There always seems to be at least one very aggressive player at my tables that is always trying to bully or just make very high raises most of the time.
I know there are several ways to go about it. Curious as to what the general consensus is and why.

It depends on the player. Some aggros shut down when someone fights back others are willing to go to war. But for the most part you need to meet with aggression with aggression UNLES the player is maniac aggressive, in these cases you can trap them with good hands.

Generally I like to play the opposite of how my opponents are playing... you need to make some looser calls against aggressive players, but you can get all of their chips pretty easily if you don't go chunking chips trying to out aggress them

Thanks for asking never i was wondering the exact same thing

Originally Posted by Steve R

It depends on the player. Some aggros shut down when someone fights back others are willing to go to war. But for the most part you need to meet with aggression with aggression UNLES the player is maniac aggressive, in these cases you can trap them with good hands.

Let me expand on this a bit:

--Against an aggro who shuts down in the face of aggression you can just call them down really light, or push them off hands with well timed bluffs

--Against an aggro who will go to war you can either call them down really light or fire away with your really strong hands (slowplaying is silly unless you have basically the lock hand)

--Against a maniac (someone who will overbet and make wild plays) I play more of a trapping style with my big hands especially if he is used to me calling down light *see above*

I mean, there are literally countless ways to deal with aggressive players but they are ALL player dependent

Yeah I kinda disagree with Stevie R here I find patience is the key when handling an aggressive player. Generally doing the opposite of what the table is doing works well in most cases though of course if you are too patient and not hitting the cards then this can work against you also. I don't play too much online but rarely in live tournaments do players who start off aggressively finish in the money......or even get past the fourth round

Originally Posted by TT Swindlehurst

Yeah I kinda disagree with Stevie R here I find patience is the key when handling an aggressive player. Generally doing the opposite of what the table is doing works well in most cases though of course if you are too patient and not hitting the cards then this can work against you also. I don't play too much online but rarely in live tournaments do players who start off aggressively finish in the money......or even get past the fourth round

Patience is what I generally exercise with them & wait to get a hand then trap. Your last statement is right, though. I have yet to see one of them finish in the money.

Originally Posted by NeverEnough

Patience is what I generally exercise with them & wait to get a hand then trap. Your last statement is right, though. I have yet to see one of them finish in the money.

Mike Mizrachi, Gus Hansen, et al. would disagree

Originally Posted by Steve R

Mike Mizrachi, Gus Hansen, et al. would disagree

- Yeah but they've never beaten me!

It depends on the hand, and how it plays out. If the player has consistently been stealing a lot of pots I'll look the player up, and even if I missed my hand I'd still consider calling a big bet on the river if I believed I had the best hand, or make a attempt to steal the pot if they slow down after a few big bets.