Aggressiveness in Poker (Part 1)

Welcome to my personal blog for CoinPoker! After playing and placing In-The-Money in the most recent NLH One Million Freebuy tournament, I wanted to prepare a special series about aggressiveness in poker. As such, we are taking a momentary break from the blogs about best openings in Open Face Chinese Poker in order to go back to the roots of No Limit Hold’em play. Shuffle up and deal!

Aggressiveness is a good thing but there is a “but”…

It’s a common belief in the Hold’em Poker world, you have to be very aggressive in order to win.

Yet there is another way to play, more conservative, which is called “Small Ball”, a technique for which Daniel Negreanu is the greatest specialist and that consists in making small bets and playing small pots, in order to see a maximum of flops and to minimize the risks while maximizing the gains. This technique is very far from the “5-bets all-in” attitude.

When comparing these two styles, you would be right to wonder where does the truth lie? What is the best way to play? Do you have to play aggressively to be a long-term winner? Do you have to go to war with nearly every hand to get a positive Sharkscope’s curve? “To be aggro… or not to be aggro? That is the question!” It could have been written by Sir William Shakespeare if he had been born in Las Vegas a few centuries later…

Things to consider

The truth is that there is not a black or white answer to the aggressiveness dynamic question, and in order to know how aggressive one should be, there will be a few factors needed to be taken into consideration:

• What is your poker level?
• Did you know that adjustment is the key?
• Are you in a “Bully the bully” situation?
• Do you show signs of lack of aggressiveness?
• Remember that the game keeps changing!

I’m keen to tell you more on all these points, and we will start next week by seeing why and how your poker level should impact on your aggression factor. Indeed, if you are a complete beginner who never played before and just opened a CoinPoker account two weeks ago – welcome by the way! :-), or whether you are a very experienced player who has played thousands of hands over the years and is quite advanced and familiar with all No Limit Hold’em strategies, will impact the way you should play.

Let’s see how next week!

Rendezvous next week for the continuation of these series of tips on Aggressiveness in Poker!

Meet me at the tables on CoinPoker to practice your skills and enjoy the action. Open yourself a CoinPoker account today!

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Read the next part here: Aggressiveness in Poker Based on Playing level