How many of you do this?

I just started playing online poker, and have become pretty good at it. I was wondering how many of you win a lot of chips with crap in your hand. I do this with a couple techniques I will share. The first is fairly obvious...

Being the aggressor

I never like to enter a hand unless I am the percieved aggressor of the hand. That is to say, when the flop comes, I have only one or two others in the hand, and I was either the first to raise large preflop, or I raised over someone else regardless of how premium my hand was, forcing them to call just so I could project more strength. If they reraise me, I call and hope to hit. If not I'm outa there unless they show weakness henceforth.

Here's an example: Say I have Ah Js regardless of position. It's not a particularly strong hand, but when I get it I want the pot. I might raise to 75 at 15-30 blinds preflop. I get two callers and the flop comes Qs Td 7d. If someone bets ahead of me I fold. Cut my losses. If someone checks to me I will immediately bet about 50. Most of the time they both fold, and I take the pot without hitting anything. If someone has something on a flop like this they will most likely call me, wondering what I have, and knowing there are still two betting rounds. That's when I know they hit something. I will slow down considerably. Now I see the next card for that 50, and I take it from there as usual based on whether I hit the turn etc.

My attitude is not whether I got good cards. It's whether anyone else did. I could care less what I have. If I had A J offsuit, and two large bets came in front of me preflop, I would fold period. There's too much working against me at that point. I'll make my money later by shaking down less premium hands.

Based on that attitide, I also do something like this...

The fake hand in the crap deal

If I see that there are very few people in the hand when I have position, (say one limper so far and I'm the cutoff) I will represent a false hand in what I call a crap deal (no one got much). I raise 2x big blind, and hope for one caller. If I get one and they don't hit the flop, I take it down with ease. I can get away with this because it works 2 out of 3 times. I'm becoming very good at winning money without the goods in crap deals. Just like a rag community, there can also be rag pockets. (Almost all high cards out there are mixed with a low offsuit around the table in the various hands). I take advantage of this.

That's just a couple of things I do. Do you hate me now, or is this good poker that you can relate to?

Yup, you have to do this to win, but I liked your summary, very well put.

Got any live tournaments down your way Tyler? We have a few up here. By the way, howdy neighbor. Also, howdy isn't part of our secret Boston language.

Originally Posted by Rondavu

Got any live tournaments down your way Tyler? We have a few up here. By the way, howdy neighbor. Also, howdy isn't part of our secret Boston language.

Oh right. My bad.

No live tournaments that I'm aware of, short of traveling to Foxwoods. But that's just me being oblivious.

liked ur post but theyre are a couple of things u need to work on IMO, first of all if you have AJ, like u said and flop comes QT7 and everyone checks it to u and hten u bet 50, youre basically syaing u dont want a call, and that ur bluffing the pot, more experienced players will immediately take note of this and re raise you, just b/c you showed weakness. If you are going to bet with position to try and steal a pot then bet it hard, say 120 when blinds are at that level.

Ok another point, if you areon the button and some limpers are in fron of u, dont bet 2XBB thats just weak, bet higher eother 3X or 2.5X, you cant tell everyone at the table you are weak, some people will get a hold of that and youll be in trouble.

Aside from that you made a very nice post, you just have to work on some things to further improve your game


-anto

Is this tactic useful in regular single table cash games? Or is not worth risking 'real' money to steal blinds?

Thanks elantro. I appreciate the help. Generally I would do 50 at 10-15 level, and 75 or 100 at 15-30 level. Is that weak, or just strong enough not to burn me? Maybe I will try throwing a larger preflop chunk out there if I'm sure I'll be last act postflop. I haven't really grasped the value of last act yet. Besides seeing weakness when checked to, what's the big deal about last act postflop? If people know I'm aggressive they're gonna check raise me anyway. I guess I just don't grasp it completely yet.

To me, there is the same chance that two other callers are gonna catch something when your in middle position, as there is when your on the button. How's being last caller gonna help you beat a player in middle position with the nuts? Maybe you can explain why you think the button should have a bigger raise. It doesn't change the cards other people will get. I've read about it everywhere "position, position, position", but in my game it's "aggression aggression aggression." I must sound retarded, but I just don't see much of a disadvantage from middle or early position. If you fire out 50 chips postflop and the next two guys call or raise, you just stay cautious if you don't have the goods. I guess they could smooth call you to death, but they could do that from any position.

My somewhat nieve attitude is basically who cares about position. I'm gonna bet, and if you don't have the cards then crawl into a corner. If you do then hats off brother. I'll get mine another hand.

I guess you could call me a maniac, but I think I'm a little more stealth than that classification.

What generally happens to me in a tournament is that one or two people catch on to me and start raising me hard on feeler bets because they know I'm full of crap, but I then modify my play against those who are demanding my respect and take advantage of the non observant ones at the table. To me, you have to earn my respect at the table, or I'm gonna club you.

To me, you have to earn my respect at the table, or I'm gonna club you.

That's awesome! Seriously, I like your style. I've got to improve my game a bit and branch out into LAggy territory some more. People like you kill people like me.

BTW nice avatar.