Propiedades físicas y químicas del suelo y las compostas

utting pressure on your opponents is a great way to force them into making mistakes, and hopefully, big mistakes. When you're making an aggressive action at the table, you want to have an understanding of how you think your opponents are going to react to your actions.

Some opponents will continue to step out of your way no matter how much pressure you apply, and some opponents will over react after one or two aggressive actions. It's important to understand who these players are, and the plan of attack you have for table you're currently seated at.

There are really three main styles of play in no-limit holdem, and variations of those in between. You can play a more passive style, and trap your opponents, reacting to how they play the game. You can play a more aggressive style, and attempt to force your opponents to react to you with the hopes they will react incorrectly and make a big mistake. Finally, you can play a more balanced approach where you strive to be aggressive in the most ideal spots, trap in some situations, and overall are aggressive, but not to the extent where your opponents are forced to react to your play.

There are variations of these three styles, but the main points are clear. Are you looking to play a more balanced game, a trapping game, or a very aggressive game? It's generally best to find a game strategy that fits your psychology the best, and become really good at it. That doesn't mean you can't at some point learn all three approaches, but it's good to have a go-to mode that you feel you'll excel at the most. Then as you learn the other approaches, you adapt and play those styles based on how the tables and your opponents are playing.

P

In Chapter 2, if you scored really low in the aggression part of your game, then trying to play the more aggressive game strategy is not going to be a good initial fit for you. You're much better off either figuring out a more passive and trappy game strategy, especially if you excelled at the logic / reason part of the scoring from Chapter 2, or learning to create more of a balanced strategy. If you scored really low in the psychological parts, and struggle with tilt, then a more aggressive game plan might initially come more natural for you, but it won't be an ideal because you'd have a tendency to "spew" chips away with over the top aggressive play and tilt.

Tension Count

If you're struggling to understand the proper amount of aggressive action to take at the table before your opponents are likely to react and attempt to adapt to your play, then you can keep a mental note of the Tension Count at the table. The tension count is the ratio of aggressive action to rounds of poker played. The more aggressive you are within a round, the higher the tension count becomes. Conversely, the less

aggressive you are, the lower the tension count becomes. The purpose of the tension count is to try and find that ideal balance so you are being aggressive enough and adapting your play to the circumstances

appropriately. It's easy to say that if you become more aggressive, then of course your opponents are going to eventually react and adapt. But

knowing about how far you can push each of them is a bit of an art. If you feel you already have a good handle on this, then you're probably already

aware of how tension is built and released at the table and you can skip over this section. If however it's still a bit of anomaly for you, and you'd like to become better at knowing how to take advantage of tension counts at the table, then forge ahead.

Tension counts range from -6 to +6 on average. When playing a full ring cash game, your tension count is going to start at 0. When playing a 6-max game, it's going to start at +1. Other games, such as 4-handed and heads up, depend a lot on flow and other dynamics; if you aren't aware of how tension effects your opponents, then those games aren't generally recommended to play in. The tension count is somewhat like training

wheels and will give you an idea of how to adjust your play until it becomes more natural for you.

Action TC Action TC

Every Raise (pre-flop and post) +1 Every Round Completed -1 Pre-Flop 3-Bet +1 Raise Pre-flop, but no C-Bet -1

Double Barrel +1 Fold to a C-Bet -1

Triple Barrel +2 Open Fold in small blind -.5

Probable River Bluff +1 Open Fold on Button -.5

Possible Float +1 Fold to Double Barrel -1

Every action you take at the table you add or subtract from the tension count. If you're online and you're playing multiple tables, it's going to be a bit hard to track of course. So one to two tables is recommended when first trying to learn and understand this concept. Once you've done it a bit, and see how it works, then you can take the training wheels off and drop the tension count.

As the tension count becomes high, your opponents are more susceptible to "looking you up" and paying you off. So you want to make sure you're getting the most with your big hands.

So for example, you raised before the flop in a 6-max cash game with AcQc and got one caller on the button (relative stack sizes 100 BBs). Your tension count is now at +5 at the table. You flop the nuts, and you should bet on the largest side of your bet sizing scale. Somewhere between near pot size and a pot sized bet. Either your opponent is going to have a hand in this spot, or they aren't, and the size of the bet won't impact them as much since they will be more susceptible to calling you down lighter than normal.

TC Strategies when you have a good hand +4 Bet on your slightly larger post flop bet sizing +5 Increase open raising size, and post flop bet sizing +6 Increase even larger, sometimes look to over bet post flop

When playing online, a lot of your opponents will be playing multiple tables on average. However, some won't and some will be able to keep track of how aggressive players are becoming, and most of them multi-tabling will at least have HUDs. Since you don't know how well your opponents are paying attention when playing online, assume that they are when you do have a big hand and you've been aggressive. If you've played super tight, don't expect them to let you bluff because they should have noticed you've played really tight. That doesn't mean you shouldn't bluff, but don't make a big move and then be surprised when you're bluff is snapped off. When the tension count does become really negative, then look to make a few more moves, but again, don't overdo it and don't force it. The tension count is just a guide and doesn't mean you have to make a move.

You can make some general assumptions that, if you haven't done much in a long period at a poker table, most players will have taken some kind of note or their HUDs will reflect this. In those situations when the tension count becomes really highly negative, then against other non-station type players, you can look to make a decent size bluff, or even something as simple as a pre-flop squeeze in a spot that might be normally deemed more marginal to make a play on.

TC Strategies when you don't have a hand -3 You can look to squeeze a little more pre-flop -4 Double barrel in slimmer spots

-5 Look to bluff or make bigger moves

When the tension count becomes really high on the positive side, and you don't have a hand, this is generally the time to slow down unless you have some kind of specific read on an opponent. These are the more likely times that you will be looked up lighter, so you want to minimize the damage in these spots and make smaller sized bluffs in situations where your opponent may have very little or nothing, or have a decent hand. If they have a decent hand, something you may be able to normally push them off of, you won't be able to get them to fold at the same frequency, so sizing your bluffs smaller to move them off the really low end of their range, or not bluffing at all, is best.

Reads and Notes

One of the biggest advantages of playing online for the good poker player is the amount of data and notes you can take on an

opponent seemingly instantly. Most sites offer an area where you can click on an opponent's name and type in some notes about

that player. If the site you play on allows HUDs, then it's usually best to add your notes to the HUD note section. It’s not quite as easy to do in live play, and when you do this in live play people know that you are aware of that hand and how it was played. In online play, no one knows if you’re watching TV or intently watching every hand and making pages of notes.

It’s best to view taking notes on your opponents as the “work” aspect of playing profitable poker. While it’s possible to play profitable poker

without taking notes, it will inevitably be more profitable to take as many notes as possible for the following reasons:

1. When a similar situation or hand arises, you’ll have more information available that can help you make the best decision possible.

2. It will help you in getting an overall read on how your opponent is playing.

3. Even if you never play against that particular opponent again, it will help you in understanding how to play against a similar player in the future.

We’re going to begin by outlining some of the general things you should look for while playing poker. Each type of play will have an

abbreviation that you can use which will help if you are multi-tabling and only have a couple of seconds to jot in a note. You can expand these

and/or type in the entire meaning of the play when you actually make your own notes during play.

List of Abbreviations (Brief Overview)

ATC (Play any two cards) – Whenever a hand goes to showdown it’s always good to note what hands your opponent was playing and from which position. This always provides a lot of insight into how they think about the game. When you see someone play 95o from middle position, you can label them as ATC. The more you see this from them, the more solid your read will be.

FC (Flush Chaser) – A lot of opponents love to chase flushes.

When you see someone calling large flop and turn bets with an obvious flush draw, but they fold to a small river bet, you can be pretty sure they were chasing their flush. Also if you see an opponent calling large bets and then connecting with his flush, you’ll want to note this. It’s also important to note whether they CHECKED their flush on the end or bet it.

SOOT (Likes to play any two suited cards) – This is similar to FC except there are some players who also like to play any two suited cards from nearly anywhere. You’ll see opponents play K4s from early position, or J6s from middle position, you can be pretty sure they’re a suited player. This is good to know if there’s a flush draw on board and you have a marginal hand, but they’re still calling large bets. It’s also good to note if they call raises with these hands too. Some people will call large raises with Q8s thinking that they will bust you if they hit their flush. We love to play against these types of opponents.

AK (Will bet turn unimproved) – Nearly all people will bet the flop with any two cards if they raised before the flop. Not everyone however will bet the turn unimproved. This is very good to know if you’re holding a marginal hand and your opponent is still firing.

This read will be a bit harder to make because you definitely need to see a few showdowns to confirm this for sure.

CRW (Calls raises with weak hands) – This opponent will call large raises, for example, with QT out of position, or perhaps even a re-raise with KJ or some other dominated hands. They could also call a large raise with A4o or even a more speculative hand like J8o.

LAF (Will lead into pre-flop raiserand fold to a raise) – Some opponents will call raises out of position with the intention of betting the flop to steal the pot. Some opponents will do this with small pocket pairs, and some will do it with air. If you get a

chance to make the distinction between the two, it will be very helpful with your flop play. However, when you see someone do this, then you’ll want to make some generous raises on the flop when you don’t have a hand.

SVB (Slim value bettor) – You'll see these guys often betting middle or weak top pair on scary boards for value. Really

important to note bet sizing in these spots because a lot of these guys will have betting tells in these situations, such as betting marginally weak in these spots (especially at micro and small stakes). It's typically better to raise some of your bluff catchers against these guys instead of call since their bet / calling range generally isn't very good unless they are extremely good hand readers and have a good read on you as well.

Ax (Will play an ace from anywhere) – A lot of opponents fall in love with the ace. If you see someone playing A3 from early

position or A8 to a raise, or a hand like A9 out of position to a raise, then you have an Ax player. This just adds more insight for you as to how your opponent understand the game and you can also get away from your pocket kings if this opponent is sticking around on an ace high flop because they’re not folding their weak ace.

NPR (Will raise a non-premium hand) – Some opponents will raise a non-premium hand from anywhere. The extreme to which they take this will let you know how loose and aggressive they are.

J7o from early position, Q9s from UTG, or 37s from middle

position. Some opponents will just about never do this, some will occasionally, but NPRs will do it anywhere from semi-regularly to regularly.

CBB (Continuation bet bad boards) – Some opponents like to continuation bet no matter what. They raise before the flop, and they want to fire the flop no matter how bad the flop texture is for their hand. I like to take a note of these guys because it will help me to know spots I can float and represent a big made hand on draw heavy flop textures that most missed over cards should be check/ folding on.

LA (Look-up artist) – This is a very profitable opponent to play against. They will typically call nearly any flop bet you make, but will fold to further aggression. They tend to like to see how you’ll react after they call your first bet, but tend to fold a large

percentage of the time to a second bet.

Now that we have an idea of some of the things to look for, let’s look at how to use this information in a real money game. We’re going to take the above abbreviated notes, expand them a bit more, and show how they’ll apply in actual hands.

ATC (Any Two Cards)

Players who literally play any two cards are divided into three types of players and you need to be aware of the differences between these players. The frequency at which you see these variations depends on the

stakes you are playing. Typically you will only see ATC 1 & 2 at small and mid stakes.

 ATC 1 (No grasp of hand strength) – The first group of players who play any two cards really has no solid grasp of hand strength,

position, or why to play certain hands in some situations and not others. These players are typical also called “fish” because they’ll put in too much money with weak hands and pay off against dominated hands. These are players you should like playing with, but you need to be aware that if you miss the flop, they may have hit it and they may also call you down with any piece of it. So you don’t typically want to bluff players in this category unless you see them folding a lot to a second bet (or third). You do however want to value bet your made hands against them as they will nearly always pay off with weaker hands or dominated hands.

 ATC 2 (Some grasp of hand strength) – You’ll see a lot of these players primarily in short-handed games, but they do also show up in full ring games. These players will play any two cards, but they typically won’t invest too much into the pot unless they have a good hand after the flop. They’ll commonly call raises with a hand such as K6o on the button (note this is different than CRW – see above) with the intention of either bluffing you out of the pot OR nailing a big hand hoping to bust you with your large pocket pair. These players will be very visible because they’ll be involved in a lot of pots, and they’ll usually be fairly aggressive. If they have some grasp of hand strength, then they are getting involved in a lot of pots for a reason, and that reason is usually because they believe they can bluff you out of the pot, or bust you with their unusual T4o hand. These

too far with a top pair hand thinking you’re bluffing (even though you have a better kicker then they do). You want to bet into them when you have a strong hand and hope they don’t believe you and make a move in the wrong spot. Make your bets big and strong against these opponents, because they tend to not believe people betting into them.

You really don’t need to slowplay against these opponents.

 ATC 3 (Good grasp of hand strength) – These opponents are almost non-existent at small stakes, you will sometimes see them at

50NL/100NL and above at 6-max. This player can legitimately be called a solid LAG (loose-aggressive) player. They play nearly any two cards because they know how to read situations well and win a lot of hands even when they have the worst hand. They can also read well

50NL/100NL and above at 6-max. This player can legitimately be called a solid LAG (loose-aggressive) player. They play nearly any two cards because they know how to read situations well and win a lot of hands even when they have the worst hand. They can also read well