PokerWorks

Hi. My name is Pokerpeaker. And I'm a tight poker player.

If that sounds like something I'd say before a meeting to address addictions, well, I'm not surprised. People go to those meetings because they want to change something about their lives. And that's exactly how I feel about my poker game.

I stare in awe at players such as Gus Hansen, who can dominate a table, push people around like the mafia, instill fear in others and, therefore, rob players blind, siphoning off their chip stacks until he's built a nice cushion to the final table. He does this, of course, against players like me.

I want to be aggressive.

But I'm not Gus Hansen. I'm not even close.

I'm tight.

The point of this Boot Camp article, of course, is I've finally come to that realization, after months of treading water and trying to change who I am. And I'm playing much better as a result.

You hear it all the time, that you should play your game. But the problem is all poker players want to improve. At least the ones like me, who take the game seriously. Well, improving, to me, means changing things up. I know how to play A-K in early position. I want to learn how to make moves.

I want to be aggressive.

I know aggression is what wins poker tournaments. I know aggression wins you big pots. I also know aggression is what keeps you afloat until those big pots come.

Be aggressive. Be, be aggressive. That's the chant I hear on all the poker shows, in blogs and all the training videos.

OK, OK, sorry, but I'm unable to play as aggressively as I should. But I'm also in the final stage of grief about this - acceptance.

So what do I know about my game now given that I've accepted the fact that, deep down, I know I'm a tight player?

Well, I know I can't play six-handed NLHE. Instead of being super-aggressive, I usually wind up being stupid-aggressive, like pushing with A-A when a player bets and there's a raise. The blinds always eat you alive in that game if you're not willing to fight back. But I always fight back at the wrong time.

I'm much more comfortable in a full ring, where patience is not only a virtue, it's mandatory.

I've also geared my game to cash games. I don't play many tournaments. Mean, aggressive players always steal my blinds, and I don't like that. So 90 percent of the time, I'm playing cash games, where blinds aren't really an issue.

Finally, I am always looking for a chance to exploit the tight image that inevitably hangs around when I am playing, like the bored girlfriends who sit behind their hotshot boyfriends at the table. That means I bet when I'm checked to in position and take down a lot of orphan pots that way.

I don't sit back and let people push me around. If you try it, I'll burn you by trapping you when I've got a big hand. I will snap off your bluffs when you don't tell me a perfect story. And when I do get a big hand, you better believe I'm betting it hard. That's part of playing tight.

I also know I probably won't get my big hands paid off as often, and I won't win many tournaments, and I won't pick up pots by pushing people off hands. That's also part of playing tight.

I'm always trying to improve. I just read Hansen's "Every Hand Revealed," and it gave me some good things to work on in terms of playing a tournament aggressively. It will always be a battle. That's part of the fun of poker.

I also know that you can try to play in a way that you really don't understand, or you can play in a style that fits you. It might not be the optimal way to play all the time - playing tight certainly isn't - but it's a way I know how to play well.

You'll hear lots of poker advice from players on how they think you should play. It's OK to listen to them, but remember the reason you're sitting at the table with them in the first place.

Follow your heart. You know, the one that's beating in your chest, not the ones you hold in your hand.