Beating the bully in no limit 6 max games

Carl Sampson : June 12th, 2008

On the poker forums and in every magazine that I have ever read, there are always questions from players asking how to deal with aggressive players in poker. The term “loose aggressive” has injected fear into the heart of many a poker player. You are sitting to the right of a loose aggressive player and you feel unsure about whether to make a play for those blinds when you are in the cut-off. Or how about that decent hand that you usually raise with, but you know that if you do make that raise that the loose aggressive player to your left may re-raise like they so often do.

We have all been in these situations at various stages of our poker playing lives and felt at a loss for what to do. Well what can you do? Following is a list of options that are available to any player who is really unsure about what to do if they feel that they are being pushed around by certain players.

1. LEAVE THE TABLE

This option is perhaps one of the least exercised options of all and yet for the life of me I don’t know why. Actually I will contradict myself here because I do know why! After all, you came to play poker and you don’t want to run away with your tail between your legs. But if you don’t feel comfortable in a certain situation then it would seem highly likely that this is because you simply don’t have the knowledge or experience to be able to deal with it.

Poker is played mainly by men and many men have ego problems and this can certainly lead you into losing your money in poker. The problem with loose aggressive players in 6 max games is that their style of play is more accurate than it would be in a full ring simply because you need to be more aggressive in 6 max games anyway.

But the next time that you are seated in a game where aggressive players are either making you feel uncomfortable or preventing you from playing your normal game then leaving the table is a far better option than staying and playing with one hand tied behind your back.

2. CHANGE SEATS

Literally no one but very knowledgeable players exercise this option. Sometimes you may not have the choice of where you are seated in an online 6 max game but that does not mean to say that you should just accept the seat that you are given. We all know about the importance of position in poker! But a good or aggressive player having position on you on every hand is going to blunt your earning potential in that game significantly.

A well known concept in poker is how money flows in a clockwise direction. But a good strong aggressive player sitting on your immediate left is likely to be exposing you to their full arsenal of plays. They will re-raise you far more often than other types of players. They will float you more frequently as well and look to put pressure plays on you.

They will also stop you from making many profitable plays as well like steal raising the blinds or bluffing in three way pots simply because they will also recognise those very same bluffing opportunities themselves.

Changing seats if you have that option is a very strong alternative. Ideally you would like to have position on any player who is loose aggressive or very good or both. At least that way, you can pass all your marginal hands when they open raise and steal far more often on the occasions when they fold. This is before we even discuss the advantages post flop. So always be on the lookout for the most optimum seats in any poker game and do not be afraid to leave the table in order to change your seat so that you can combat the bully in 6 max games.

3. FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE

So what if you don’t want to leave the table and what if you haven’t got the option of changing seats? Well, if you want to stop any bully from picking on you not just in poker but in life and you are not prepared to use evasive tactics in some way then you have to play back at them even if it means increasing your risk of getting seriously injured.

Quite often in poker, putting more money at risk in selected situations not only increases your earn rate but it also deters players from trying to run over you as well. If you want to take advantage of many situations in poker then you have got to place more money on the table most of the time.

For instance, if you want to steal the blinds then the best way to do it is by open raising. You may take the blinds straight away or you may need to continuation bet the flop to get rid of your opponent. Likewise with standing up to the bully, you cannot simply stand up to them by calling their bets and raises all the time. If you want to make a stand against this type of player then re-raising is the best way to do it.

If you are in the big blind for instance and you are getting a little sick and tired of the aggressive button player constantly taking your blinds then look to widen your re-raising range. You can rest assured that the button will have noticed your rate of folding your big blind and their open raising range will be very wide and could possibly be with almost any two cards depending on how often they have been getting a walk. So in this instance, you can re-raise and should be re-raising on a much wider range of hands and this will make your aggressive opponent tighten their range substantially as well when they start getting played back at.

These three ways of dealing with bullies in six max games ought to be adopted into your game as quickly as possible for the simple fact that there are far more bullies around in six max games than there has ever been and you will be encountering them on a daily basis.

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