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 Aggression - crossing The Boundary
When does being aggressive cross over into reckless stupidity?
As usual, I probably know the answer but woudl like your opinions too.
We all know the importance of aggression, and I've been reading an excellent thread by Soupie that espouses the main themes: limiting the field, putting pressure on opponents, giviing 2 chances to win as opposed to 1 etc, but quite often you can walk into a sound beating. That's poker. But I'd like to know how to ensure you don't put your poker life on the line when you really shouldn't.
EX 1:
Just the other day, down to the final 3 in a freeroll, 1.5 million chips in play of which I had about 820,000 and the villains around 300,000 each. 3 games cost me and I bowed out in 3rd. Both villains had been on the previous table with me, saw me dominate, eliminate and that when I bet big, I had the winning hand. So when I raised pre flop, one always called. Each time I hit the flop and I bet hard (at least a pot sized bet, at most an all in) to chase out any draws. Each time I was called, each time I knew they were drawing and each time they made their hand. When someone calls all their chips with A4 off- and win - it stings. Even in a freeroll.
EX 2:
Yesterday, a guy was calling every bet in every hand and miraculously catching the cards to get him out of trouble. I was chip leader at the time, looked down on QA diamonds and raised 6xbb to 350. He reraises to 450 and everyone else folds. I call and the flop is lovely: Qh Jd 2d. So TPTK, nut flush draw and even straight and straight flush draws. I figure he has A high. Hell, even with a pocket pair, I only need fear Ks and As - and even then I have lots of outs. So, 85% wanting to get paid off by this bozo and 15% wanted to end it there and then, worried about allowing him to make his hand (a la the final table the night before) I pushed. he called and I was half right. he has an ace. He also has the other. And unlike his good self, I don't spike one of the many cards that would have seen me suck out.
EX 3:
As I have been writing this, down to final 15, with a maniac going all in with nothing and as such his stack is fluctuating wildly. He has 110,000 and I have 65,000. he has also been truthfully anouncing his hands and told me he had 82. I am dealt AJ diamonds, blinds are 3,000/6.000 and I raise to 15,000. All fold, he calls, flop comes K910 raindow. I push, he calls with his 82 and spikes a 2 on the turn.
So at this point, "it's a freeroll full of donks, whaddaya expect?" is on many people's lips yet the question is, had my play in these 3 events been acceptable and unlucky or just plain bad? Looking back, I can't fault my play against the maniac in EX 2 - but am I right? And though it was me who put my chips in the firing line at the final table the previous night, I get the impression that as they were happy to bet all their chips after the flop with nothing but high cards and draws, that they'd call any smaller bet I could make - ergo I was destined to lose those hands regardless.
And playing this way is what took me to the final table and deep into these events and success at SNGs. Sometimes you can be unlucky and your KK hits AA but sometimes I wonder if I get carried away and truly am too reckless. Eg: If I have QQ or KK, bet large and get called, I am 95% of the time going to push as long as I don't see aces and 3 to the flush or straight. Maybe 'cause I've been stung by someone catching their ace or set after the flop. Maybe 'cause it's reckless, I dunno. But I give little consideration to whether they have a higher hand as with any of these 3, I'll push 'til the cows come home.
Don't get me wrong, I try to play tight and in position, and will often fold good looking hands even when there's a good chance these guys are re re raising with K3 off. However, I wonder if it's me being overtly aggressive or just bad luck when bozos call with trash. When they do, I know they are at fault but am I too by giving him 2, or less often, 5 free cards?
And because I am playing with numptys, it's very hard to evaluate just what they have. After all, these guys will bet off 98% of their chips on each street only to fold on the river. So when the flop comes after a 4xbb raise, I hold JJ, the flop comes 966 and Villain bets large, he could be playing AA as much as K10, 55 or even 36. As such, I am pushing in the dark a lot.
Overall, I think it's more bad luck than bad management (though I could be wrong) as I am repeatedly negotiating the field, being amongst the chip lead at any table I join and by winning 50% of SNGs I enter. But we all have leaks and is this one of them? And even if I am utilsing good management most of the time, I'd rather it be 90% than 65%.
Of note is that my cash game doesn't fare half as well. And again, I question the level of aggression I show. Winning 10 pots and $50 this way is of small consolation when it all goes to someone else - whether they called with trash or rockets.
Anyhoo, I'd love to hear your thoughts. And I know it's only freeroll, but any MTT experience is better than none 
Thx
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Originally Posted by Thunder
