Passive or Aggressive In early phase

    • bradomurder
      bradomurder
      Bronze
      Joined: 17.10.2008 Posts: 1,330
      Hey

      I read this book a while back "Winning tournament poker 1 hand at a time"

      One of the guys in particular played fairly passive preflop, for example:
      He's on the BB with TT, about 100bb deep, 4 callers before him and he just checks. His logic is that if he hits he can win a huge pot but if he doesn't he loses pretty much nothing.

      He takes the passive option for a lot of other spots rather than attacking the limpers too.

      Do you prefer taking these lines? I did it for a while but now I think I prefer attacking the limpers and trying to isolate.

      Could it be because he's playing $50+ BI and I'm playing mostly micros?
      Cos the aggressive lines seem to work better the lower stakes cos you get value from so many more hands
  • 4 replies
    • Semesa
      Semesa
      Bronze
      Joined: 03.06.2008 Posts: 294
      You get fish at any stake in any form of poker, however MS/HS MTT's are probably the fishiest of all MS/HS forms of poker.

      As for this incident specifically, I think his reasoning for checking is more that he would be playing OOP. Playing OOP in a multiway is much harder with initiative than without with a medium PP. The problem is, reverse implied odds from overpair vs disguised monster(i.e. 556tt board vsing donk bet and raise) makes life difficult as well.

      Also, if you do hit your set, chances of you stacking off in a 5.5bb pot compared to a 16-30bb pot are not that great.
    • bradomurder
      bradomurder
      Bronze
      Joined: 17.10.2008 Posts: 1,330
      Thanks that actually clears it up quite a lot.

      Any thoughts on hands like ATs/AJo even KQ and KJ from the button? especially on real fishy tables with like 4-5 limpers quite often. Cos these are sort of the opposite in that they're easier if you can cut down the numbers but harder without initiative
    • amplifyd
      amplifyd
      Bronze
      Joined: 03.08.2009 Posts: 1,769
      Originally posted by bradomurder
      Thanks that actually clears it up quite a lot.

      Any thoughts on hands like ATs/AJo even KQ and KJ from the button? especially on real fishy tables with like 4-5 limpers quite often. Cos these are sort of the opposite in that they're easier if you can cut down the numbers but harder without initiative
      You've answered your own question already imo :P
    • Semesa
      Semesa
      Bronze
      Joined: 03.06.2008 Posts: 294
      Originally posted by bradomurder
      Thanks that actually clears it up quite a lot.

      Any thoughts on hands like ATs/AJo even KQ and KJ from the button? especially on real fishy tables with like 4-5 limpers quite often. Cos these are sort of the opposite in that they're easier if you can cut down the numbers but harder without initiative
      Depends on a lot of factors. Table image, how likely they are to limp/shove, etc.

      For instance, if there is a guy who is 15/0 over 50+ hands limping UTG, I'm a lot less likely to be raising KJ/AT.



      Also, don't discount a suited ace's draw potential. You can play your Ax suited from the BB in much the same way you would JTs.