Passive Aggressive Poker

Passive Aggressive - "An adjective used to describe hiding aggressive intentions and actions with seemingly non aggressive intentions and actions."

In my previous post, there was a comment posted by TK, who's one of my home game buddies from Cleveland. "I'm sure I don't understand why you limped in. Raise or fold. Why put yourself in that position? Why unnecessarily risk chip in with a hero call?"

Normally, I would just make a small comment with an explanation. But this time, I decided to make an entire post about the subject.

This is more about style than anything else. Certainly, shoving with 98o is perfectly fine, and would probably be considered the A-B-C play.

One of the gears I occasionally use could be called Passive Aggressive Poker. (I think I've used the term Stealthy Aggression before.) It's when I act passive preflop by limping or checking my option in the BB, with the intention of stealing the pot on the Flop or Turn when it seems the other player(s) doesn't have anything.

I'll use this gear in late stages of the tournaments when everyone is shortstacked, and we're in Push-N-Pray mode. It's best against players who are very passive, and waiting for a big hand. It's also good against someone who has a very wide calling range, but their shoving range is very small. It allows me to risk less chips by limping, rather than shoving and hoping they don't wake up with AJ or better. I can then use my post-Flop skills to steal the pot later in the hand, or squeeze out a little value when I have something.

Here's a good example of Passive Aggressive Poker from a previous post (LOL Donkament #1):

There was an old guy who was to my Left+1, which meant he's the BB when I'm the Button. He was a terrible calling station. This would be wonderful if it was a Cash game, but it can be very annoying at a Final Table. He also had the toughness of a cockroach, as he just would not die. I raise with KK on the Button. He went All-In with A6c, and flopped an Ace. He kept calling bets, almost never raised, and just would not die.

By the time we got to the next break, we had just popped the Bubble, and had five players left. The stacks had evened up considerably, and I was no longer chip leader. The leader had around 28k, I had 25k, and the short stack was around 12k - 15k. Since I couldn't raise to steal blinds because of the old geezer, I shifted gears down in to Small Pot Poker. I limped on the Button three consecutive times. The SB and BB (old geezer) called. I would make a small bet on the Flop or Turn with Middle Pair, the Geezer would call with Bottom Pair, and I would be good at showdown. With the Blinds at 1000/2000 and 1500/3000, these were good sized pots, and I was successful at rebuilding my chip lead through stealthy aggression.

Now this isn't something that you can use for every Final Table. It's best used against recreational players who are thinking on Level 1. Against experienced players, this would be a terrible idea. If I had used this at the WSOP-C Final Table, then it would have been disastrous. Everyone was raising and 3-Betting, and I would have lost a lot of chips by limping.

Remember, Poker is about the Why, and not the What. The reasons you do an action are more important than the actual actions. Normally, I think limping in mid to late stages of a tournament is a terrible mistake, and the most common mistake I see at the Daily Donkaments that I play. But doing so in the proper spots, and with the proper reasons, can be profitable. Try out this gear sometimes when the situation comes up.