Agressive play? the victim of and the agressor?

The thing I struggle most with right now is aggressive play. When I'm a shortstack and someone is being very aggressive with a large stack. I get frustrated. Is it just right to sit back and just play smart poker? Who cares if he's stealing blinds, just wait for an opportunity and bust him when I have a hand? Is that just how I should look at things and don't worry about the short term, just worry more about the long term? Just see him as keeping my chips warm for me per say. I play mostly freerolls as I'm still learning and it just becomes a hard concept to grasp. I see people aggressively betting after the flop when they don't even have a hand at all and then they'll get lucky and hit it on the river sometimes. Is this something I won't be able to grasp til I start moving away from freerolls? Like I have a-10 guy on my right has K-10. there's a 10 on the flop, and he goes all in. So I look at the board and assume he must have had a pocket pair and hit a set on the flop and fold. Then someone calls him and I see what he had. Am I just playing smart poker? That'd be stupid of me to call there. Oh well? My game is really passive, like if I miss flop I generally just get out of the hand. I get pretty far like that. But, I'm guessing I'm missing the opportunity to take down some pots with continuation bets. At the final table I guess the way I play is easily exploitable. I miss a flop someone makes a big continuation bet, I'm gone. Do I just have to take shots and try and learn to read people to improve my game?

I would definitely say that how successful you can be by playing aggressive is directly related to how well you can identify the other players' patterns, and how well you can identify the texture of the board. There are times when you definitely don't want to c-bet, because you already know you're probably beat. However, in order to get further into a tourney, particular into the later stages, it is essential to take (and of course win) a few coinflips. The key is to make sure those coinflips are when you want to take them, on your terms.

In other words, you will have to go all-in at some point or another, and most likely at or near the bubble. Just be sure you're going AI when you want to; in other words, you be the one pushing, not the one calling. Make sure that you're pushing when you have identified weakness at the table, when you think you can make the other players fold, and when you think that even if you're called you'll at least have a decent shot at winning. Of course, it will get to a point where you will just have to pick a spot and shove, regardless of your cards.

Lets say you're nearing the bubble, but are already down to 10xBB stack or less. You get one limper and the rest fold around to you on the button, with more or less mid-stack but tight players in the blinds. Unless you've seen this guy limp in with monsters before hoping to get action, its a good spot to shove, even with a marginal hand, or even rags if the blind level is about to go up again, leaving you even more shortstacked. Why? Because you might just take it down right there if the other players are playing scared, and in the worst of cases, you double up, increasing your chances of not only making the money, but making it deeper into the tourney.

Its hard, but over the long run I can guarantee you will profit more. You may not win or make the money every time; in fact you will likely bust out at the bubble a great deal of times. But you will be more likely to make it deep into the money when you finally do make the money, because you're not just sneaking your way into the money, you're charging towards the final table.

Hope that's helpful; best of luck to you!

Agree ^^ I think Tublecain is right on.

Playing only your cards and being really passive might get you close to the money and into the money a lot, but you want to be getting further into the money. Gotta play the players and position also. A lot of times I also play the stack sizes, but I think thats more playing the player. Like in a Double or Nothing, I will steal from the mid sized stacks that probably don't wanna fight or lose any more chips, the the big stacks might call and the small stacks may push. Unless the mid stack player has a good hand they are most likely folding.

"Do I just have to take shots and try and learn to read people to improve my game?"

Yes. Yes, and Yes. You really need to learn to read people to play poker, poker isn't just about what cards you hold and whether or not they hit. You can't only wait for the top 10 hands, play them, and then fold when your hand doesn't hit. This way of playing may keep you in the tournament longer more often, but the goal is to win. Reading people is a big part of poker and if you only want to play your cards maybe you need a different game. A lot of times the only way I win any hands for a while is by picking the right spot to steal from, because you may have long stretches where you never see a hand that you would normally play. If you want to improve your game and get farther into the money your going to have to gamble and "take your shots", sometimes you'll lose sometimes you'll win.

Very skill aggro players r tough, the ones that read the boards well. Like i was only playing 10c and i had a player playing 45/45 which is explotitable. But i think he was a high limits player messing around. As i could she he was adjusting his game to each player at the table.

So vs me, he had me down as weak/passive so he'd pound on me - going pot/pot, 3betting alot. Others he'd do alot of checking etc.

Funny though, i thought he was crushing me and i wsa getting frustrated but i just looked in my HEM. And he won 21 pots vs me and i won 5 and i wsa up $3.50 lol see you have give them alot of small pots..when u know u probably ahve the best hand. But try and max in the larger pots. It's like you look at ur hand on the flop and just tell urself..your going to SD with it..even if scare cards hit.

Still a very good aggressive player would run over me to be honest. Which stops me moving to 25nl atm. This is where nits, like myself r easy to play against as were so transparent.

Say you fold to a cbet 85% of the time and think 'i'll bust him when i get a hand'. Well your losing tons of EV folding to cbets and the player knows when u call ur at the top of ur range. So he can just give up on the turn. I find nits very easy to play against, even some TAGs - but good aggressve lags r hard. So its a case of hitting TPTK, solid holdings that can take some heat and hoping they over adjust. btw, everyone at the table was adjusting poorly to this player and he was up around 4buyins in 100 hands lol