How can I be more aggressive?

[sea]

Thanks - that's an offer I can't refuse!
I think I'm OK for stealing blinds and raising for free cards.
But I'm hazy on raising for value, and I have _no_idea_ what isolating players means.

[Aequitas58]

No problem. I am going out with my girlfriend for a few hours, so I'll be away from the computer. I can responded later on (so check back) ... or if someone wants to elaborate for me, that'll work too.

Either way, stay tuned.

[sea]

Oh I'm tuned.

[Aequitas58]

I wasn't away as long as I thought. Here goes.

Raising for Value. Basic terms: You have a good hand, and a raise simply builds the pot. You are raising for value, because you are trying to make the most money out of the hand as possible. This is hand-in-hand with check-raising. I.e.: You have a good hand, and you're raising someone's bet to build the pot up. "Raising for value" isn't hard to understand - you probably just haven't heard it put like that.

Isolating Players. This is a little more difficult. When you raise to isolate, your goal is to "isolate" 1 or 2 players ... in other words, you want to make the action 3-way or heads-up. Your hand stands a better chance of winning against fewer players than it does against a full field, so when you raise to isolate, you are making people fold to 2 bets who would have originally limped. Those limpers might have flopped something to beat you - and when you make them fold, you are essentially freeing up outs.

I hope this isn't too hard to understand. I can't find my cigarettes.

[Zybomb]

To elaborate a little on this sea, its also important to know WHEN to raise for value and WHEN to isolate players. Certain hands you want as much action as possible, so that if you do hit you can be paid off (I.E suited connectors) Other times (Ie a pair of 9s in the hole) You want to isolate, because although you may be ahead preflop, there are tons of overcards and players are going to be holding some of them, you need to isolate against one or two players, and hope overcards dont match up.

If you are on a strong draw, raising for value is a good move. Even if you know you are behind and you fully expect a call from your opponents, this move can be profitable as it builds up a much larger pot if you do it (be sure to be drawing to the nuts or close to, if you use this method)

Another way to increase aggression is to simply bet more frequently. Ive stated this before, ask yourself "If I check and he bets, will I call?" If the answer is yes, most of the time you are better off just leading out (unless you plan on check raising or slowplaying ). One of the worst plays you can do is check call all the way down to the river....Ill give the same example from the APC this year, where Josh Arieh opened with a K5 and was called by someone holding AQ. The flop hit K,Q rag, and Arieh lead out 3 times, and his opponent was content to just call each time, and lost a nice pot because of it.

Also especially in limit, know your players and their looseness. A button blind steal is pointless if the BB will call with any 2 cards. etc

Good Luck

[2Tone]

I'm liking this thread.

Check out
for some reading on this.

Raising for value gets a little complicated, but in short, you are aiming to increase the size of the pot you have a good chance of taking down with other people's money. A better explanation is welcome.

I play a lot of low-limit hold 'em on Party - 2/4 and 3/6 BB tables. As a whole, I'm looking for chances to raise for value and raising for free cards in late positon (or at least, to the best of my understanding of these concepts). The key here is just knowing the math. And the beauty is that you are not counting on your opponents to make any difficult decisions, like say, mucking a marginal hand.

I'm less enthusiastic about trying to isolate players, and stealing blinds. These require that your opponents to actually fold, which you can't count on. Stealing blinds is particularly hazardous and ineffective, as you can’t discount the possibility of getting three-bet pre-flop by an opponent holding anything from KK to AceX.

As a whole, I find the key to success at these tables is to play pretty rudimentary poker, being extremely selective about starting hand requirements in early position, and betting the hell out of premium hands that hit, and hoping other players come along for the ride - they often do.

I might be limiting my win rate by not playing more craftily and/or aggressively, but I suspect all I'm doing is limiting my variance.

5/10 and up online and B&M are often an entirely different story.

[Talking Poker]

Quick and dirty advice that kinda fits in to this thread:

If you have a drawing hand, you want a lot of people in the pot (so you'll have the correct odds to draw later on). If you have a power hand, you want as few opponents as possible (so it has a better chance of holding up).

[sea]

Wow, I'm overwhelmed!

Thanks for all the tips, explanations, and 2Tone's article. I expect to be back re-reading this info frequently.

It seems that I've already been attempting to isolate players; now I'll definitely start raising for value with my strong draws. Soon the fish will scatter when I sit down...or whatever it is that fish do when they're scared...