ONLINE POKER REVIEWS

It’s been said many times that the weakest play in poker is calling – that it’s better to be raising or folding. In my opinion, there are situations where that statement simply isn’t true. I recently played a hand online at Full Tilt Poker that served as a perfect example of how checking and calling can win you a hand that you would have lost by folding (obviously) or raising.

The key to the situation is that I recognized I was up against an aggressive opponent and I had a marginal hand. I was playing $10/$20 6-max No-Limit Hold ’em, and the action folded around to me on the button with two red nines. I was pretty deep-stacked with $2,447 in front of me, and I made a standard raise to $60. The player in the small blind, who was even deeper with $3,356 in his stack, raised it to $210. The big blind folded.

It was an interesting spot. I obviously wasn’t going to fold there, but I feel pocket nines is the type of hand where calling is preferable to raising. Consider: If I raise there and get re-raised, I really don’t like my hand anymore. So I prefer the call.

The flop came 5d-8d-Qh, and although it wasn’t a great flop, with only one over-card to my nines, I figured I would call just about any bet. There was $437 in the pot and my opponent bet $280. I figured his range of hands could be pretty loose. He was a good player and an aggressive player, and while the Queen might have hit him, he could just as easily have a hand like A-J, J-10 suited or K-J suited. In that spot, I don’t really think you can fold nines, but I don’t recommend raising with them either. So I called, bringing the pot to $997.

The turn was the Jd, giving me a diamond draw and a gut-shot to go with my pair. My opponent checked, and I very strongly considered betting. But then I thought about it more carefully: What hand better than mine can I convince to fold? If he has pocket tens without the 10d, he probably folds that. But that’s about it. If he has Aces or Kings, he probably won’t fold. Other than pocket tens, the only hands I’ll get called by are hands that are ahead of me. And I could get check-raised and have to fold my hand without seeing the river. So I checked behind.

The river was the 8c, which paired the board, but was pretty much a blank. I hoped he’d check again and just let me check behind with what’s probably the best hand. Indeed, he checked, turned over Ad-Kh, and I won the pot.

Looking back at the hand, I think I was right to just check or call all the way. Pre-flop, who knows, if I’d re-raised, anything could have happened, including him shoving all in and me having to fold. On the flop, a raise probably would have worked, but that’s a really risky play. If I had bet the turn, that could have been disastrous. He had me covered, he’s shown himself to be an aggressive player, and he had the nut flush draw plus a gut-shot and two over-cards. There’s a very good chance he would have check-raised all in, which would have been an excellent play. I would’ve had to fold the best hand if he’d done that.

In that spot, I didn’t want to open myself up to getting outplayed, and I still had a lot of showdown value with my hand. Sometimes, against an aggressive player in a marginal situation, it’s best not to be aggressive back. Sometimes, aggression can cost you a pot that would have been yours if you’d been a little more cautious.

I talk a lot at the table. I like meeting people, and poker tournaments give me the opportunity to chat with a lot of nice folks. The conversations I have between hands are not just pleasant – they can also be informative. What a player shares about himself will often determine how I’ll play against him down the line.

For example, say I’m playing in a $10,000 tournament. I ask the young person to my left how he bought into the tournament and he tells me that he won a $30 satellite. Based on that piece of information, I can make some assumptions. He’s probably not especially experienced. Most active players don’t bother with low buy-in tournaments. He likely doesn’t have a huge bankroll, so he’d probably be perfectly happy to cash in the event; he doesn’t need to win to feel he had a successful tournament.

Against this player, I’m probably going to run some bluffs when I think he’s only got a moderate hand. I’m also going to be willing to make some pretty big lay-downs against this guy. I seriously doubt he’s going to put in a lot chips without a very strong hand.

Now imagine that I ask a man at my table how he got into the tournament and he tells me he bought in directly. I ask him what he does for a living, and he says he’s a bookmaker in Dallas.

I’ve got to assume that this guy’s willing to gamble. He’s probably not afraid of a big bluff or a big call. Against him, I’m going to have to call more liberally and avoid making any of my own big bluffs. I may even check some reasonably big hands to avoid getting raised off my hand.

These are just two examples of what you can learn by drawing your opponents out and listening carefully to what they have to say. Every piece of information you gain at the table is something you can use to your advantage.

In the game of Hold ‘em, especially No Limit, aggression is usually rewarded. By being aggressive, you are putting your opponent in an uncomfortable situation and forcing him to either make a hand or make a bluff. You take over control of the pot and put yourself in the driver’s seat.

And yet, for as much good as aggression can do, I still see far too many players either being too aggressive or misusing aggression altogether. Aggression is one of the biggest tools a poker player has, but it needs to be used wisely at all times.

For instance, I see a lot of young players getting out of line and being overly aggressive with hands like A-Q and A-J. They put in huge raises with these hands thinking they’re making a smart move, but really they’re just scaring the dead money away. There are so many bad players in tournaments these days that there’s just no excuse for not being patient – eventually these players will make a mistake and ship you a lot of chips. There’s no need to risk such a large portion of your stack with a hand like that.

Many newer players are guilty of misusing aggression. They see their favorite player on TV pulling off a huge bluff or dominating their table with aggression, and they want to follow suit. The problem is that these newer players really have no idea how to be aggressive. You can’t just be randomly aggressive and hope to take control of the action; your aggression needs to be calculated.

Knowing when to be aggressive is something that comes with time and experience. If you lack that knowledge and have no feel for the game you’re playing, that aggression is going to come back to haunt you.

I would advise all newer players not to focus their game on aggression at first. You want to start out by playing solid, ABC poker. Focus on the basics and, when you have those down, you can start thinking about bringing aggression into your game.

Being aggressive in poker is a very fine art. Watching a player like Phil Ivey at the poker table can be every bit as awe inspiring as looking at a Picasso. But players like Ivey have honed their aggression over time, using their experience at the tables to shape the way they play. Put in your time at the tables, and you too may one day paint a masterpiece.