all amateurs, any tips for winning a one on one game with an aggressive player when im a tight player whos scared of betting? or just some general tips you can give a newbie who knows the basics...
cheers.

Sucky structure.

Be more inclined to semi-bluff any draw. More raising and less calling. Run with any pair, sometimes even just a naked Ace.

When the number of players drops to 3 or 4 then statistics dictate that no one gets good cards all the time. He must be bluffing at least 50 - 60% of the time - or he's very lucky. With so few hands, even Queen of King high can be a good cards. I'd be inclined to raise before the flop with these cards and then slow play better hands - high pairs, AK, AQ, xxs etc and hope the bluffer raises when you hit something, then you make him pay big time as your playing no limit.

You also have to mix your play up a bit. If you only bet when you have a hand he will always be able to dodge you. Put a few bluffs in yourself, it might cost a few cents but the other players will not be sure where they are at with your betting. Gotta keep 'em on their toes!

If your playing just one on one then you may need to be a bit more conservative. If you play very loose they you may get cleaned out in just one hand - so a bit tighter in this situation. If you have more cents than the other player (ie twice as much) then put pressure on him pre flop (i.e raise) as he'll be waiting for a premium hand to play. This mainly applies to games with blinds before the cards are dealt as blinds eat away at players stacks forcing them to play something sooner or later. I suggest you should start playing this way as its an integral part of Texas Hold 'em - especially as the blinds get bigger later on.

There are a few points that I think you should consider

1. As already mentioned you have to spice up your game a bit, especially since you are playing with the same people all the time you have to bluff once in a while, slow play once in a while in order to keep them guessing. If you bluff and win you will want to show it sometimes, other players has to know you are capable of bluffing.

2. It seems that the one agressive player is simply running you over since you are all afraid. Over time cards are more or less evenly distributed between the players. The thing is that you have to show him you are not afraid from his raises, especially one on one. I would dedicate one night when you are on one-on-one to call randomly about 50% of his hands almost regardless of what you have and reraise him on a lot of them, especially if he does not fold. You may even lose some money at this specific session but show him you are capable of calling, then I would follow Fnord's advice on calling with pair or even an ace high.

hey kenny! its bevan here (a.k.a the best person there, who is aggressive).

Um yeah, seeing as you really want to bet me at holdem, i'll tell you something. You are right when you say that I bet big postflop if i have flush or straight possibilty. Also another thing I do, is within the first half a dozen hands of when we start playing I purposefully get caught bluffing a couple times so everyone there thinks im a bluffer so when I get a monster hand and lay down some big bets, everyone will think im bluffing and will call me on it! That works real good with those amateurs!

You better not tell those creeps rhys or ryan or alex that though!
Also you should check out the section at this site about pot odds, cos i just recently starting using the pot odds strat and it works like a charm.

And yeah man you REALLY need to learn how to bluff because whenever you bet postflop its so obvious you have some monster in your hand.

oh yeah, and looking at people to spot their tells or whatever is really helpful too, even though you all reckon you dont give away any.

BTW, flopturnriver is great holdem site baby!!

Crazy world. Both people posting here. Well, I'll just address Beven's stuff.

You said you bet big on flush draws/straight draws? How big? semi-bluff big? God-I-hope-I-catch-it big? Watch out for betting too big.

Also, what are the blinds, and the atacks and the average pots at the beginning? I'm very curious about your "being caught bluffing" thing. Is it costing you a lot of your chips? If so, are you sure it's a good strat? Chips are very important to be giving too many of them away for false info.

wow thanks for the replies guys its great.

haha hey bevan i knew youd find my post since you recommended this site to me. hehe cheers mate, its great. cya!!

Humphrind....

me getting caught bluffing a couple times at the beginning of the game usually doesnt cost me that much at all, because most the people I play with at these games are tight conservative folk who rarely raise more than twice the minium bet. Against this group of people it works great, as whenever I stay in till the river and theres a decent pot, lots of them dont want to fold as they reckon I'll probably be bluffing again, so they stay in and usually reraise me when all they got is like a pair of ducks, and I end up taking all their money of em!

I would definitely only play that strat against these guys, cos they are pretty much complete amateurs who have just learnt how to play and so cant see what im doing.

I dont always bet big on straight and flush draws, it all depends. Because half these guys are so predictable you can tell pretty much exactly what they got from the way they bet, so if im confident they got nothing decent then I will bet quite a reasonable amount, especially if its postflop and i got a possible strait and possible flush going.

one time it was down to just me and this one guy, and the turn just came up which gave me a four flush. The other guy raised me about half my bankroll, and I decided to call as I was quite confident he only had a pair. I got my club on the river, and ended up like tripling my money on that hand cos he tried to bluff his way out on a very low pair! risky but definitely worth it!

Originally Posted by kenny

We dont use the blinds, we pay 5 cents ante before the game starts, then get dealt our cards...

I agree with Fnord. Sucky structure.

I'm just curious as to how you guys decided this. What reason is there for changing the innate structure of the game?

it is pretty retarded how we dont use blinds. When we first started playing I had to teach alot of em and halve of them bitched and moaned about the blinds, because they thought being the blind is a disadvantage, and they couldnt get it through their heads that the blinds rotate each hand, so yeah we just use an ante.

Originally Posted by bevan

...and they couldnt get it through their heads that the blinds rotate each hand.

Sounds like they need a lesson in logical thinking. It might even help their poker game.

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Originally Posted by bevan

one time it was down to just me and this one guy, and the turn just came up which gave me a four flush. The other guy raised me about half my bankroll, and I decided to call as I was quite confident he only had a pair.

Sorry to be mean, but here's how I read that statement. "This guy had a better hand than I did so he asked for 1/2 my stack. I told him I would give him an 80% chance to take 1/2 my stack."

You called half your stack on a flush draw? That's god-I-hope-I-get-it big. Did you at least have overs to give you more outs? Did you already have a pair?

You've obviously got some good reads on these people, and can take them to school on a regular basis. However, watch out. The more you play the more they will bet better and take your money.

Play well now and don't give them that option.