Defending with Aggression in Texas Hold’em

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Today poker tip is about mounting an aggressive defense during hands of Texas Hold em. A lot of pro poker tips by well known players encompass a wide variety of styles at the table. Very often the effectiveness of many pro poker tips and their suggested styles will depend on where you are playing. For example, the play in a live poker tournament may be very different from an online poker cash game. So from a pro poker tips perspective about poker tournaments, listening to Johnny Chan may be better than looking up what Tom Dwan has to say on the subject. What doesn’t change is the fact that all poker players are doing their best to protect the money they have thrown into the pot from being abducted by some usurper across the table. To this end, aggression by poker players in Texas hold em is often a very potent defense.

Whoever first stated that the best defense is a good offense probably drank a lot of Red Bull and played online poker. Offense takes energy while defensive is often traditionally played by cramming yourself into a pass (or other such fortification that narrows your foes attack options) and daring your foe to go through you. In Texas Hold em a lot of people play that “hunker down” style, but putting pressure on other poker players with big bets is often the best way to protect the bets you have already made. A lot of people may call that the Texas Hold em version of throwing good money after bad, and in a number of circumstances they may be correct. If your opponents are not overtly showing strength, and are content to let the game come to them (a condition found more commonly in live games than in online poker), then sometimes you should do just that. Take the fight to them and force them into difficult decisions that involve large chunks of their stack. As any poker tournament player knows, fearlessness can be a rare trait in poker players, and in most cases an opponent will hunker down and fold instead of risking a big part of his bankroll to see if your bluffing or not.

Many pro poker tips agree that going on the offensive in Texas Hold em generally works best in casino cash games. Poker tournaments and online poker are already aggressive ecosystems (this is a reality that many formerly successful poker tournament players have not yet adjusted to) and most pro poker tips for that genre may suggest an online form of jui jitsu to use that aggression against them, but in a more passive live environment poker players will want to play an aggressive style against a more cautious bunch than that.

In short, playing a live cash game like it was online poker can be a very effective defense. That is the poker tip for today.