Tight and aggressive preflop is not enough - Page 3

bdk3clash · #1 02-27-2005, 02:52 AM

A lot of people have been fretting lately about the increasing tightness (as measured by VPIP) on Party. At various levels, this appears to be the case. One reason for this is the increase in the number of tight, aggressive players playing multiple tables.

However, I've also seen a lot of people fretting that the games are drying up and are no longer as profitable as they once were, or profitable at all.

While tracking the statistical trends of the various levels on Party is somewhat interesting and marginally useful, I'd just like to point out that the games continue to be very, very good, even if they aren't as good as they were in the past. Egregiously bad players (I hate calling them "fish"--I prefer "donkeys," "donks," or "producers) are still playing in droves, but more importantly there are vast numbers of players who are tight and aggressive preflop but just suck postflop.

I understand the stage these players are in, because that was me when I first started playing hold'em seriously. I thought that being tight and (somewhat) aggressive preflop and playing fit or fold postflop should be enough to make me a substantial winner in small stakes game. It isn't.

Improving your postflop play is absolutely the most important thing you can do. Stop worrying about statistics. Stop worrying about your winrate. Start worrying about not sucking postflop. It's what keeps me up at night.

Here's a hand I played against a player who is excessively tight and reasonbly aggressive preflop. I think he took a horrible postflop line. He had TT in this hand (what I had doesn't really matter.) He essentially took a line that wins him the least when he's ahead and loses the most when he's behind:

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (9 handed) converter

Preflop:
UTG raises, bdk3clash 3-bets, 7 folds, UTG calls.

Flop: (7.33 SB) 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)
UTG checks, bdk3clash bets, UTG raises, bdk3clash 3-bets, UTG calls.

Turn: (6.66 BB) 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
UTG checks, bdk3clash bets, UTG calls.

River: (8.66 BB) 3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
UTG checks, bdk3clash bets, UTG calls.

Final Pot: 10.66 BB

What's the point? The point is that you should not fret if you're playing against tight opponents. Most of them are pretty bad postflop. Just don't be one of them.

Learn blind stealing and blind defense.

Learn that raising light preflop feels naughty at first but vastly increases your chances of taking the pot down with a flop or turn bet. The notion that aggression on any street essentially buys you outs and makes you money (by getting your opponents to check when they should bet, call when they should raise, or fold when they should call) isn't discussed very often on this forum, but I think it's important (and something I struggle with.) Abdul Jalib discusses this on his site quite well.

Learn that raising preflop and on the flop allows you to make folds on the turn and river with a better conscinece because an opponent betting or raising someone who has shown strength on that or a previous street means a stronger hand than betting or raising someone who has played a hand passively.

Learn that even though not all of your opponents are braindead fucktards who you can nut-peddle against and value-bet the shit out of, many of them are still bad postflop and very profitable to play against.