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Hi,

For about 12 months now, I’ve been playing Holdem. Well, in live games, I can actually say what kind or type of opponents I have, weak, tight, aggressive/loose, etc. But when it comes to myself I’m quite not sure. I believe that when I play, I play really tight however once someone call me a tight passive player.

I can’t believe I’m a tight passive one as I always thought I was a tight aggressive player. I don’t know if I just don’t realize it at all, but I’ve never played a passive game, I don’t also pretend to be a pro and actually very open to suggestions, advices, tips, etc.

Any tips on becoming a tight aggressive rather than passive? Your help will be much appreciated.

Many thanks,
Drew
Drew,

A lot depends on how much you are betting and raising etc. Do you check a lot when you miss the flop with your big hands? Do you only raise when you have the nuts? Do you not play position? If you can answer yes to any of these, then you are a passive player.

Being tight and aggressive means getting strong hands and then betting them strongly. Betting out, check raising, using the occasional semi bluff, and value betting are all skills that tight aggressive players have.

Hello,

I regularly watch Holdem on television and once because of a certain game I’ve witnessed I realized something. Well, I realized that there are certain situations where acting first and betting can take a pot. But of course I understand that as a viewer I can see the cards of everybody while as a player I cannot.

Do you know of any circumstance by which a player can actually use first position to his own advantage?

Thanks in advance!

Warm regards,
Levi
Levi,

In pots where opponents both miss the flop, the person that bets first will usually take the pot. If you were the aggressor preflop in early position, then you should bet. If you are a tight player and people perceive that, sometime you can use early position to make a bluff.

For about 3 months now I’ve been playing Holdem and been referring to lots of materials. Well, I love playing at multi table no limit and most of my time was actually spent at such.

I remember the first time I wasn’t good at playing all calling cards and also in distinguishing good starting hands. Just last month, I believe I played well and have actually learned when to act and eventually make use of my chips. But just last week, I decided to finally try playing at our local casino. I want to try ring games.

Before I have already tried playing in a ring game and the experience was good, well, maybe at the start. I was up and down for several hours, playing hands in right position and keenly watching out who the calling stations were. I started with 150 and quite confident I decided to take risk.

At some point, I was on the button and was dealt AhKh in a 2-4 game. Three callers came in and I raised to $4. After a while, both small and big blind folded. Total call was $19 in the pot. Flop came and brought AcKd9h. Player to act first then checked while the second placed $2 bet. I then raised to $4 after having been flopped top two pair and a back door flush draw. Player who checked then folded and the next one raised to $6. Consequently I called. Pot was $31 at such point. Turn came and brought 7h. He checked while I have the nuts. I then placed $4 bet with my two pair and a stronger draw. He then raised to $8. I stopped for a while and then decided to raise him to 12$. He then called. Pot was $55 at such point. River came and was 10c. Once again he checked and I placed $4 after recalling all his moves. I believe he would have already bet if he has anything. He then paused for a moment and raised to $8. I then called. Pot was already $71.

Later, he showed QsJs while I showed AK to show two pair. I was happy to see no kings or aces but then I figured out that on the river he has pulled a straight. In the end, I went home with a little under $100.

Do you think what happened to me is a perfect example of a bad beat? And do you know of anything I could have done to avoid that going to the river?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Calvin
Calvin,

This appeared to me to be limit holdem as opposed to No Limit. In Limit Holdem, you opponent had the odds to chase his draw. If this was No Limit Holdem, then you definitely did not bet enough.

Based on the fact that this looked like Limit Holdem, this isn’t that bad of a beat. He had odds to draw. Not much you could have done differently.

Hello,

Last night I was in a 1/2 Holdem event. The ending wasn’t good as I can easily be read then. Whenever I flop a straight, I became serious and so players then easily perceived I had the nuts.

I remember back then when I was holding JQ suited and flop came and brought 8 9 10. I then placed a bet and player who told me I had obvious tells earlier part of the game folded his K 10 on the flop. In some similar situations, I remember he raised someone and not folded.

Any thoughts? Please help me.

All the best,
Caleb Martin
Caleb,

You need to evaluate your play or have someone you trust evaluate how you play. You may play too tight and only raise with premium hands. There may be some mannerism that you give off that gives away your hand strength. If your mood or demeanor during the hand changes when you have a strong hand, that would be a tell. Do you have a little shake to you when you bet that you only have when you have a strong hand? That may be another tell. You will want to work on your mannerisms to try and make the same movements and act the same way regardless of the hands you have. If your problem is from playing too tight, loosen up your style a bit or play a couple of hands that get shown down that will change everyone’s perception of your tightness. Get caught bluffing once in a while. Doing little things to change your image can pay off.

Hello,

Just last year, I started to seriously play Holdem. Well, I’m not fond of reading so I haven’t read most of the Texas Holdem books. However, I regularly watched ESPN.

As of the moment, I’m into online poker. I actually started as an average player in “online standards” however just after few weeks I changed and became very tight. Tight in a way that I already fold pairs, 9s or less in a long to medium table. I believed then that there was nothing wrong as I typically end up being on the top 3 out of 10. And for several times, I finished first about just half the time.

I really believe in starting tight and getting more tight as the game progresses down to 6 – 5 players then gradually loosing up when down to 4 once down to 3. And when there’s a need to be aggressive, then be aggressive.

I played with the above approach for some time. However, things started to change when I tried playing in tables with terrible players. I started witnessing really bad beats more often than usual. I also then discovered the huge difference in the skill level of various tables $10, $20, $30, $50, $100, and $200. Later, I decided to go down from $200 to $100 and much later to $5. Sad to say, my luck wasn’t that significant, for once in 10 games, I ended up on the bottom.

Can you feel it, the lower I go the worst it gets? For a number of times, I lose with trip As for nothing with a flush draw in the river, with straights to flushes and even to Quads on the turn and river. I don’t know what went wrong.

Any thoughts?

Warm regards,
Bill
Bill,

The bad players are at the lower levels. Some of this is due to their play and some is due to the normal variance you will see in poker, especially online poker. It sounds like your approach is working, but realize that when you play solid poker, you will take some bad beats. Also, you should loosen your card holdings depending on position. Folding all pairs below 9’s sounds excessively tight just based on the information you have given. Work on opening your hand ranges up in position and as the tournament gets later.

Hello,

For more than a year now, I’ve been playing Holdem with my younger brother. In a weekly basis, we have short-handed tournaments, normally of 4 players. I believe we are both tight players however are also aggressive when in a pot.

One time, we encountered a player who has won the last few times in a row. The said player is at times a loose-aggressive one however most of the time just loves to call station and so later I decided not to bluff against him in a pot or do anything out of the ordinary. I’m bothered as maybe he had something and then would call it down even on a draw or the like. Later, I just realized that I was already checking on the flop when I missed my hand while other player was busy placing huge bets. At some point, I’ve been folding and if not observed him as he bluffs. End part, he chased the cards he needed and I end up paying him off. Any thoughts?

Well, now I realize that though I can feel I have the best hand against an opponent, I still play cautiously while trying to observe what his hand is. Do you think I sound sensible on this one?

Hope to hear from you.

All the best,
Jirby
Jirby,

When playing against a loose aggressive player, the best bet it to either tighten up your game or see a lot of cheap flops and punish them when you connect. Push your hand when you have the advantage and take his money when you have the best hand. Yes, there are times he will suck out on you, but that will happen against a calling station. Be prepared for such.

Hello,

For about a month now, I’ve been playing Holdem at Empire Poker. Usually I play for about 3 hours a day. As of the moment I’m curious about $0.5-$1.0 Limit. I believe the level itself is very tight with usually only 2 or 3 players seeing the flop, often with very little preflop raises.

Oftentimes, level transforms into something potentially unprofitable game of luck. I also notice that having just the second best hand doesn’t work at all at such level. And when I have the winning hand, my losses end up exceeding my wins as I can’t have sufficient action. On the better side, I do well with slow playing hands as JT with flop of 7TT. Same thing with pocket pairs. On the flip side with hands as T4o and A6o I just normally end up having small win that doesn’t cover my blinds.

Generally speaking, I can actually mix up my play and have the potential of remembering the cards I have folded to check if what could have had happened. However, with 52o, I usually fold which isn’t supposed to be. I never realized that I could have won a decent size pot with a full house or if not maybe two pair.

As of now, I believe tight and aggressive game is my aim. I typically win 2 or 3 pots early to be $15- $20 up however later on will just end up losing when the above mentioned factors kick in. Once to change things up, I tried playing two tables at the same time and I could say it was a successful attempt. Also, I tried my hand and luck at the small No Limit game, $25.00 buy-in, blinds $0.5/$0.25 and for some reasons I lost my shirt in the end. Not yet tired of trying so I gave sit and go tournaments, $5+1 NL a shot. I first tried to allow first 3 or 4 wild gamblers weed themselves out as I wait for some strong hands. Well, such approach worked and so I went home with more money though I was just second.

Now, I have two questions:

1. Do you think it’s really possible for internet poker games to go this far and this tight even at the smallest pot levels?
2. Based on what I’ve shared to you, do you have any piece of advice for me? Should I just stick at tourneys? Do you think it would be best if I try higher limit NL games as players there might act more predictably? And is it wise to just ignore the “life is one big session” motto and just quit while I’m leading?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Mark
Mark,

1. It is possible for games to be this tight. It all depends on the players. If a game is bad, you can always find a better game. You usually can check the stats on most rooms to determine which games are the most profitable.
   
2. Your approach seems to be decent, but it sounds like you have been in a couple of bad games in the limit side of things. Limit and No-Limit are two totally different games and as a result, I would stick with one or the other as my main game and then slowly work my way into the other. As far as tournaments, one tournament is not enough for me to determine whether you should play tournaments or not. Try a few more and if you do well, you may want to look into that possibility.

Hello,

Soon, I’ll be going home to visit my family. Along with the said visit, I want to play $1-5 spread limit holdem game offered in our home town. However, I don’t have any idea about spread limit. Is it played like a limit game? Or if not, maybe like no limit, which one?

By the way, how much money should I prepare? Is $150 enough? And how should I play, mechanical or I should just try to mix things up?

A friend once shared to me that spread limit games tend to be a lot different than regular $3/6 limit. Players in spread limit games are tighter because of higher risk.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Tommy
Tommy,

Approach a spread limit game similar as you would a 5-10 Limit Holdem game. Players will tend to be a little tight but that doesn’t mean you can play like a maniac and not expect to lose money. Use a solid approach to the game and you should be fine. $150 is fine for this game as it is 30 big bets.