In live casino poker, it is common to push hard when you have a strong hand such as a straight, flush, full house, etc. The objective in push is to induce others to fold so that you can take the blinds or the pot. In online casino poker, you have to be even more aggressive.
When you have a strong hand, make others believe that you want them to call you. You can do this by just making a bet bigger than usual. For instance, if you have a good hand of Q-J, and you are heads up, you can bet $1, and your opponent can call you or raise you.
If your opponent is in doubt, he will probably call you. But, if you have more than one opponent, and if you really have a strong hand, you can bet $2, if that will induce even more calls from your opponents.
The goal is to make your opponents believe that you have a strong hand, so that they will act in a way that will aid you to make them think that they are weak. They will keep on calling you until they think that you are not strong anymore.
The moment they think that they have a good hand, they will re-raise you. This will help you to get even more aggressive. So this is how to make your opponents think that they are weak.
The beauty about this strategy is that if you think that your hand is weak, you can make others think that they have a very good hand. When you do this, you can actually take the pot down. The problem with this is that other players may trick you, and you might lose the pot.
This is also a strategy that requires you to be even more selective. Since, people often make calls on hands like Q-7, when they could actually have J-7. Being selective and not chasing a hand like A-A is the key to this strategy.
The Blind Steal
The scenario is, you are in the small blind, and a player in late position is shoving the pot with a calling hand. You decide to call, with the intention of only playing if you hit a set. You see that the chip leader has gone in with a raise, and the other guy in the blinds is re-raising him. What to do?
If you call here, you are letting another late position player steal the blinds from you. If you calculate that you still have about the same amount of chips as before, you should fold. But this is the only way to win a Naga303 tournament.
The Continuation Bet
The idea here is to stop your opponents from raising in front of you. If you’ve raised pre-flop, and see a bet from your opponent in the continuation bet, you should make a re-raise to try and convey to him that it would cost him a lot of money to call you.
While you’re letting your opponent steal the blind, you can let him know that it would cost him $C to call and that his hand is weak.
And while you’re doing this, he’s making the same bet. Eventually, you should call and get your chips in. But here’s the twist. When you re-raise him, you’re also letting him know that it would cost him $C to call.
This lets him know that he can’t get away with it and that you’re not giving up. This is the essence of the continuation bet.
So, take some time and figure out when you want to use a continuation bet and when you don’t.