I was doing some reading, vid watching and studying which is my standard Thursday activities and I had an epiphany of sorts. I was looking back at hand histories and noticing that when I run into a maniac at my table (or Aggressive Fish to use a more standard player classification) I find that I tend to tighten up heavily and play hyper aggressive (even if I whiff the flop) in an attempt to push them around or push back. It tends to result in high chip spew if I whiff or small pots if I hit because I am hitting strong obvious hands (or what I think are obvious). So what the hell do I do about this. These are the ATMs of the poker world and I need to make sure I can get all I can handle out of them. I realized last night that the answer is in another direction. The key to these nutjobs is comfort post flop. As long as I am comfortable playing with them after the flop and know when to release a hand, let them barrel into me or get into a raising war (which I believe I am now) I might as well widen my range up in an attempt to smash more flops. So what am I talking about in terms of widening up. Standard range applies to these guys (my standard range is 22+, Suited Broadways, AJs+, essentially my MP range plus or minus some details). Widening up now starts to include connected cards (56o, 67o, 89o, etc) 1 gap cards (97o, T8o, etc). What am I looking to do now in these situations, here is the new strategy for Aggressive Fish…smash hidden hands. What do I mean. These guys will stack off with TP/TK virtually everytime, TP/Crap Kicker they are going to the felt, 2pair+ they tend to jam and play face up. So we are looking to smack some well hidden monsters and let them stroll into our cave. Flushes are painfully obvious to everyone at the micro level, they all suspect them and they are afraid so while we like them for their monster value they aren't going to buy us a ton. We are looking for huge equity in terms of big straight draws, sneaky 2 pair type hands that have draws associated with them (97o that hits 2 pair and a gutshot, that sort of thing). This is the stuff that they don't see coming. It means a lot more calling and appearing passive, but the whole goal is trap trap trap. In order to do that, we need to increase our chances of connecting and we need to connect slyly. As a side note on the above discussion, position is key throughout these hands and with this plan. I didn't mention it explicitly as I tend to take that concept for granted, but remember position is everything in this game, especially with these guys. I'll let you know how it goes tonight as I am back on the virtual felt for a full session and looking for a good run (gonna put 4 bullets into the Daily Dollar to play with this some). This is the Gman signing out!
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