A Lesson in LAg

Had a session with a student today who has been struggling. After watching him play and looking through his stats, it was clear he had trouble with position and aggression. In simple terms, said player knew what he was supposed to be doing, but he wasn't doing it consistently. He was calling too much OOP, was not exploiting the button enough, and was generally missing a lot of good c-bet opportunities. He was also trying to make hands and not win them. Classic weak-passive play...and easily addressed.

So what did we do? LAgged it up at 6max $25NL Zone poker, that's what.

The rules I gave him were simple. I won't list them all here, but some of the key points the player had to do included:

• Never call a limp, raise, or re-raise pre- or post-flop-- i.e., hit the pot button for a raise, or fold. Period.
• Play only strong hands in the first two seats. Fold everything else.
• Play any two cards in the last two seats if folded to him. Yes, any two cards.
• Fold the small and big blind unless he had a big hand.
• C-bet heads-up IP on any board, regardless of texture.
• C-bet heads-up OOP on any non-wet board (wrt villain's range)
• C-bet multi-way on any non-wet board (wrt villain's range).
• Keep seat-belt fastened, helmet on, and motion sickness IV flowing.

An hour of play later we'd netted the player a hundred bucks in profit (with major, stomach lurching swings along the way, of course) and a renewed appreciation for aggression and position.

Fun, profitable, high variance, and educational. Barf bag included.
All-in for now...
-Bug