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Home / Poker / Advantages and disadvantages of an aggressive poker strategy

In a perfect poker tournament in an ideal world, you’d never even have to consider whether or not you were playing aggressively enough.

You’d simply be dealt strong starting hands every hand, or you’d smash the flop with every suited-connector combo you play, or flop a big blind special every orbit.

In those cases, you’re looking, hoping, and praying to get money in the pot, so raising and forcing your opponents to make big decisions comes easily.

The unfortunate truth? This isn’t an ideal world.

To win a poker tournament, you’re going to need to play aggressively even when the cards don’t fall perfectly for you. The skill is knowing when and how.

In this article, we’re going to break down what an aggressive poker strategy looks like, the different variations of aggressive play, and the advantages and disadvantages of playing an attacking style, as well as show you how you can identify aggressive players at your tables.

NOTE: If you’re unfamiliar with any of the poker terms used in this article, you can look up the meaning in our poker terms glossary.

What is an aggressive poker strategy?

In a nutshell, an aggressive poker strategy is one which applies pressure on your opponents by adding more money to the pot and forcing them into uncomfortable situations where they have to make big decisions.

Therefore, an aggressive play is when you increase the amount of chips your opponent has to put into the pot in order to continue.

This is the opposite of a passive play, such as checking or calling, whereby you allow your opponent to control the action.

Aggressive poker plays have various desired outcomes. 

Getting a fold

Let’s say you defend your big blind against an open and you flop middle pair with no other draw. You check and your opponent makes a continuation bet (also known as a c-bet). An aggressive play would be to check-raise, and the desired outcome is that your opponent folds all their hands that missed, and you win the pot right away.

Sometimes you just want your opponent to fold

Getting called

Now let’s take that same set-up but this time you flop top two-pair on a dry board. Your opponent c-bets again and this time you check-raise with the hope that your opponent calls, as it’s very likely you have the best hand. By raising, you increase the pot and might be able to get to an all-in situation, depending on how deep stacks are at the beginning of the hand.

Mixed

Now let’s say you flop a flush draw and an open-ended straight draw. Your opponent c-bets and this time you check-raise as a semi-bluff. There are multiple desired outcomes here. You’d be happy if your opponent folds as you’d win the pot without having a made hand. But you also wouldn’t mind if they call because if you complete one of your draws on the turn, you have a great opportunity to continue building a big pot.

As you can see from the examples above, a player who simply raises when they have a strong hand isn’t necessarily playing an aggressive strategy. The player who can pull the trigger and raise even when they don’t have a strong hand is.

In a game like Monopoly, players need to hold something good (e.g. quality properties) in order to do well. But unlike other games, poker doesn’t require you to hold the best of it in order to win. You can bluff your opponents off better hands holding complete junk.

And that’s why aggression is key in poker. You can win with the worst of it.

TIGHT AGGRESSIVE

A tight-aggressive (TAG) player is someone who doesn’t voluntarily put money into the pot (VPIP) often. But when they do, they play their hands aggressively. This means they’re happy to wait for the perfect moment to strike.

When they get dealt a strong hand, they’ll naturally open-raise. 

If a player opens and they’re dealt a strong hand, they’ll three-bet.

When the chip leader opens and they’re dealt a medium-strength hand, perhaps something like ace-jack offsuit, they’ll choose to three-bet instead of call, taking the aggressive route.

Essentially, whenever a TAG player enters a pot, they’ll usually do so by raising.

LOOSE AGGRESSIVE

There are also loose-aggressive (LAG) players. The difference between a LAG and a TAG is that the LAG player will open-raise and three-bet/four-bet with a much larger range of hands, which puts pressure on their opponents.

They’re willing to do this as it keeps their opponents on their toes. It’s hard to determine whether they’ve connected with a flop or not as their pre-flop range is far wider than that of a TAG player.

But playing a LAG strategy can be costly if you’re not experienced or studied, as you’ll run into situations where the pot is large and you don’t know what to do.

The advantages of an aggressive poker strategy are simple.

You’ll create bigger pots, which in turn makes your stack bigger and gives you a greater chance of success in the tournament.

You’re going to annoy and perhaps even confuse your opponents, and you might see them make costly mistakes that you can take advantage of.

You’ll going to win pots you would never otherwise win by getting your opponents to fold. Sometimes they’ll even fold the best hand.

What are the disadvantages of an aggressive poker strategy?

The disadvantages of an aggressive poker strategy are also clear.

By playing aggressively and increasing the pot, you’re putting more of your stack at risk. Should your opponent win the pot, your stack will need rebuilding. 

You’ll also find that you might get eliminated from tournaments earlier than you’re used to. That’s because you’re playing in a more volatile way. Sometimes you have to go all in as a bluff when your hand misses. And sometimes your opponent calls with the best of it.

That being said, the benefits of playing an aggressive poker strategy outweigh the disadvantages, when applied correctly. 

How can you identify aggressive players?

After a few orbits at your table, there’s a good chance you’ll know who the aggressive players are. They’re the ones you want to avoid playing pots against!

Aggressive players might open a lot of hands, or three-bet and four-bet a lot, or make a squeeze bet every time lots of players enter a pot.

You shouldn’t assume that someone who plays aggressively is a strong player. Watch how they handle the situations they get into and keep an eye on the hands they turn over at showdown. 

How can you apply aggression to your game?

If you’re struggling to build stacks, make deep runs and finish in the big-money spots on final tables, chances are you’re not playing aggressively enough.

It’s very rare to see a player have consistent success without adopting an aggressive strategy. Sitting back, waiting for hands, hoping to connect and never bluffing will only get you so far.

Instead of waiting for the stars to align, you can take the initiative and bring the chips to you. Aggression in poker isn’t about playing like a lunatic, it’s about playing in a way that continuously puts your opponents under pressure.

Ask any professional and they’ll tell you: an aggressive amateur is far trickier to play against than a passive one. So it’s safe to say that it’s better to play aggressive poker.

The player who puts in the final aggressive action (bet or raise) has the initiative

RECAP

To recap, here are the key points regarding playing aggressive poker:

Aggressive poker plays are plays which require opponents to put more chips into the pot (open-raises, 3-bets, 4-bets, check-raises etc.)

You don’t need to have a strong hand to play aggressively. If the situation is right, you can play aggressively with a weak hand and get your opponent to fold a better one. The way to recognise these situations is through experience and study.

An aggressive player is tougher to play against than a passive one because they force opponents into tough spots, often with a lot of chips at stake.

Further reading:

AGGRESSIVE POKER PLAYS AND WHEN TO USE THEM

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