The Alternative Remedies Guide

Loose Aggressive table images are hard to play at Everest Poker Francais, and even harder to sustain if no one knows that’s how you play to begin with. So sometimes you have to lose a little to gain a lot.

What this means for all you aspiring maniacs out there is that you have to know how the tight-aggerssive poker online player plays, showdown with him on a weaker hand, and still beat him, or at least let him know that he’s not going to have any idea what you may call him down with in the future.

Take this recent hand from a self proclaimed loose-aggressive poker player Mark Seif. In the small blind Seif holds T-8 of diamonds. The action folded to the button. With blinds 50/100 the button raised to 350. He called and so did the big blind.

At this point Seif recounts that his image may not have been clearly demonstrated yet, so he made the call with the marginal holding.

The flop came T-9-5 rainbow, one diamond. Sief holds top pair, weak kicker and some backdoor draw potential. He wanted to check raise, but didn’t get to, as the big blind and button checked instead of the usual continuation bet.

The turn came 9 of hearts. Two pairs, with and 8 kicker now for Seif. Seif bets out 700 with his two pair, weak kicker. The big blind fires back with a reraise to 2200. Button folds.

Here’s where the understanding comes in, explains Seif. “If everyone is playing like they’re supposed to be playing, they should have something like Ace-Jack or King-Queen, maybe Ace-Ten.” Of course he could have a 9 in his hand, though that’s unlikely. While the Button may have been holding a 9, it’s unlikely that an early position player like the big blind would be playing something loose, with the exception of maybe A9 suited. And since the second nine hit, it’s even more unlikely that this was the big blind’s starting holding.

Again, Seif calls. River comes 3 of spades. It’s really unlikely that the 3 of spades hit the big blind’s starting range, so again Seif checks, and the big blind bets out 2800, about pot. Seif makes the call, and he was dead on; the other player was holding KQ suited, and Seif raked the pot with his two pair.

As part of his strategy, he wants the other players to not be able to read his hands as they would be able to with a player playing standard ABC tight-aggressive poker. “…I’m playing this hand to show it. I gain value by paying to show it and get my image back to where I want it to be, which is goofier and looser than they’ve ever seen.”