Clarification from a post I made yesterday

[SomethingClever]

So yesterday I posted a hand where I cold-called AJs with the disclaimer that I thought it was a somewhat marginal call.

I described the original raiser as "aggressive," by which I mean he is probably a 23/19 or 25/20 type. But I play on WSEX so I have no idea what his actual stats are.

So everyone says that cold-calling in position in that spot is standard against an aggressive player, and that folding is terrible.

SO:

In position against an opponent who is "aggressive" preflop, (but not a maniac... I obviously CC or RR AJs against real maniacs)....

1) What are some of the worst hands you're typically cold-calling?

2) What are some of the worst hands you're typically re-raising?

Don't say any two cards. Remember this is an aggressive, thinking player, not a complete maniac.

[Georgia Avenue]

the more thinking he is, the better reason to repop with total trash rather than something playable, right?

[bilbo-san]

a) I don't think 23/19 or 25/20 is overly aggressive. These are fairly standard TAG stats for winning players.

b) You should forget about the concept of defending your blinds and instead think about the concept of defending your button.

B) means that you should be calling with all kinds of [censored], and be looking to out-play your opponent post-flop. Basically, if you have a player like this on your right, you want him to be terrified of raising in the CO with steal hands. You want him to think that playing vs. you OOP is just a huge pain in the ass, and just not worth it.

I'm sure you've been in this spot, right? Some ass on your left is calling nearly every time you raise, floating many pots, calling 2 barrels with marginal pairs, raising with draws, etc. Making it [censored] impossible for you to isolate that fish who is on your right unless you have the button. Well, BE THAT GUY.

Remember that a 23/19 would LIKE to be raising all kinds of [censored] from the CO and playing many pots with the blinds in position. By defending your button, you are making the vast majority of his range -EV for him and +EV for you.

He may adjust by tightening up a lot in the CO, but this is a GREAT thing for you. Now you get to play a lot more pots heads-up with the blinds because he's folding a lot to you.

If he's better, he'll adjust by getting a little laggy, check-raising more on the turns, 3-barrelling more, etc. This is where you have to really pay attention, take good notes, learn to read hands. He'll still be in a bad spot because most of the time he will have a marginal hand OOP.

[keikiwai]

1) 52s
2) 52s

easy calls are hands like AJ, KJ, etc. but i don't CC every time