Almost all poker experts will recommend a tight and aggressive style of playing. Tight-aggressive style means two things, first you are very choosey about the hands you play and when you do play you are extremely aggressive. This behavior is manifested in betting and ‘raising' not only when you have strong hands, but even with nominal or relatively strong hands.

This kind of play is based on the theory that since players know you are very choosey about the hands you play, they will think that you have a strong hand when you raise or bet and will fold up sometimes even when they have strong hands. Tight-aggressive players either raise or fold up and they almost never call, they believe that a raise is better than calling a bet. Most champion poker players are tight-aggressive players; however there are quite few loose-passive players who do well in tournaments due to discreet game selection.

Loose-passive style is the exact opposite of the tight-aggressive style and loose-passive players generally don't match up to tight-aggressive players in tournaments. Loose-passive players are also called "calling stations" due to their tendency to frequently check and call. Generally, checking and calling is not considered a winning strategy. Expert poker players like to be in control and put the opponents on the defensive. However, the loose-passive style should not be thought of as the losing strategy because if executed cleverly it can become a winner!

Against overly aggressive players it makes sense to check and call. Usually, over aggressive players engage in a lot of bluffing and more often than not bluff their money away. It is a good strategy to let your opponents do the betting and you bet out.

In a straight or flush draw, if you are in an early position and there are more players still to act, in case there are more players still to act a bet is unlikely to win a pot. In fact you might get raised. When in an early position it is advisable to see the next card; only if there is a single opponent you may bluff or semi bluff. However, checking and calling is the best strategy.

Sometimes when you are playing against an opponent whom you have successfully dominated in the past, a check may result in the opponent folding if you are able to convince him or her you have a strong hand. You can get a free card on the turn if you check and call on the flop, as the opponent will think twice before betting again, this might also give you a chance to bluff in case a scare card comes on board.

Check and call is a good strategy when slowing the play with a big hand. The key is in knowing when to adopt the check and call strategy, instead of the bet and raise.

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