How is any battle won? Does a player or team
achieve victory by standing around and taking
punches or do they counter with new moves? The
most successful poker players are creative and
relentless. Phil Ivey is one of the most well
known players in the world, this is not because
he is lucky, it is because he is a fierce
competitor who is always one step ahead. He
forces the action and fills his opponents with
fear. Weak poker players don’t often fill others
with fear, quite the opposite, actually. You
must be the one controlling the action and
calling the shots, otherwise you are simply
falling into the other player’s hands.
What is aggressive play
The most basic way to see if you are a
passive or aggressive player is to see how you
react to situations. When a player ahead of you
makes a raise is your first instinct to re-raise
and take away the pot or is it to simply call.
If you said that your first instinct was to
re-raise you are likely an aggressive player, by
contrast if you said that you would call you
might be playing a bit on the weak side. There
is a fine line, however, between aggressive play
and reckless play. The line is so fine in fact
that many players step over it and don’t know
it.
What separates aggressiveness from
recklessness?
Aggressive poker players are nothing if they
are uncontrollable. You should be smart and
aggressive, one accomplishes little without the
other. Some of the most brilliant poker players
don’t have the guts to pull the trigger in
crucial spots, even when they know they should.
The reckless players make bets even when they
know they shouldn’t.
An example of a hand as played by an
aggressive player and a reckless player
Both the aggressive player and reckless
player are sharing the same hand, you will see
the contrast in how they play it.
The hand you are dealt is Qc Kc. You are
playing .50/1 and are on the button.
One player raises ahead of you in MP to $4.
Both the aggressive and reckless player
decide to flat call.
The flop is 10c As 7c.
The MP raiser bets $7 into the $9.50 pot.
The aggressive player raises to $18.
The reckless player raises to $18.
The MP player calls the raise. The pot is now
$45.50.
The turn is a blank, the 4d.
The MP checks and the aggressive player
either makes a moderate bet, $22 or so, or
checks back.
The reckless players shoves the rest of his
stack hoping he has some fold equity. He is
instantly called by AT and loses a large pot.
The aggressive player was able to be
aggressive but played smart too. The reckless
player shoved everything in and prayed for a
fold. Now the aggressive player might have lost
the $22 turn bet if he was raised, but he didn’t
lose his whole stack like the reckless player.
If he checked it back he got to see the river
for free.
Passive vs. aggressive vs. reckless
It is best to be aggressive, but it is better
to be passive than to be reckless. Think of
poker as driving a race car. In order to win the
race a driver would need to be extremely
aggressive, but he would likely end up crashing
or falling back if he drove recklessly. If that
same driver took a passive approach to the race
he would end up getting, well, passed. The
passive driver finishes the race but is well
behind the leader, the aggressive driver
finishes the race near the top, and the reckless
driver is done before the race is completed.
Reckless poker players lose their money
quickly. Passive players lose less money than
reckless players or at a slower pace. Aggressive
players take the money from the reckless and
passive players. Now, which one do you want to
be?
