In poker, raises and opens are termed aggressive plays while calls and checks are considered passive plays. On the other hand, a check raise is considered to be very aggressive play. In the aggressive play, a player increases the number of chips their opponents have to put into their pot to play a hand. The player tends to bet or raise more often than they check or call. Aggressive play in poker is beneficial, especially when playing Texas Hold’em. A player can make bets and raises more frequently instead of just checking and calling at each point during hands. It opens up more doorways to win in poker giving a reason why the majority of successful players are aggressive.
Benefits of Aggressive Play in Poker
Aggressive play is important when you have an advantage over your opponent for example when you have better cards, better position, or better poker ability. Just keep a cool head and pick your spots wisely to make your bets and raises. Also, you can use aggressive play to buy position where you force opponents out of the pot in the pre-flop betting round that can act after you later in the hand. In such a case, if you are able to force more players out of the hand, it can allow you to be in a better position in the hand.
Aggressive play can help you to earn free cards since the opponents are likely to check on you rather than bet to observe how you react with the hand before they respond with their play. They do so for fear of being raised off, thus check big hands with the hope of inducing a buff. If the player flops or flush and the opponent checks hoping to induce a bluff, the player gets a free card to try and compete for a draw.
Also, aggressive play can result in a payoff when the opponent gives less credit for your hand as the game progresses. The opponent can begin to call you down in the hopes of catching you out when bluffing. This can work to your advantage when you make a good hand since the opponent may call you down for the reason that they will no longer give you credit for having a strong hand.
Aggressive play has its value since you can make money with weak hands due to bluff value. Moreover, the opponents are more likely to respond to aggressive play by playing more loosely which can result in making more mistakes. In general, aggressive play can be seen to be superior to passive play but it can lead to predictability for instance, if you are constantly aggressive, and plays many inferior hands referred to as maniac and if you are playing with skilled players, they can take advantage of you by calling you more often using isolation plays or through other means.
Aggressive play is an important strategy and should not be confused with loose play because loose play can be passive. It is called for in certain circumstances, for instance, aggressive play should be used in very strong starting hands. Additionally, a very strong propositional hand can be played aggressively since you are more likely to win with a straight or a flush.
Conclusion
Aggressive play in poker, when the hand improves, increases the size of the pot which means a larger win. More so, opens or raises are signs of a strong drawing hand for the aggressive player and other players can refer to it as powerful hands.
