Play Tight and Wait for Strong Hands
If you are fighting a poker player whom never folds raises, then your plan must be very worked out and you should keep patience. The secret to winning here is that you must understand when to play and with which cards. It requires a specific set of high-card hands. Just do NOT get sucked into their metagame bullshit of constant raising with garbage or second rate hands — that is a chip sucker you cannot afford. Instead, focus on quality.
For example, only play hands such as pocket aces, kings or ace-king suited. In terms of equity, these hands massively outperform weak holdings. And besides, did you think pocket aces only win 85% of the time in mathematical vacuums against random hands? That is a massive advantage, and against a calling station itd be doing all the heavy lifting for you.
Those aggressive players tend to prey on less patient opponents, who if they sense weakness may radio: ”I call you down with a shitty hand just because I can. But resist the urge. Sticking it out is not worth letting them persue their agressive streak. Allow them to bet into you when you do hit a big hand. And as they bet more and more, your payday gets bigger. This type of disciplined play is essential to continued success, particularly in poker games that involve increasing blinds such as cash games or tournaments.
And remember — timing is the key. Truth is, you do not have to play every hand. The good news is that, when you do catch a hand against them and find yourself raising preflop or reraising in position, their habit of opening for 3x-4x works to your benefit. All you need to do is relax, play light calls and count your winnings as the chips come towards you.
Trap Them with Strong Hands
If you face a player who cannot keep away from wagering the absolute minimum, your best play would be to trap him. They want to put some money in the pot? Let them. You can wait for a quality hand and trap them; use their aggression against themselves. Ok, so maybe we bluff back at them this time…You get the point – part of what is great about poker: you do not always have to push — they will walk right into your trap.
I will assume that you have kings in dam pocket just for argument sake In fact I would suggest that you DO NOT force an uber aggressive 70% PFR off their hand straight away. As far as the raisers and re-raisers are concerned, just call them all day long–let them keep sticking chips in the middle. Only a slightly better / more aggressive than your average poker player might make this mistake–raising too soon, promptly losing the fish. Don’t make that mistake. Just be patient and make them feel they´re still in charge.
This strategy becomes even stronger in tournaments. In these high-stakes scenarios, aggressive players are scrimping away with the aim of gobbling up large chip stacks shortly like a caveman seeing fire for the initial moment. The pressure the blinds build ups Don’t fall for it. And then when the time is right, spring your trap. When the pot is bloated, pick some good places to fire back with your big hands.
Here is a real-life example from professional poker: Phil Hellmuth (famous for untiring ability to exploit aggressive players), time after time, traps his opponents by simply calling with strong hands and encouraging them bet themselves into the ground. In one tournament game, he slow played pocket aces time and again as his opponent raised it up to the moon only for Negreanu pull in pot so huge even Daniel himself can not imagine.
I do the same. I can raise your hand too prematurely. Call, let them believe they are still winning, and when the pot grows enough large then bang — you crush. In this way you can make the best possible profit without having to risk your money unnecessarily.
Adjust Bet Sizing
If it is a player that you are fighting against who raises every hand, instead of competing with the same unclear rate: adjustments to be worked out. Not just waiting on that hand but getting the most value out of your premium hands. You can for example manipulate how large the pot is going to be by either increasing or decreasing your stake at the right times and therefore take advantage of their over agressiveness.
When you have an op, pocket aces or kings dont just raise at all pre-flop. For the aggressive players you must raise much bigger than your normal because should be around 3x even up to about four or five times. This serves a pair of purposes: it creates more value if you are drawing to the best hand, and ensures that other opponents will not draw with weaker hands. In some cases, you can make even more value by betting larger in cash games. You might raise to $30 or even much more preflop and if you are usually raising 10.
Conversely when you have a more marginal hand like suited connectors or small pocket pairs, then smaller raises might be the way to go. Treading water until you know what to do better with your chips. We want so keep this pot as small as possible and give ourselves a free chance to hit the nuts while not hemorrhaging chips at the same time.
This strategy is well suited to tournament play where stack sizes and blinds change throughout the game. When an aggressive player has a massive stack and you’re having to navigate through the minefield with chips that are much smaller, adjusting bet sizing can safely limit your risk of being pushed all-in prematurely. You made the bet, you can control this pot here that belongs to YOU. Let them bluff, let them bet big— not your problem!
This is a very short one: In the 2016 World Series of Poker Qui Nguyen was notorious for being fearless and aggressive. It was not in fact the maniacs who floored him, but those crafty player that simply worked around his flawed style of raising with all marginal holdings and to bigger sizes when he had nothing. But in life, there’s an adiquate saying about it: It is not always the best hand that wins – it IS ALL IN THE BID.
Bluff Less, Value Bet More
The more a player never folds and raises every collection, the less likely you should bluff at that collection. Why? Since bluffing depends on getting your adversary to overlap, and these players only occasionally ever overlay. Value Betting is a much better approach instead. Against this player type, you should look to value bet your strong hands as much of the time they will call.
If you make a strong hand, such as top pair or better….… bet for value. Don’t slow down. To be fair even if you go with a mid-strength holding like second pair they will pay off way worse because their aggression sets up that dynamic to do so. They are not assessing hand strength like a rock would — they simply desire to play. Which is where you cash in.
Example: You have ace-queen and the flop comes all under cards. If you were against a more nitty player, maybe bet smaller or heck even check to keep them in the pot., But versus a player who never folds, you build for the buyout. They will call with hands that have no chance, such as a lower pocket pair or some random draw. So do not be afraid to bet strong!
A classic example of this is the storied career of Daniel Negreanu. He’s made a career of staying in the game for long periods by simply not overplaying his hands against some overly aggressive players. He doesn’t get in a raising war with bluffers, he just keeps value-betting his good hands and they keep calling him down.
This is not an opponent to mess with via bluff. Since they will likely call anyway, it’s not worth putting chips in the pot with weak hands. The numbers do not lie, the more you value bet against these players and ever know your winners were called by any hand… the higher return — Well, in this kind of situation you just aren’t going to be able bluff your way through it. Stay with betting when you have the best of it — and let them err on in trying to pay YOU off!
Stay Emotionally Balanced
The first thing you need to focus on however is staying cool no matter how many times this player never folds and constantly raises. You are probably in a loosing session that was running good and got frustation when the other beggin to bet but you give them out as much information as they need even then, poker is more about long term strategies than short time emotions. And they want you to screw up so get frustrated and then make mistakes.
Tilting — every single poker pro says it leads to bad decisions. You could begin calling raises with incorrect odds to illustrate your point However, that is NOT a successful plan. Have patience, maintain your strategy and remember why poker is a game of decision making not running after every bet.
Take a cue from the pros like Phil Ivey. With the table, he plays amazingly well but it looks like a machine He is known for his insensitising behavior on betting. He stays calm and collected even in high stakes situation where millions are on the line. It’s because he never allows himself to be steered off course by ultra-aggressive foes. He plays his game and takes chances because the numbers will eventually be in favor of him for playing it that way.
Used as a poker analogy, it often comes down to,,take risk. And, if you get sucked into the emotional play — then you lose that calculation. You no more think of odds, pot size and bet sizing but purely play by your instincts. This results in inefficient decisions costing you money. Yes, in tournaments where the blind levels go up every 15 minutes it is crucial to keep your emotions on an even keel. Despite months of effort, a single bad call made in frustration can be enough to send you crashing out the tournament.
Well, what do you do to stay Level-Headed when they spin every hand? Breathe. Remember their Globe can take your Foetid through math tactics. Call or confidently raise if you think your hand is strong. If it’s weak, fold. But dont let them draw you in to needless battles.
You see, poker is a strategy game in which like it or not you can be humbled really quickly. Keep your composure, stay focused and do not let their aggressiveness rattle you. Good Things Come to Those Who Wait.
Exploit Their Overconfidence
Players who raise every hand and never fold tend to be all show, no substance. They believe they can scare the table by playing a lot of hands, but that approach is just what you need to make more money off their predictability. The trick here is to understand that the confidence they have itself is blinding them, with this in mind you can strike.
These are the type of players that tend not to change their style and play in this manner. They open with 7-2 offsuit or AA and they always expect the other players to lay down against them. But, when they start to get overconfident of their probability based wins -that is when you take intelligent steps that work in your favor. For example, even when you have a premium hand like Ace-King or pocket queens wait for them to do all the betting. Those weak hands get overexposed and smashed, because their aggressive style of play will often lead to them bloating pots with totally garbage holdings.
To learn how to best execute a bluff, we need go no further than one of the most famous poker bluffs in history: Chris Moneymaker’s 2003 World Series Of Poker heads-up hand against Sammy Farha. Farha is one of the most aggressive players in poker and he figured that raw aggression would push Moneymaker out of this pot. But Moneymaker nursing thoughts of a full house knowing Farha could lose anything on the river, decided to blow him off and slowplay his mark further whilst he built up priceless pots. It was something more than just the cards; it was about understanding that Farha’s style made him exploitable.
Critical thinking is the providence of aggressive players. They think that relentless boosting is victory. However, poker is a game of timing and patience; a contention that runs counter opposite to brute force. If they go large every hand, don’t panic – just wait until you have the goodies. After you caught them, they will start betting big into a pot that is nowhere near their property and you can just min cash.
Therefore, what is the best and easiest way for you to trade based on their overconfidence? Stay disciplined. Do not retaliate when facing they try to run you over with.. bad hands. Allow them to underestimate you and make them feel like they have the upper hand while, behind those cool eyes of yours, you anticipate your perfect moment. And when they think the have it under control, that is your moment to cash in on those chips without them knowing what just happened.