Dealing with the increased aggression of higher stakes online games

[SoBeDude]

There is a huge difference in the way online 3-6 and 5-10 play versus 15-30 or 20-40.

The bigger games are much more aggressive both pre and post flop.

Now granted this is player dependent, and some are more aggressive than others. But almost every hand you'll contest you'll have to deal with an aggressive player.

Last night is a good example. I had an opponent who would call my preflop raise, then 3bet me on the flop (which I would cap), then call my turn bet and fold to my river bet. He did this 4 or 5 times against me in an hour. And I noticed him doing it to many others as well. It actually seemed to be an effective tactic for him, as I seemed to be the only one who would cap with him, and many folded to his aggression.

Now against him, I used the 'turn is the truth' rule. So even though I had either an overpair or TP/TK, I looked for a raise on a later street that never came, so I felt my hand was good.

But others are more tricky. I've been check-raised on the turn by top pair, mid-kicker. I've even been turn-raised with middle pair top kicker. In a smaller game you can usually lay this down, especially if you've been showing strength the whole way. But not in these bigger games.

Also since these players tend to pay more attention, they're more likely to notice you laying down to their aggression, which just encourages them more.

So some times I'm reraising, but often I'm just reverting to calling down.

So whats the best way to handle these all too common situations, without paying off too many raises?

-Scott

[Buckshot]

What you're asking for is a bit much, Scott. What it feels like you're saying is, "How do I lose less when I'm sucked out on?" or "How can I win every hand that I choose to play?"

Remember that the main answer to everything in poker is: It depends. You're not going to get an answer on how to play every hand perfectly. It's just NOT going to happen, unless, of course, you can see their cards, then there'd be no use in playing at all.

What I have come up with is to take each card, each hand, each bet, each raise, each player, each table seperately when evaluating that particular, card, hand, bet, raise, player, table. I know this might sound remedial, but its been effective. You can almost never play the same hand exactly the same way. As listed above, there are too many variables to take into consideration. Just take each bit into account then move on to a decision. It's flowcharting 101.

~stephen