Re: Trap Gone Bad

As one of the so-called "Gus Hansen wannabes," I feel it is my duty to respond to Billy's thinly-disguised berating of a loose-aggressive player. I must give my fellow jackal a voice, a defense against this undeserved bashing.

Just kidding. I know Billy means well with his last post. I agree with him to a certain extent: it is quite possible to exploit a loose-aggressive player's tendencies by baiting him into overcommiting to a pot when he is a serious underdog. I find myself on the wrong end of such situations on a fairly regular basis. If you play a wide range of hands, and if you pursue most of your pots aggressively, there are bound to be times when you're betting into a monster hand for a significant amount of your chips. It happens.

However, all is not lost for the loose-aggressive player. While playing that style will inevitably leave you susceptible to being trapped, there are certain measures you can take to preserve your chances of surviving to make the money. We said early on that part of the purpose of this site would be to offer different perspectives on some of the issues in poker. So here we go ...

1) Leave yourself outs. For instance, if you're playing a medium-strength hand, such as holding J-10 when the flop is Jack high. You shouldn't be overly aggressive with these hands unless the board give you some draws to go along with your pair. Like if the flop give you a pair and a flush- or open-ended straight draw, that's great. Even a three-card flush or a three-straight can improve the quality of your hand a little. They leave open the possibility for those runner-runner hands that leave your opponents gnashing their teeth and calling you a donkey.

2) Take on the smaller stacks. There's no need to risk your tournament chances on a fairly weak holding. It just doesn't make sense, in most circumstances. But you can get more aggressive if you're playing against a smaller stack. That way, if you're beat, you still have a shot at rebuilding. This ties into the first key I mentioned -- leaving yourself outs. Also, a smaller stack is more likely to fold if they know you can eliminate them. On the flip side, playing against someone that can knock you out is bad news because ... well, because they can knock you out. In addition, players with bigger stacks are more likely to call you down if they suspect they have you beat, even if you give them the wrong pot odds to call you.

Making these little adjustments to your loose-aggressive style will probably help you to last longer in tournaments, but they won't guarantee cashes. Playing a volatile style will lead to volatile results. When the cards are running well, you probably will win bigger. When the deck's cold, you'll probably bust out quicker. But if you don't cash in a tournament, busting out first is just about the same as busting out on the bubble.

Except when you bust out on the bubble, you have less time to win back your buy-in in the side games.