Hoyt Corkins AKA 'The Alabama Cowboy' is known off the table as being one of the nicest guys you could ever want to meet. On the table, though, he is one of the most aggressive and heartless players around barreling into his opponents until they have little to no option but to wait for the nuts to try to hurt him: and that's often exactly when he folds.
Watch any of Hoyt Corkins's appearances on any of the seasons of World Poker Tour, and you'll probably hear the phrase 'All in' more than you could ever hope to. If Hoyt is known for anything on the poker table, it's the fact that he's not afraid to put all his chips at risk at any time, forcing his opponents to pick up a hand against him, a play that has taken him to many final tables.
The same tactic, which works every time but once for the most part, caused this beat in the USPC against John D'Agostino, which is likely one of the sickest hits in the history of poker.
This move also makes Hoyt look like a pretty big donkey. For the most part, though, Hoyt's heavyhanded betting works to make his opponents have to wait to pick up a big hand against him while he continues to eat them down with little pots. He also then tends to get paid off more frequently when he actually has a hand, and add that to the fact that when he does get called stealing he still always has outs, and you have the ingredients of one of the hardest styles to defend against. Everybody has heard the idea that 'aggression is winning poker' but if you don't know how to use it properly it will end up biting you the other way. Hoyt is the kind of player who tends to lurk in the shadows until he decides to make himself known, and then he is on the pot like it already belongs to him. You basically have to pry the pot away from him at that point. I think what a lot of people don't see in Hoyt's game, though, is that he usually has the chip lead when he goes deep. Hoyt is the kind of player that plays to win the tournament, not place, which means early on he probably plays selective pots very aggressively, and might take measured risks if he knows it can get him stacked up huge.
One of my biggest sore spots in tournament play is when players are playing just to make the money: carefully abiding their time while one after another goes out, picking up little pots to stay alive and make back a little more than what they bought in for. To really make money in tournament poker, though, you need to win. Hoyt is an example of this. Hoyt's big focus in his aggression is position. Hoyt is definitely a position player more than he is a card player, knowing that the key to aggression is not cards but position.
The strategy of playing by the idea that poker is just as much about your opponent NOT making a hand as it is about you MAKING a hand is an integral idea that a lot of 'math' players don't give the credence that it is due. A player like Hoyt is scary because you don't know what mode he's in when he raises: you don't know if he has the goods or is stealing. If you can keep that kind of mystery about your game, instead of getting labeled a 'rock', you will see much bigger bounties when you do win. Another strange but effective element of Corkins's game is that he's not willing to lay down when he thinks there's a reasonable chance to win. If you try to aggress Hoyt the way he does you, you're liable to get looked up. How much more scary is that? As in here:
Hoyt Corkins AKA 'The Alabama Cowboy' is known off the table as being one of the nicest guys you could ever want to meet. On the table, though, he is one of the most aggressive and heartless players around barreling into his opponents until they have little to no option but to wait for the nuts to try to hurt him: and that's often exactly when he folds.
