If you think playing aggressively is only about raising the stakes every chance you get and betting rashly than you need to think again. Playing aggressively encompasses more than simply betting or raising more than you would in a full ring game.

It is also knowing when you have the best hand and then going for one of those aggressive moves. A rule of thumb here is to remember that in shorthanded play, you have to lower both your starting hand necessities and the hands you would take to a showdown. And finally it is about taking advantage of those who play too tight a game.

The aim to do so is to make these tight players fold their cards at all the wrong times due to miscalculating your moves and playing right into your hands. In doing so, they not only end up miscalculating and misfiring, but they also end up giving in their equity in the pot. The odds are, approximately two out of three times that is 66% of the time, the flop will not even yield you a pair.

If you are skilled at the game and have a little experience in this kind of play, you would have already realized this by now and might also have taken advantage of the players who did not.

A little bit of experience also goes a long way in helping you determine when you have the upper hand in the game and thus should go for the big fish and when you would be struck out and hence should play a little safer and tread carefully on murky waters.

I know that it is easier said than done and when poker strategies are expressed in words they appear so simple but when one actually gets down to using them in a game, it is all over before you have even had the chance to test out your new found knowledge. Be patient, it will all come in handy in good time.

Talented shorthanded players are not born with it they practice and perfect the art. It requires a lot of hard work and it takes commitment and a great deal of practice before one can start harvesting the surplus. One has to feel the need to be able to take in a huge amount of information and more significantly one should be able to work on that information exceptionally hurriedly.

One should be able to review one’s opponent’s style of playing, whether they are aggressive players, plain passive players, loose players or the tight game players – while also keeping in mind that there are varying levels of each.

For some players you might be aggressive and yet for others you may be the tight player and vice versa. Treat each case as a different one and you will know when and how aggressive you need to be in any game you play.