Picking up Small Pots

A good poker player is an aggressive, but not overly aggressive, poker player. You have to learn to pick and choose with your aggressiveness - you don’t want to be known as the guy who plays every single hand at the table no matter what he has - playing like that will just get you in trouble. The right kind of aggressiveness however is a healthy style, and it is perfect for picking up small pots.

Picking up small pots in poker is important - much more important than people like to think. Picking up small pots is essential for a couple of reasons. First of all, picking up small pots can be very profitable. Winning as many small pots as you can builds that chip stack quickly and surprisingly and after a short time people are going to start wondering how you got that chip stack at the table. Building up your chip stack by picking up small pots allows you to play the way you want to. Remember that it is easier to pick up small pots than large pots.

Picking up small pots allow you to take large “necessary” losses when you have to. If you are ever in a spot where you absolutely have to call down someone, then you are right on queue because picking up all those small pots made it possible for you to do so. You are going to make moves you wouldn’t have been able to if you didn’t pick up all the small pots along the way. And if you lose some big hands, picking up small pots is going to be how you win all of your chips back.

Pressure. Pressure. Pressure. That word cannot be stressed enough when you are on a mission to pick up as many small pots as you can. Applying pressure to a person on every necessary hand is absolutely necessary! This is so because people play worse poker under pressure. Most poker players do not ever want to go up against an aggressive player, because they know that if they put their money in the pot, that the aggressive player is going to put all of his money in the pot, and most pokers fringe at the thought o flossing all of their chips.

Picking up small pots requires early action. You have to make sure you bet early and bet strong. Representing a strong hand early in the hand is very important and very effect and it is very intimidating. You will be surprised how many pots you will be able to take down just by being aggressive in early play. You won’t believe what kind of hands people will fold if you just show a little bit of confidence.

Make sure you have a good idea of the type of player you are going against. You want to seek weakness out when you are trying to pick up small pots. You do not want to try to pick up small pots against calling stations because you are going to get called down. You want to make sure you are playing against the kid that shows no confidence and is waiting on the monster. People who do nothing but wait on monsters, especially in cash games, never end up winning because they limit their options, and by the time they catch their monsters, the people who have been picking up all the small pots already have two times the amount of chips that he or she has. Aggressive poker is good poker, and it is the key to being able to pick up small pots.