A little lesson in poker history. The game used to be a real tight game of just a raise three times the blinds and a fold or a raise. This made players think alot of the hands that the other players had and yes there was not that many bluffs in the early days due to the fact of how money was valued in the past. Then the new generation of lets push and hope for the best. The generation of ultra aggressive where players just bet,bet, and bet thanks in part to super system by Doyle Brunson. Where the majority of the game

is to bet and have them guess what you have. So now the question is which game should you play or which one is your style. Is there a style better than others and why? I am going to see if i can help you here. I recently played both ways in a tournament loose and tight aggressive and passive. Then i went to switch and use the loose passive and then i used the aggressive tight. The one that i have had the most sucess with is the tight aggressive. So how i use this method is of course both my cards above a 10 and a pocket pair. Now when i get these hands i bet like 5 times the blinds which makes the players think of what kind of cards i have in my hand. Then lets say the flop blanks me so i am aggressive again and bet they usually fold. This method is for cash. Now on the other hand like tournaments i will use the small ball method of pots. Like three times the blinds on the flop and then 5 times on the turn and maybe 7 times on the river. This will allow me max value of my chips wether i have a the nuts or just top pair. This also allows me to fold a hand on the turn when a player goes all in I do not have to risk all of my chips for the same information. I can get this information just by using smaller bets till a player catches up and wins the pot. This game is a game of skill feel and luck. Some times you get lucky and flop quads with 5 people betting into you. Some times this game is skill just betting and making players fold because you raised pre flop and on the flop. Then again some times its feel like when you bet and get raised all in you have middle pair and call because of the odds or you have a feeling he had ace king. This is where the game has its differences of opinion. There are many styles and many ways for you too win. The big advice i can give is play different than the table. I E table playing tight you play loose this will give you blinds and antes to build up your chip stack. The table playing loose you should play tight and hope catch all of them on bluffs and you have the nuts. There are old pros who cant play the game anymore because the ultra aggressive players. There are new pros that play the old tight poker. The best is a mixture of both and the skill to fold kings pre flop or after the flop when a ace is on the board. There is no one method that is most affective. You need to play all the different styles to win. Like the Gus Hansen commerical for FUll Tilt the aggeessive gus the passive gus the throw my chips away gus. This is true in its rarest form. Play all the different ways and you will win.

may you have big pots,
diesel@learnpokerfromthejoes.com