Playing against aggressive players can be daunting, but with the right strategies, you can turn the tables. Here are five effective tactics to counter and outplay aggressive players at the poker table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many aggressive players are actually just players who threebet too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First off, you need to make sure you\u2019re actually dealing with an aggressive player. Many people assume any person who threebets three times in the first couple of orbits is a psychotic player. It\u2019s far more likely that the player picked up three hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, if you see some ridiculous hands get threebet, then you need to play into that. They likely do that play because they\u2019ve had success with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you have Aces or Kings, don\u2019t fourbet and make things easy for the maniac. Flat and let them bluff versus you. They\u2019ll naturally assume you would never flat with such a good hand, because most of their opponents don\u2019t want to face the pressure of multiple barrels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many loose and aggressive players have boards they love to bluff on. If you\u2019re playing against aggressive players over several sessions, you should be able to pick up on what boards they like to hammer away on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One guy I used to play against loved Ace high boards. He felt when he was the preflop raiser everyone should respect his bets on Ace high boards. He would constantly hammer Ace high boards with any two cards. The way to outplay him was to slowplay all good Aces and let him fire away when you hit the hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another regular I used to play against assumed that everyone would raise sets and two pairs on boards with flush draws, straight draws, or a combination of the two. If you just flatted him on one of those boards and the turn was an overcard, he was going to fire three streets every single time. He also would always try to represent the draw when it came in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The way to beat him was to slowplay all of your value combinations versus him. You\u2019d have to make dangerous calls on coordinated boards with sets and two pairs. Occasionally, he would river some freak straight and bust you, but most of the time he would give away his chips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was also important in these pots to take a long time to call him on the river. If you beat him into the pot, that would tell him to never run that bluff again because you figured out what he was doing. You were supposed to pretend like you really wanted to fold but you were tilted on that particular session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One play that always seems to work versus aggressive players is to raise more top pairs postflop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They bluff all the time, so when they see someone raising they assume they\u2019re bluffing too much too. If they have any kind of top pair or second pair, they are looking to call down. You\u2019ll be amazed by how many bets you\u2019ll get out of them when you do this play, especially if you raise on a dry board where most people wouldn\u2019t fastplay with a top pair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re considering betting 70% or 80% of the pot, just go ahead and bet 120% of the pot. The bet doesn\u2019t need to work that much more often, and it is far more effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many aggressive players are used to opponents who can\u2019t handle the pressure. These opponents will often bet huge when they have a set or two pair because they\u2019re scared of a draw coming in that the maniac can then represent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n