[spoonitnow strategy] A Better Approach to Attack and Defense in Poker

The terms attack and defense in poker are almost always used in an effort to describe the idea of initiative. We have this idea of aggression in poker as being represented by the actions that put more unmatched money into the pot like betting and raising, and then we have the actions that we tend to think of as passive like checking, calling and folding. This seems fairly intuitive. However, there is a very strong argument for the case that initiative does not inherently exist in poker, and this can lead us to search for the meaning of aggression in poker in other areas.

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Interesting article. Thanks for posting. I enjoyed reading it although not sure I agree with all the points made.

I'd like to add that 'Initiative' in poker is basically just an excuse people make to continue to study easy spots like betting/raising and ignore looking at their expectation of calling. Phil Galfond actually talked about this in a video regarding the reason behind this: our brains are designed to be rewarded for wins and punished for losses: we simply lose more often when we call due to the nature of pot odds. So by choosing to call we are literally going against what 'feels good' (winning pot more often from raising = feel good). In many situations the expectation of calling is greater than raising or betting, so betting/raising to 'gain initiative' is faulty logic. I often hear players say 'I raised to gain control of the hand' or to 'get the initiative'. This makes no sense. You should bet or raise when it makes you the most money. There isn't any other reason.

Very good article.

Originally Posted by Tom1559

Interesting article. Thanks for posting. I enjoyed reading it although not sure I agree with all the points made.

which points don't you agree with so that they can be discussed .

Originally Posted by spoonitnow

That is, the last person to put in a bet or raise. Suppose it folds to the button pre-flop who raises, the small blind folds and the big blind folds in a no-limit hold’em game. The flop would then be dealt, and at this point in the hand, it could be said that the button has the initiative and has been the most aggressive so far in the hand.

nice article, thanks.
maybe change the bolded to calls.

Thanks for this article, I found most of the points you raised to be very helpful. I am quite new to the world of online poker, so I haven’t built the strongest strategy yet. I know that there are a lot of other sites that offer advice on playing poker and teach the “best” strategies, but I’m quite wary of believing them right away and ending up losing a lot of money. I found a site though that offers top poker strategies and tips (DELETED LINK) and I’ve been hooked. Has anyone else used this site for advice?


edit: some advice from that site

Remember, a medium pair if good pre flop but unless you hit one or both of the two remaining cards of the same value as your pair you will be reliant on making a draw, and not a very good one. You should limp in with your medium pair pre flop and hope to improve.
thats not good advice so maybe you shouldn't be advertising other sites (presumably your own) across other poker forums.