In this article, we will carry that discussion forward and look at some more poker strategy. The strategy we study in this article will be more play-oriented and will definitely help increase your knowledge about how you can ensure that you do not end up losing unnecessarily.
When you are playing poker, you must understand one thing – you cannot have one standard uniform tempo of play. You can have such a rhythm, of course, but it will mean you stand as much chance of losing as you do of winning. Instead, you a better way to go about it is to change your strategy and rhythm along with the flow of the game. All I mean by that is this – change your style of play to suit the requirement at any given point.
For instance, there are some points during a game where aggression is critical; you have to show aggressive intent to be able to notch up a win. You must understand that ‘the odds’ is a very dynamic entity; it can shift away from you and back to you 10 times during the course of a game. That is why I say go with the flow, and choose to be aggressive when necessary. By that, I mean pile up your cash into the pot when you think your strategy is working.
The flip side of this, of course, is that there are times when you have to exercise restraint. Being aware of this fact and actually exercising restraint are two different things. As you play more, you will know the situations where restraint is the key, and not aggression. In such instances, you will learn not to put up big money, simply because things are not exactly going your way then.
Basically, knowing when to adopt which mode of play among the two mentioned above is what makes you a pro. Over time, you will learn to make the correct calls regarding such decisions.
Basic Poker Strategy – More Thoughts on Aggression
What is aggressive play in poker, and how effective is it as poker strategy? To answer the second question first, provided you use it in the right scenario, aggressive play can work wonders. You may have players who have superior hands to yours back away when you launch into the aggressive play mode.
Imagine you just have a pair of twos in your hand, and your opponent has a pair of fives. If you were to raise the stakes at this point, since your opponent does not have a strong enough hand despite holding cards that are superior to yours, there is every possibility of his backing down.
However, there are times it can backfire; especially when your opponent has cards that are way higher than yours. If he has a royal flush to your pair of twos, you can raise the stakes all you want; he will come after you and get you. Therefore, knowing when to get into aggressive play mode is very important.