When you spot weakness, what should you do? Attack! Let’s steal more pots and gain more value with aggressive poker.

Watch this episode on YouTube (https://youtu.be/TDOtujcKJX4):

Or, listen to the podcast #538 as you follow along below:

Aggression Wins

I love aggression. It’s how you steal pots and maximize the value with your best hands.

Also, it keeps them guessing as to what you hold because they keep folding. No showdowns = no info on the logic you use.

This keeps ’em guessing, keeps ’em fearful and keeps ’em folding.

Attack These Displays of Weakness, Especially When…

When you spot weakness, it’s a great time to attack. However, attacking with these other aspects in place makes for a more likely and profitable attack.

Holding Blockers

Action:

• A LAG open-raises to only 2bb (weak). Another LAG 3bets to only 4bb on the BTN (weak, he would’ve sized bigger for value).
• We hold K6s. The King blocks KK, AK and KQ, so we attack with a cold 4bet to 18bb! They fold, we scoop 6.5bb and they don’t know what hit ’em.

You Have Drawing Equity

Action:

• CO LAG opens to 2.5, we call on the BTN with Td8d. The BB also calls.
• The flop comes 5d 9d 5c. We hold a flush draw + bdsd + overcard. The CO cbets and we both call.
• The turn gives us a gutshot with the 6s. The BB donk bets 1/6 pot at just 3bb into the 19.4bb pot (weak blocking bet). And, the CO LAG only calls (super weak!). We attack with a 4x raise to 12bb’s, they fold and we take this bad boy down.

In Position

Action:

• The TAG SB opens to 3bb. Being a TAG, he has a wide 25%-30% open-raising range in the SB. We hold JTo (blockers to JJ, TT, AJ, AT, KT), we have position and we’ve got a tight image (only 7/7 over 27 hands), and we haven’t 3bet yet. What a great 3bet bluffing spot!
• We attack with a 3bet to 9bb and he quickly folds.

Using Tendency Reads

Action:

• TAG BTN opened to 2.5bb, and we called with KTo.
• The flop comes AJ4r, giving us a gutshot draw. Villain cbets only 1/3 pot (weak). He’s cbet 2/2 so far with ~40% open-raising range (his tendency is to bluff flops, especially with position), so it’s not likely he has a TP+ here. We attack with a check-raise to 7bb… and he calls. Drat. But, this is why we attack with drawing equity and tendency reads.
• The turn is the beautiful Qc. We hit our straight, so now we barrel for value on the turn and river.

“But, what if they call or re-raise?”

You read ’em for weakness, you attacked because they can find the fold.

But, they called >>> they ain’t weak. Listen to what their actions are telling you.

Be calm and move on.

Don’t throw good chips after bad spots.

This is why drawing equity is great when bluffing (plus position, tendency reads and everything else mentioned already).

Train Your Attacking Skills

It’s time to get to work and build your weakness reading and attacking skills:

1. Pay attention! – Spot signs of weakness and easy tendencies to exploit.
2. Willingness to attack – Drop in stakes.
3. Hit their pain threshold – Make it easier for them to find the fold.

Take Action

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Train your attacking skills over the next 5 sessions. When not involved in a hand, watch for weakness and visualize your attacks.