Selective Aggression
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Playing aggressively isn’t natural. Consequently, students of the game are often trying to work in more aggression. It’s a good thing, with the usual caveat that they should use “selective” aggression. But what does “selective” mean, exactly? What situations do you select?
A lot of players who are trying to become ...
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What about in games where there’s not a lot of checking? I’ve played in some crazy live (limit) games where it’s four-bet six way and guys are five-betting with J5o. There’s not a lot of “Well, he called me, so now I’ll give up” going on.
Here’s a hand I played last night. I had two red eights in the BB in a wild 8/16 game (as described above). Three callers, the button raises, he’s playing about 75% of his hands and (re-)raising all of them, so I 3-bet, folded to him (surprised me), he 4-bets, I 5-bet, he calls. Flop is A54 all hearts. He bets and, as with all other hands he plays, he starts separating raising chips from his stack.
My question is: here’s a situation where the guy is not going to not-check. He’s the type of player to bet and raise the whole way with a gutshot and an overcard. But I really think I should be raising *more* often than against someone who checks to me a normal amount of the time (I think I have the best hand most of the time, btw).