Poker Articles

Aggressive Poker is Great Poker – Can You Handle The Heat

Barny

We’re big fans of power poker, and if you’re thinking about going deeper with your poker game, there are a few reasons why you really do need to be a fan of power poker as well. It’s a chance to really make sure that you really handle the psychological side of poker. Yes, it’s tempting to think that all you have to do is just be passive long enough to avoid problems, but that just wouldn’t make sense at all. It’s better to really step up your game and make sure that you have the basics covered. That’s the real way to get ahead, when you really think about it. Everything else is just going to end up slowing you down, so why even bother going through it?

Passive players don’t really last long in poker because they end up being easy targets for aggressive players. We’re not saying that you automatically have to get aggressive, but it definitely helps. The more you can push players around without having them retaliate, the stronger your poker game is going to be.

Yet getting the nerve to actually raise and then re-raise can be hard. You have to realize that if you don’t push in every now and then, you’re going to get bullied. They have to see you as someone that can truly make strong decisions and even go with their gut when the job warrants it. Sure, you’re going to want to back down from time to time. We’re not saying that you should push in to every hand when it’s clearly obvious that you’re drawing dead. When you know that you can’t make lemons out of lemonade, you need to fold and wait for another hand to strike.

Studying the image of your other players at the table is really the mark of an aggressive player. You want to study when they fold and when they play and what they feel comfortable playing. Everyone has a comfort zone in poker, so you’re going to want to make sure that you really think about the bigger picture over time.

Make sure that you practice your strategy in cheap or free rooms in order to nail it down. It’s easy to think that you’re ready for higher stakes when that might not be where you need to go. By focusing on the larger picture as well as your poker goals, it’s impossible for you to get thrown off course.

As always, don’t think that you have to do everything on your own. You might come to a point where you want to get outside help, and there’s nothing wrong with that. You just need to ensure that you push forward, take risks, and make sure that you don’t go overboard.

Can you really handle being an aggressive poker player? There’s really only one way to find out — why not start today?