Friday, March 26, 2010

Have we got a video?

I usually don't watch videos of poker games on the internet. Seeing footage of hand histories is not something I am usually interested in. I surprised myself when I was enthralled by Pauly's post Videos: OMGClayAiken Beats the Piss Out of Isildur1. I think it was two things that had me wasting time at work, catching the ire of my boss. First it highlighted some PLO play and second, it was like a tutorial on how to play crazy aggressive players.

I continue to play a lot of PLO8 online. Having a bonus to clear on Full Tilt I find the PLO8 tables, including the one on Rush Poker, to be the ticket to collecting that extra loot. In the past I would avoid the table that was averaging any pot over $15. That meant a bunch of push monkeys and I didn't want to lose a stack on tilting chasing a low and getting quartered or sucked out on.

But then something clicked in my head after watching some of these maniacs play. There was more method to the madness than playing their cards. I have seen people raise every single pot in position and show down some crap cards. Even if they get called they will bet pot on the flop unless the board is easy trouble (nut flops). They get lots of people to fold and collect these small pots. Sometimes they get lucky and hit the ugly flop and collect a huge pot.

But there is one constant to these players. They quickly stack up before spewing it all back. They can be trapped. They are also susceptible to the bluff. Check raise one of them on the flop and they will usually fold. Of course you have to be prepared for them to pot it right back. And be prepared to rebuy when that suckout occurs or you don't hit 40 outs you had.

Playing these aggros takes the game to a different plateau. It forced me to adjust my game. Watching the OMGClayAiken video only confirmed what I thinking. I may have just changed my mind on those videos.

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