Aggressive Play

There are so many great books out there that teach the proper, conservative approach to poker and yet I see great players like Gus Hanson, Phil Ivey and Sam Farha playing a completely different style. Are there any books out there which teach poker from the aggressive or hyper-aggressive perspective?

Ghost

Not much besides the short mention by Harrington in vol 1 amd Harringtons chapter on making moves in vol. 1

(Kill Phil is a funny litte beast, but since aggresion in my book is seen a lot of flops and outmaneuvering opponents after it hits, I'd still label Kill Phil as an conserverive approach


I guess you are on your own .. seek out Phil Helmuth and take lessons

[jakethebake]

Super System

[Aceshigh7]

Killer Poker

what about eric lindgren's (sp??) new book? i see how hard the pro's work their advantageous position (unbelievable).

i would say it's very hard to teach the aggression. and sometimes you have to pound pre-flop, flop, turn and river to get someone off their hand (not sure most of us have the reads or the guys for that; also you have to really question whether it will work)

i think phil gordon says put in big raise on 5 callers pre-flop, and don't worry too much about your own cards (i think that's right). two questions: 1) who has the guts for that?; 2) will that work at low levels where people don't care about dying that much?

[MCS]

It would be hard to write a book about that because making moves is so situation-dependent, and also relies a lot on a player's ability to read opponents.

I agree. Super System II talks about aggressive play. Also, playing almost anything in late position and hitting the board can make people crazy at the showdown.

Yes. Super System. However, understand that the situation must be right. I find that super aggression advocated in supersystem works wonders in a short-handed game against good players (when I say good, I just mean non-calling stations. Players who can fold).

Do this as an experiment. Get and read Super System II (Brunson's NL section). Then read it again to make sure you absorb it. Then find a short-handed table and use it. Now, it's paramount that you be able to classify your opponents. Not play loose against calling stations. Make sure you have folding equity against players when you make a bluff/semi-bluff.

But, in the right situation, Super System works beautifully. After first dismising the book, then going back to it much later, it totally redefined my game. Now, I start aggresiveness as my deault, and I dial it back depending on 1. number of players and 2. type of player I am in a hand against. (You have to have a solid understanding of poker theory first to overlay Super System onto, or else you will go broke super fast).

I second that.

Thanks Players! I am going to order Lindgrin's book and SS2 to see what I can pick up (I also pre-ordered Daniel Negreanu's upcoming book). My interest is not really to learn how to play like them, but to learn how they play, what they look for and hope to do in order to improve my game when I come across players like them.

Thanks again!

Ghost