Apr 5 2010

Tight Aggressive Strategy

written by: John under Poker Strategy Comments: 1

Tight aggressive play has been endorsed by many online poker players. Prior to the advent of online poker, a tight aggressive strategy was somewhat rare. There were certainly a lot of tight players, there were also a lot of aggressive players, but few players successfully combined the two approaches. Online poker has helped to create a never ending stream of tight aggressive players.

A tight aggressive strategy is great whether multi tabling or playing just one table at time. In addition to online poker, tight aggressive play works well in a live environment. Many players have a tough time adjusting to a tight aggressive player. It is no coincidence that younger players have run over games that were traditionally won by older players. Tight aggressive play is often confused with tight play. There are some defined differences, though, that separate the two playing styles.

Tight Aggressive Play vs. Tight Play

Your odds of making money are much greater if you play tight aggressive than if you play tight. Tight players tend to be much too passive to make any money. A tight player’s strategy is very simple. All that they do is wait around for very good hands. There isn’t much more to a tight player’s strategy.

When it comes to post flop play, tight players usually err on the side of caution. They don’t want to take any risks in post flop play, just as they didn’t want to get in any tough spots pre flop. In order to make any real money, however, you need to take a chance from time to time. If you play very tight, the tight aggressive players are going to run you over. They aren’t going to take all of your money in one fell swoop, but instead one pot at a time. Before you know it, a tight player’s stack has slowly slipped into the hands of a more aggressive player.

Tight aggressive play is undoubtedly better than tight play, but only if you can apply the strategy correctly. An effective tight aggressive player knows when to make raises and how much to bet/raise, but they can also make folds. The aggressive aspect of tight aggressive play is stressed, but you still need to play a bit tight. This doesn’t mean only waiting for the best hands possible, but it does require a bit of hand selection.

Tight aggressive play is the way to go if you want to see real success as a poker player. Loose aggressive play can be profitable too, but it can be quite tricky and has a lot of variance. Loose aggressive players like to play a lot of pots, but like tight aggressive players, they know how to adjust to certain situations. Any aggressive player needs to have a feel for bet sizing and when they should be extracting value. Aggressive players generally make the most money possible in any given hand. If you can accomplish this, there is no doubt that you are going to be a winning player. There is nothing wrong, per se, with playing loose or tight, but you must remember that it isn’t optimal. It depends whether you want to be a gambler (loose or tight) or a winner (loose aggressive or tight aggressive).

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