pokerroom - Aggressive betting in tournament play
Aggressive betting can often pave the way to building a good chipstack, but it must always be used with great care and judgment. Alongside such tactics you must always be aware of when you are betting into a strong player who will call or re raise.
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The best thing about being aggressive is that you are always testing your opponents, and often they won’t be able to make the call. If they do, your aggressive play leads them to think they will have to call another bet on the next betting opportunity. This in turn makes them less likely to call the first raise.
When raising players often you must always be aware that other players know your image and aggressive nature and will be looking to set a trap if they make a strong hand. With this in mind, always look to push your opponents but read where you think their hand is at any given point.
If your opponent calls or raises there is always a reason why. In some circumstances aggressive play is crucial to closing out a tournament. If you are down to two or three players, you must be trying to press the issue and test your opponents, but I feel it is always best to do this in bursts.
The blinds will be big and coming round fast so if you make some good headway, sit back and fold a few hands. This gives your opponents the pressure of large blinds on their shorter stacks for a while which invariably provokes action and will eventually result in one or other going bust. If I am heads up, I try to be as aggressive as possible and look for half chances to get my opponent all in once they are short stacked.