Tournament poker and aggressive is a poker playing style that most of the pro’s do while on the play money tables, this is not at all obvious to the novice player who is trying to learn the ropes. Tournament poker and aggression has a lot to do with position, chip management and keen observation of your opponent.
While holding the blinds in early position, a player will have a much better read on his opponents then in the later positions. This is because in the early positions you are at a glance playing out of position so you have to make your decisions based there. Thereby you make better decisions and adjustments.
Tournament poker and aggressive is the game that is played in the money games, this is where the money is at stake so you will always see some professional game players raise with a wider range of hands. When playing in the late positions you are at a glance playing your hand and so you will be more careful in making your moves.
It’s important that you pay attention to your opponent’s are card ranges. If you are playing a player who is very tight, and plays only high pairs, you can simply steal the blinds by raising and re-raising. When out of position, more people with stronger hands will steal from you.
Position is everything and you need to play tight in early position, and looser in late position. Play tight in early position for a reason, the reason is you can see a lot more cards there. You can see if he is playing a lot of hands, not only him taking the blinds but also because he is playing a wider range of hands.
If you see that someone is raising in early position, you can decide to re-raise them, this action will put the pressure on them as they have less to lose, and more likely with you winning the blinds. They will fold with a minimum of a 2 big blind bet behind them, since they know that it is very unlikely you hold the best hand again. Showing aggressiveness, by raising, will often scare people into folding whom you will win the blinds and pot.
This loose-aggressive playing style can be extremely profitable. However, you should try to use it selectively and not to the same extent that you already used it. Doing that would make you a loose cannon and a threat to your bankroll as people will soon Figure out your pattern.
Learning to control your own actions and to apply the pressure in different situations is a very important aspect of becoming a successful tournament player. Those boxcars mentioned above are the big favorites as they are the Seen and recognized players at the table. Getting to see a flop and making a hand on the flop are the things that people remember when talking about a poker tournament, and learning to do those is the thing that will get you the acclaim for a successful tourney.
Playing your premium hands and raising your money games is all well and good, but you want to add a little finesse to your game in general.
