Dealing With An Aggro Player

Dealing With An Aggro

• Patience
• It's impossible for me to say enough about being patient. When you realize you're in a match against one of these people, have the mindset that you are going to win. Don't get frustrated! Be pleased they sat with you. Most importantly, let the match come to you!!

• Button Adjustments
• These players will be 3-betting you very wide. It is important to stop raising the button with marginal hands. I like to start limping. One of the keys to beating these people is to see as many flops as possible. When you hit a flop, you have a great chance of getting paid. If they raise your button limps, then only call with hands that flop well such as suited connectors or broadways. If they continue to raise your button limps, it is time to look for a situation to use the limp re-raise phenomenon to your advantage.

• The Limp Re-Raise Phenomenon
• I discovered this phenomenon probably around my 8,000th heads up match. In other words, not really that long ago. However, it is a very solid concept. It holds true about 90% of the time. In a nutshell, it says that if you limp and your opponent raises and you re-raise... HE IS USUALLY NOT FOLDING! You can use this against these aggros with big hands. With big Aces, A9 and up, I will probably make it huge after he raises so I don't have to play post-flop without being committed. With hands like QQ+, I will limp and then re-raise a decent amount to build the pot. What you don't want to do is limp and smooth call his raise. You're not building the pot. REMEMBER, DO NOT be afraid of him folding. With TT and JJ, I will re-raise a huge percentage of my stack to commit myself to any flop. I just limp-shove the pocket pairs 55-99.

• Widening the All In Raise to Gather Chips
• When you become aware that your opponent is going to raise almost all of your limps, it is important to limp for the purpose of taking their raise. I do this with pocket pairs 55-88 and also with A9+. I limp these hands and just shove over the top of their raise. This adds chips to your stack to allow you to see more hands.

• Slow Playing Monsters On The Flop
• This is what you have been waiting for. This hand is the reason you are happy you sat with an aggro. When it occurs, DON'T let the opportunity pass you by. If you flop a monster (trips, top two, straight, flush, or even better) don't scare your opponent away. The river is the time to get value out of him.

• Playing Combo Draws On The Flop
• When you flop a combo draw against the aggro, it is a good idea to play it pretty fast. I like to be aggressive on the flop to see if I can get my opponent to go all the way right now. I don't like to slow play because if I brick the turn, my hand goes from being a big hand to being very mediocre.

• Don't Panic
• This is more than just being patient. When I end up playing an aggro and I am getting run over, I have taught myself to look at my chip stack and think of it doubled. I tell myself it is only a matter of time before I double up. If your chip stack gets so low where a double up won't even get you back to even, it is time to get aggressive. Hopefully it doesn't come to that. Basically, just remember not to panic unless you have under 700 chips.

• Playing Fast
• Now that I mostly play turbos, the most disappointing thing about sitting with an aggro is that it is a turbo. I honestly think you can win 65-70% of the time against an aggro if it were a regular speed match. The reason for this is because you will be dealt more hands which means the probability of getting a monster pre-flop or flopping a monster is much greater. The probably is actually twice as great because you are dealt twice the number of hands. What I have learned to do against an aggro is to make it so I am dealt as many hands as possible. The way I do this is by playing as fast as I can without clouding my judgement. If I intend to fold, I will fold as fast as possible. If I plan to limp re-raise, I limp as fast as I can.

Playing Versus a Donkbet on Axx

Weak players that lead into you on Axx boards often do not have the Ace. They are leading in hopes of representing an Ace. This is a good spot to raise as a bluff and smooth call for value.

check/(snap) calls are usually draws.

The Extra One Percent: Episode Two

HU SNG

First hand against an unknown villain

Blinds 10/20
Stacks: 1,500 each

Hero has Ad Qc in the SB and raises to 60
Villain calls from the BB

Flop (120): Qc 5h 3h
Villain checks, Hero bets 80, Villain raises to 220, Hero raises to 450, Villain (snap) raise All In, Hero calls

Villain shows Qd 8c


How do I adjust to villain based on the information I have just been given?

• Value-bet him thinly because he is willing to put a lot of money in with marginal hands.
• Check back more often with marginal showdown value because he will probably c/r with a wide range.
• Be more likely to make hero calls against him. If he is willing to play for stacks with a marginal hand, he is probably also capable of pulling off some aggressive bluffs.

More Advanced Way of Exploiting

• Based on the first hand we played against villain we know:
• He fast plays with a wide value range.
• Therefore we can also safely assume:
• He fast plays with all his good hands on draw heavy boards.
• Therefore we can also safely assume:
• His c/c range on coordinated boards is weak.
• If that is the case then we can increase our barreling frequencies as his c/c range becomes unprotected. 

Advanced Adjustment We Can Make OOP

• If he is the kind of player who fast plays OOP and plays for stacks with marginal hands.
• Then we can assume that he is also the kind of player who will fast play his strong hands when he is in position.
• We can define his range by increasing our donk-leading range, especially on draw heavy boards where he will likely raise his strong hands.

HU SNG

Blinds 10/20

Stacks: 1,500 each

Villain is SB with XX

Hero is BB with Js Ts

Villain raises to 60 from the SB

Hero calls 60

Flop (120): 7h 8s Kh

Hero bets 80, Villain calls

Turn (280): 3s

Hero bets 200, Villain calls

River (680): 4c

Hero bets 550. Villain folds

The information we gained from the first hand makes this a very profitable donk bet and barrel spot. We know that villain will most likely fast play his Kx hands so when he calls, his range will be a weak made hand that cannot take three barrels. Our hand can turn a lot of cards that will increase our equity or give us the best hand. Spades give us a flush draw. A Jack or Ten most likely gives us the best hand. A Queen gives us an OESD. A Nine gives us the nut straight. Although our hand has a decent amount of equity, we will have no trouble bet/folding the flop. Donk betting gives us more information than checking based on what we know about his tendencies and allow us to exploit him.

The Extra One Percent: Episode One

Heads Up No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t30/t60 Blinds - 2 players
BTN/SB: t2765 46.08 BBs
Hero (BB): t1235 20.58 BBs

Pre Flop: (t90) Hero is BB with A 8
BTN/SB calls t30

Hero ?

The villain is a station that has called every raise the Hero has made. He is very unlikely to limp/fold. Hero's hand should be far ahead of his limp/call range but raising to a standard amount of 180 or 240 would make SPR very awkward. Against a player like this, a big raise to about 450 is most likely the best option. If he folds pre-flop then we collect 120 in chips. He is more likely to call the giant raise and fold to a flop cbet than to call a shove pre-flop. The big raise will create a SPR of less than one which will allow us to shove the flop. 

If a player starts off a husng by limping, he is likely to be passive. When you flop a hand, it is probably better to bet at it yourself than to depend on the villain to bet.

Timing tell: You can pick up a lot of information from insta actions, especially from a fish. 

Timing tell: If you notice an opponent tank pre-flop than showdown a strong hand then you can probably expect that every time he tanks pre-flop, he has a strong range. You can probably also expect him to have a strong range in general when he tanks to make an action whether it be pre-flop or post-flop.

Thin block value bets should be used more often against weak passive players. 

Notes that Saibot took against opponent:

• Probably has a weak limping range.
• Does not look like a reg.
• When he tanks pre-flop, he is more likely to have a strong range.
• He decided NOT to 3-bet AQo early in the match.
• Respect his aggression pre-flop.
• In general, respect his aggression post-flop as well.
• He used small bet size to bluff the river.
• Maybe his small bet sizes are air/bluff.
• Block value bet him.