It is a commonly held and accurate belief that winning poker is aggressive poker. Constant unrelenting aggression is however, an over simplification. Winning poker is about aggression with a strong defensive component that allows you to wrest the initiative and dictate the pace of the action to make your opponents play your game, which can be complex or very simple depending on the situation.
The most common “Defensive” tactic is making a raise to get a free card. This can and often is a tactic the backfires spectacularly. However when it works, you get to see two cards for one bet instead of two cards for two bets. And when this makes you hand, it is rather a beautiful thing. Other defensive plays include raising when you have a non-raising, speculative hand as your opponents are likely to check the flop, putting extra money in the pot if that card makes your hand.
Winning players tend to play games suited to their style and pace of play and sometimes wresting the initiative can be as simple as sacrificing a hand to turn hit the afterburners on a sleepy dead end game where you control the action. This is an example of a defensive play with offensive impact because other players are now playing your game.
Although it sounds clichéd, the best offense can be a good defense, but depending on the game situation, it is possible for the best possible defense in a situation to be all out offense. Attacking in a hopeless situation works in real life too. The best example of this would be Marshal Foch of France during World War I where he found himself fighting a desperate defensive action where the right flank was in retreat, the center of the line was buckling. The Marshall’s comment on the situation was, “Situation excellent! I attack!”
This is actually true in a tournament or any game when all you are left with is a short stack to “nurse.” You know that unless you get a good hand fast, you are not going to survive long when your opponents hold medium or big stacks – practically all the chips. It is rare that your opponents will want to fight an aggressor when they want to defend their winnings. In most cases, they would give you their blinds, even the first round of betting because they have the chips to spare. These are your opponents who are showing a clear weakness. Take the offensive and take them down! Attack!
When playing poker, defensive tactics take many shapes and forms that many stem from any number of possible strategies and tactics. It is possible to lose a hand as part of a strategy to wrest the initiative from your opponents, allowing you to set the pace and tempo of the game. When you control both, you can bleed your opponents for every chip in their stack, while maintaining a solid defensive line just in case somebody tries to stage a comeback.