Aggression is Everything in Poker

I just came back from playing the Main Event at the Heartland Poker Tour. I did well but still did not make it to Day 2 of the tourney after going deep on Day 1. Before I got knocked out I took notice of one player that seemed to be losing every time he entered the pot. One of the other players leaned over and said to me, "This guy better get aggressive or he is going to be outta here..."

He was right. The player didn't last beyond the first couple of hours. The reason was because he failed to use any aggression toward the other players at all. You could literally tell when he did not hit the flop because he would check. Even when he did hit the flop and bet out he was betting too weakly to protect his hands and people began coming over the top of him after a while and taking his pots. It was as if we could all see right through him. Rarely do I ever feel bad for another poker player but it was quite clear that this gentlemen was in over his head.



In the game of poker and in particular No Limit you must use aggression. Aggressive poker is good poker. Passive poker will get you sent to the rail and I would discourage you from using it as part of your poker strategy. Strong bets and continuation bets are the name of the game. You cannot gather information without betting out to find out where you are at. Even if you miss the flop entirely you still need to bet out because it's very likely that your opponents missed the flop too. You will be surprised at how many pots you win with no hand at all.