Aggression

Everyone knows aggression is good for NLHE. I might have talked about this before but if I'm repeating myself I'm mostly just trying to grind it into my head. I personally do not like "raising for information", I think it's an horrible intent to raise. But in this NLHE, unless you have a monster hand or a hand that will improve into a monster, I do not like "calling" in general. Sometimes your hand might be best and someone raises you, his range of raising is wide and the range you beat is pretty narrow, you should probably just fold if raising isn't the right play. I'm not saying to be nitty, but it makes your play so much easier when you are the one being aggro, not the caller.

I'm sure you guys hear people using the term "putting the pressure on". It's very true, I can honestly say I never dealt with a good player that is not aggressive. Sometimes just because they are aggressive a couple times, you really think twice before raising him or betting into him. If you apply enough pressure, it makes your play that much easier when people are afraid of you. While sometimes it's correct to make "calls", but if you aren't going to win a big pot anyways, you can apply the pressure and take it down. It's great for your image and people make more mistakes against you. You want people to think you are betting/raising them with junk and I love not showing down a hand because it makes them question your play. They'll look you up sooner or later, also realize that if you notice someone is folding to a 2/3 barrel a lot, you can do that with air sometimes.

So you might ask, how do you get this information? Hand reading and aggression! You can find out people's tendencies just by having hands and playing made hands to gather information. If you don't put the pressure on, you never will get a good feel for the villian's play. Poker is not just about the cards, it's about the people but if you are going to make a play based on the villian, you should be at least 80% confident before doing so, or it's basically a pure spew. That's why these days, I really focus on villian reads and tendencies.