Easier said than done, being aggressive. Seems like if you just play tighter than a gnat's butthole and call when you have a good hand is the safe way to not hemorrhage your bankroll. Yeah. There may be some truth to that. But you are missing out on a lot of extra money AND worse, you are going to be victimized harshly. Chances are, if this playstyle describes you than you are probably the same kind of player that will fold to any sign of aggression. I have news for you. Despite anything you read about micro limits not having bluffing.... those articles are probably written by bluffers.
"So just start playing more stuff and betting more?" Well, kinda. This is where my knowledge and experience shows its true colors. The fact of the matter is I am still struggling with aggression. When you are used to playing tight and passive for a long time it is intimidating as hell to change to an aggressive strategy. At least for me although I have found that adopting a more aggressive style has added to my wins by virtue of blind steals, chasing draws out of the hand and just blatantly stealing pots by representing a great hand. When I say "representing" I don't mean to imply that I actually have a great hand all the time but it is great for other players to think so and not want to risk any more money for their AJo. The problem is that if there's an Ace in their hand then they often think they have the Golden Ticket. You have to learn how to gauge players for their style and know who is likely to fold and who will call everything you throw at them. And if you are that tight/passive player I was talking about at the beginning, you are probably the first type (the folder). How do I know players will try to bluff you? Because a lot of them love to show off their shit hand once they chase other players out of the hand. I personally only show my monster hands but I'm a newish guy so...
Read up on the different types of players and how to play against them. It will have the side effect of experiencing self awareness. There are tons of great articles you can find on forums and blogs. I highly recommend, if you are pretty new at this, that you check out Pokerology.com. It has a pretty comprehensive and structured guide for you to learn the basics and intermediate concepts of Hold'em (as well as Omaha and some other poker variations). That's it for now. Time for some poker.
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