Poker is a complex game that involves skill, luck, strategy, and psychology. Reading numerous strategies, the reader may think that poker is all about odds. If using a basic strategy one could play flawlessly, the game would become really boring. Fortunately,
poker is much more than just a mathematical game.
One important thing for every good poker player is selectiveness, which means a dynamical approach to the game. Using the same system all the time will soon make it transparent to other players and, if they are minimally intelligent, they will use such system against the player who applies it.
Playing Aggressively:
Probably the worst attitude in poker is to call and raise all the time no matter how bad the hand is. Those who play this way are called maniacs in poker jargon. Understanding the meaning of aggressive poker incorrectly, maniacs can lose huge amounts of money very fast. Even if everyone at the table will fold and no one will see how bad the maniacs hand actually was, every experienced player knows that really strong hands are very rare and after a couple of aggressive games in a row it will become clear, what kind of player the aggressor is. A good player will re-raise a maniac as soon as he gets a minimally good hand, winning his money as easily as taking a candy from a child.
Passive Playing:
Another common type of poker attitude is passive playing. Some players are heavy as stones and to start betting they must have a really good hand. Such an attitude could be correct if there were no forced bets in poker. Fortunately poker is less boring than that, and a passive player will most probably win the pot once in a while, but until then he will lose a dozen of antes and blinds, which will not make his game any profitable. Besides, seeing such a player betting clearly means that he has at least a full house, so most players will not bother to call his bet, and he will win a pot full of antes. A passive player may lose his money much slower than an extremely aggressive one, but he is still losing, and besides, does not enjoy the game at all.
What is Selective Poker?
Selective poker play lies between these two extremes without touching them. A really good player knows to tickle the nerves of his opponents by being absolutely unpredictable. The best way to play selectively is to start from the basic strategy for the specific game played and to vary it increasing and decreasing the level of aggression according to the circumstances.
