If you happen to have an over-aggressive image, caused by a lot of bluffs or just getting a lot of top hands, you can look across the table and see one of your opponents glaring at you. When you notice someone giving you a "look" you can be pretty sure they'll play you sometime in the near future, either because they assume you're playing with ranges that are far too wide, or perhaps they're trying to "even" against you.

Knowing they are going to attack you ahead of time can turn a normally easy fold into an easy call. But you also have to give this opponent a chance to bluff. If you amass money against them, they will be forced to fold their marginal hands and bluff, so if you make any made hand you should be sure to check-call.

In the last 1 $,000 tournament I played my standard loose aggressive strategy, although I was never too far out of line. A young player on the other side of the table was throwing me a "look" even though we hadn't played a hand together. I raised with a random hand, made a continuation bet, and won a small pot.

The very next hand when the blinds were up -600 with 34,000 effective stacks, raised to 1,400 with J 9 from the button. The kid in the small blind 3-bet to 3,400. Seeing me getting decent odds to call and thinking my opponent could easily call, I called with the intention of calling if I hit a decent flop. It is worth noting that if I thought my opponent was playing normally, I would easily fold.

The flop came J 6 2 which gives me top pair. My opponent bet 4,600 and I called.

At this point, I can be either way ahead or way back, but I will never fold top pair when I think my opponent's range is very open. It doesn't make much sense to raise because he'll fold most of his trash (which should be a large part of his range) and call with all the better hands that have beaten me.

Turn to 6 , pairing the board. He bet 7,000 and I called.

The same logic on the flop applies to the turn. If he has a better hand, he always calls the raise. If I raise, I will force him to fold all the bluffs I keep within his reach by calling. Whenever you have a strong but not note hand, your main concern is to keep your opponent's range as wide as possible.

There was an 8 on the river and quickly bet 7,600 of his 18,000 remaining stack.

When players throw a really quick bet on the river, it usually means they planned to bet regardless of what card came up. Since his range should be mostly bluffs and a few nutty hands, I called and beat his A 3 .

Note that if I had raised on the flop or the turn, he would most likely have folded (unless he was an absolute maniac). The optimal line in such situations is simply to call. If I had a stronger hand like pocket aces, I would still call. I wouldn't raise on the river because again, he usually only calls when I'm beaten.

By playing your marginal stacked hands passively, you keep all bluffs within reach of your opponent while preventing them from bluffing. You also make it harder for your opponent to get a lot of value when he actually has the best hand because you never raised.

Next time you're up against someone who probably has too many bluffs in their range, take this line and let them bluff out of their stack. ♠

Jonathan Little is a two-time WPT champion with over $7 million in live tournament earnings, bestselling author of 15 Educational Poker Books and 2019 GPI Poker Personality of the Year. If you want to improve your poker skills and learn how to beat the games, visit his training page at PokerCoaching.com/cardplayer.