Hi all,

Need some opinions.

Been playing roughly 2 years now. Have like 350 hours and I am winning like 4bb/hour at 1/3. I know it's such a small sample size.

It seems I have pretty big swings. Like I won 16 sessions in a row and 22/23.

This might seem weird too say but I think I play TOO aggressively. For instance, I do every thing I can to win the pot. I know as I improve and get better at reading hands/ranges I can hopefully get better at this.

But here is an example

I raise to 12 in the HJ with KJ suited. Only the BB calls and he started with 220 and I have him covered.

Flop is A K 2. He donk bets 15 and I call. Turn is a 10 and he bets 15 again and I call. River is a 3 and he bets 30 and I put him all in.

See I am always thinking how can I get someone to fold a hand like a weak ace or MAYBE some weird two pair combo.

He snap calls with A5.

I think I just need advice on when to put the breaks on and when to apply pressure.

I think one of the good things about my game is how I can put people in difficult spots. I know sometimes people struggle playing against me because I am always better or raising and a lot of times I can see the agony they face when trying to decide whether to call.

This is a double edged sword thought because the more I get caught bluffing the more people will adjust and call me down lighter.

I just feel a lot of times I play hyperaggressive and experience so much variance because of it.

Essentially what you are asking (as in the hand above) is how do I bluff a fish off top pair?

It's not really much to do with aggression (well not proper "thinking" aggression), it is more to do with understanding the mentality of fish. It's hard enough to bluff fish off their underpairs...trying to bluff fish when they think they have the nuts is basically torching money.

So don't do it.

So now you are going to called by the stations (who never adjust) and the regs who will adjust.

I think you've kinda answered your own question.

Wow did I write this thread? I'm the same exact way. I've been trying to reiterate in my head " you don't have to win every pot you invest money into". I hate the saying there will be better spots but there will be. Definitely is a double edged sword as you say but it seems like when it works you win decent sized pots but when it doesn't you lose a whole buy in. At least for me. I think it's a mix of competitiveness and portraying how you play on someone else ( id never call there with A5). I'm no authority on this because I do exactly what you do a lot. I would like advice as well. But at least we are aware that's the first step

You're trying to bluff someone who just donked on an ace high board with no kicker?

....and then after you put them in a difficult spot they still call. That's what they do. Also if you're always betting or raising you have way too many bluffs and it's actually not a difficult spot, it's a very easy call.

cannot bluff a fish and cannot push a station off a weak tp hand no matter the runout. i live by this

Sounds like you're doing fine, you have a good approach.
Keep playing the way you're playing.
Only, you still have to be able to switch gears as Doyle Brunson wrote.
The flaw with what you're doing is also,
You're apparently not really taking you're opponents into consideration, but simply plowing ahead blindly with you're style.
Sounds like a few adjustments is all you need.

Win the war, not every battle. If you enjoy applying pressure then you have to set up your opponents to believe in the pressure you want to apply .. and realize who is capable of folding and who isn't.

Not sure of your c-betting habits, but you got set up by this player the whole way IMO. A Donk bet into YOU, Mr. Chipmover, what was he thinking? What he was thinking does depend on your c-bet frequency, but he's probably thinking "I want to build a pot with this guy."

The Turn comes and he still knows he's somewhat weak but must still feed (challenge) the beast by betting the same size as the Flop. Plus he doesn't want to scare you away from making one of your 'patented' big moves.

River .. more value, more bait .. and you take it and blast off your stack.

A lot of folks on this site will cringe (well, maybe not cuz they're so used to my off the wall responses) but if this is the start of my session or the Donk is a reg I will take a look at his Flop bet and say "I'm the one who does the betting around here. If you want my chips then let me do the betting." And I show the whole table the King as I muck.

Let them win a couple of $30 Flop pots and then you can steal the $210 one later. WAR, not battles.

I guess the issue is do you want to get called or not? Show a couple 2nd pair 'big' folds on the Flop and you can steal some pretty big Rivers IMO. You have to get them past "I have an Ace" in their head if you're going to play this style.

I have one reg that if I tank-call his PF raise from UTG and an 8, 9 or T hits the Board and I c/r him on the Flop he will Fold almost every time thinking I have a set!

I would hope that you don't get caught up in your own play and realize that you will get called 'soon enough' so the more you put out the polarizing bets the more likely you will be looked up. GL