Preflop aggression vs Post Flop aggression

Poker Tracker makes a distinction between both of these. And according to its auto-ranking I am still passive/passive. :(

What is interesting is that I adopted my new "passive" style after hearing something Mike Matasow said on "The Circuit." He said that poker isn't about aggression, its about trapping. This is how I feel. If you can get paid off more when you have the goods than losing a little in other spots is not a huge deal. Super aggressive players gain a similar type of advantage - they play so many hands aggressively that you get forced to pay them off when they have the nuts because you don't give them as much credit. I play super passive in some situations where I am not very strong, but I play exactly the same in these spots when I have nothing. In one of the poker DVDs I have Mike Caro mentions that one of his goals is to make checking on the flop "okay." I completely agree. It seems the new breed of player is completely aware that people make continuation bets. I've seen a pair of deuces call me down when I fire three bluffs to the river! What is not mentioned in as many books, is that good players tend to show the true strength of their hands on the turn. An astute player could notice that from me - but then I make the majority of my bluffs on the turn too.

Take a situation where you bet preflop in position with As Kc and one of the blinds calls. The board comes three rags, three different suits- 9s, 5h, 2d. He checks. Now, a lot of players would bet here. You have a relatively disconnected flop, unlikely to have hit anyone. Right? Well, I think checking is the correct play here. First, you allow yourself to hit a king or ace on the turn. Always a nice plus. But what is better is that if your opponent has a pocket pair, its very possible he was going for a check raise - or check call - and he may call you down with a pair of 66s (thinking that the flop probably missed you). Another benefit of checking here is that it allows scare cards to hit the turn. If any card ten or higher hits the board (or the board pairs) on the turn, you can make a pot sized bet and usually pick up the pot right there. What is useful also, is that if your opponent bets on the turn, you can make a decision based on additional information. If he bets a weak amount into a now flushing board, you can raise - if he bets a pot sized bet though and you did not improve you can fold. If he checks - you can be sure that he doesn't want the pot and you can bluff him out.

Lets say you play this hand exactly the same when you have pocket aces. Now what does your opponent do? Every time he sees you check the flop, he is terrified. You can now bluff the turn more easily - basically the check on the flop makes your ability to be aggressive better. And if people are not paying attention, your check when you are strong, looks weak. Some players will figure that you are bluffing on the turn and will pay you off. By trapping with a weak hand like aces, players will call with absolute garbage when they are drawing almost dead the whole hand.

After making a post last week, Bruno mentioned that because I played the hand SO passively I could not value bet the river - something I don't like doing with the medium strength hands anyway. He was absolutely right however. If you don't find out where you are in the hand sooner, than you cannot know if you should bet the river or not. By playing the turn more aggressively - I have found that about 50% of the time I can bet the river and about 1/3 of the time on a bluff. With this style I pick up nearly 100% of my bluffs - I think mainly because I play my strong hands exactly the same way (and I am looking like I am trapping).

Now that I feel that this is the optimal style in a good percentage of hands I am going to look more closely at the preflop reraise. I have nearly stopped doing it because the value of smooth calling with a strong hand often seems to outweigh the benefits of reraising and telegraphing that you have AA, KK, QQ, or AK. I think reraising with QQ is a bad idea most of the time. The only hands I like to reraise with are AA and KK, generally because if you do so you win the pot right away or on the flop (which is great if you are out of position). I have thought about reraising with a lot weaker hands occassionally possibly in the blinds to attempt to end the hand immediately. I guy reraised me in his small blind with AQ yesterday. That is a play I would generally be scared to make, but I may experiment with it.