Heute gibt es Tag 31 im 'High Stakes Feud'-Match zwischen Doug Polk und Daniel Negreanu im Livestream. Gespielt wird NLHE $200/$400 NLHE Heads-Up auf WSOP.com. It is an acronym mostly used in online poker to describe a playing style. A tight aggressive player is playing good starting hands and will play them aggressively by betting and raising both pre-flop and post-flop. By being selective with the hands a TAG player chooses to play, it usually results in having the best hand at showdown.
Without a shadow of a doubt, the most difficult player to combat at the cash game tables or in tournaments is one who plays a loose-aggressive poker strategy and plays it well.
A good loose-aggressive player, or LAG, at your table is a constant thorn in your side. Such players will frequently raise and three-bet preflop, fire more than their fair share of continuation bets, are not afraid to barrel on all three streets, and will pounce on any sign of weakness.
When no-limit hold'em was first becoming mainstream, there were very few people who knew how to play loose-aggressive poker, or at least were willing to do so. I vividly remember reading an older strategy book when I first discovered poker and seeing a section that said to proceed with extreme caution if you had been reraised, even if you held a hand as strong as pocket kings!
This may have been solid advice in the days of passive poker (played both loose and tight), but with so many players adopting a loose-aggressive poker strategy these days, you would be burning money by playing as advised by that particular book.
What is Loose-Aggressive Poker Strategy?
As its name suggests, a loose-aggressive poker strategy sees players loosen up their starting hand requirements (they play quite a lot of hands, often 30% or more that are dealt to them) and they play them aggressively (by coming out betting and raising).
However, not all LAGs are created equal. Bad LAGs are often reckless and will never find a fold, but LAG players who know the nuances of how to play loose-aggressive poker well almost always know where they stand in a hand and will fold to resistance. The former can be frustrating to play against, but the latter can decimate your stack and bankroll if you are not careful.
Loose-Aggressive Poker: Starting Hands
Some LAGs will play literally any two cards dealt to them and rely on their aggression or postflop skill to outmaneuver their opponents once the community cards come into play. If you are looking to start playing with a loose-aggressive poker strategy, it is advised to have some structure to your starting hand requirements.
We mentioned earlier than LAGs play a lot of hands, often 30% or more that they are dealt. Thirty-three percent of hands is a range that would include:
- 22-AA
- 54s+
- 75s++
- K8o+
- K4s+
- A2o+
- A2s+
As you can see, 33% represents a lot of hands, which is where some of the strength of a LAG style stems from — you have a difficult time knowing if such players are strong or weak preflop and whether they are betting with a pair, set, draw, or on a bluff after the flop. Kathy liebert.
How to Combat a Loose-Aggressive Poker Strategy
You have probably gathered by now that taking on those who know how to play loose-aggressive poker can lead to stressful situations at the tables, but that is not to mean that they are unbeatable. You just need to adapt your own style to combat theirs and use their LAG style against them.
First, when playing against LAG players give more consideration to your own starting hand requirements. Finding yourself out of position against LAG players is a nightmare, but even having position on them while holding a weak hand can be equally as difficult.
A hand such as may be a perfectly legitimate hand to open with from the button, but if there is a good loose-aggressive player in the big blind who has been three-betting you all session, it is probably best not to raise here as a steal because you are likely to be playing in a bloated pot with a weak hand against someone who is not going to let you see a cheap showdown.
Second, when up against a LAG consider slowplaying your strong hands both before and after the flop. Players who are starting to get out of line with how frequently they three-bet you are likely to fold to a four-bet because their reraising range is so wide. This gives you the perfect opportunity to simply call a three-bet with strong pairs such as aces, kings, or queens. While you should not make a habit of this, it is a good play to have in your arsenal when taking on someone playing a solid loose-aggressive poker strategy.
Furthermore, you can extend this slowplaying to postflop, too. LAGs will often make a continuation-bet and at least another bet on the turn (barreling), yet put the brakes on when they face strong resistance. Instead of check-raising or raising a hand as strong as a set, let your loose-aggressive opponents have a little more rope with which to hang themselves.
Also think about using an opponent's loose-aggressive range of starting hands against them by bluffing them. A couple of paragraphs ago we advocated slowplaying big hands preflop, yet you can also four-bet bluff a habitual three-bettor — especially if you have a tighter image — because they will give you credit for a strong hand and they are more likely to be holding something less than stellar.
Likewise, the occasional check-raise bluff on later streets can work wonders if your loose-aggressive opponent has shown to be capable of giving up on a hand when facing aggression.
Conclusion
Like all moves in poker, do not overuse any of the tips mentioned above. If you do, you will become much easier to read, and someone will eventually call your bluff. Once players with a solid loose-aggressive poker strategy figure out what you are trying to do against them, they will target you and make your time at the tables most uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, learn how to play a LAG style yourself and you can be the one making things less comfortable for others at the tables.
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cash game strategytournament strategyno-limit hold'emloose-aggressive styleaggressionbluffingstarting hand selectionposition
A short guide to adopting a loose-aggressive (LAG) style in no-limit hold'em cash games or tournaments, with added tips for how to play against LAG players. TAG stands for 'Tight-Aggressive'. These players have a tendency to select only strong hands preflop. They prefer to have the betting lead (initiative) and are, therefore, more likely to be the preflop open-raiser, or 3bettor, as opposed to the preflop cold-caller. Having position in poker means you're last to act. So if you're the button/dealer you're in position, or if you're the cut-off (acting right before the button) you're also in late position. Poker position works well for players since you can gain more information from opponents when acting last. It also gives them a chance for free cards.
- Okay, so we know that a VPIP in poker of around 8% is tight, and that a VPIP of around 35% is pretty high, but what do these percentages mean exactly? Here are a few examples of common VPIP percentages in terms of actual ranges of hands in Texas Hold'em.
- Don't use any spaces in your hashtag. If you want to use more than one word, simply run them together. If it's hard to read the meaning of the phrase without spaces, you can capitalize each of the words. #throwbackthursday and #ElectionNight are examples of popular multi-word hashtags.
Aggression. It can be measured in several ways – aggression factor (AF), aggression percentage (Agg Pct) or aggression frequency (AFq).
Like all moves in poker, do not overuse any of the tips mentioned above. If you do, you will become much easier to read, and someone will eventually call your bluff. Once players with a solid loose-aggressive poker strategy figure out what you are trying to do against them, they will target you and make your time at the tables most uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, learn how to play a LAG style yourself and you can be the one making things less comfortable for others at the tables.
Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
Tags
cash game strategytournament strategyno-limit hold'emloose-aggressive styleaggressionbluffingstarting hand selectionposition
A short guide to adopting a loose-aggressive (LAG) style in no-limit hold'em cash games or tournaments, with added tips for how to play against LAG players. TAG stands for 'Tight-Aggressive'. These players have a tendency to select only strong hands preflop. They prefer to have the betting lead (initiative) and are, therefore, more likely to be the preflop open-raiser, or 3bettor, as opposed to the preflop cold-caller. Having position in poker means you're last to act. So if you're the button/dealer you're in position, or if you're the cut-off (acting right before the button) you're also in late position. Poker position works well for players since you can gain more information from opponents when acting last. It also gives them a chance for free cards.
- Okay, so we know that a VPIP in poker of around 8% is tight, and that a VPIP of around 35% is pretty high, but what do these percentages mean exactly? Here are a few examples of common VPIP percentages in terms of actual ranges of hands in Texas Hold'em.
- Don't use any spaces in your hashtag. If you want to use more than one word, simply run them together. If it's hard to read the meaning of the phrase without spaces, you can capitalize each of the words. #throwbackthursday and #ElectionNight are examples of popular multi-word hashtags.
Aggression. It can be measured in several ways – aggression factor (AF), aggression percentage (Agg Pct) or aggression frequency (AFq).
Tradition requires that we mention the classic Aggression Factor /AF/ calculated as (Bet + Raise) / Call, checking or folding with no effect.
The drawback of this indicator is that due to its formula it can't differentiate between a hyper-aggressive player raising any two cards and a fit-or-fold player throwing away everything but the pure nuts. Basically, all a high AF tells you is that the player doesn't like to call.
I myself don't rely much on this indicator, but it's a part of the so called Holy Trinity of Poker HUD stats (VPIP, PFR, AF) so you have to know what it does.
In order to see a nuanced picture, you need different indicator – and which one you'll use depends on your poker HUD program of choice.
Tag Poker
Aggression percentage /Agg Pct/ is used in Holdem Manager and represents the frequency a player takes an aggressive action on a given street. So if I bet the flop but check the turn and river I would have 33% Agg Pct because I made 1 out of 3 aggressive actions.
Aggression frequency/AFq/ is used in Poker Tracker and is calculated as (total bet + total raise) / (total bet + total raise + total call + total fold) * 100, the idea being to include all possible actions in the divisor of the equation.
There is a slight difference in the way Agg Pct and AFq are calculated, as Agg Pct sees checking as passive and AFq as neutral. Some players say that counting checks as neutral is OK as the player could intend to check-raise, but I personally prefer the Holdem Manager Agg Pct statistic – it's more straight-forward. The probability of a Check-Raise can (and should) be analyzed using the separate Check-Raise statistic, but more on that later on.
Both Agg Pct and AFq start to become useful for the different streets after about 300 hands. Knowing these stats allows you to clearly identify overly passive and aggressive players. As far as ranges go, an Agg Pct less than 30% is extremely passive and more than 60% extremely aggressive. AFq range is similar – too passive when less than 35% and too aggressive over 65%. The slight difference occurs because checks are neutral in AFq and not counted as passive. These ranges depend heavily on the limit and the type of table – lower limits usually have more timid players compared to the higher limits and shorter tables see more aggression than full ring tables.
As always, remember to look at the stats for the individual streets – often players are very aggressive on the flop but proceed differently on the turn and the river.
Examples using Agg Pct and AFq
/For sake of simplicity we'll assume all opponents have stacks of about 100BB/
Tag Poker Chips
FR (full ring) table, you are in middle position with a pair of 6s. A player in EP (early position) limps in, you limp in, and the BB (big blind) checks. Flop comes 259 rainbow (of different suits). The big blind bets half of the pot and the early position player folds. Now what? Well, let's look at his stats (we'll assume a decent hand sample is available).
Poker Taglines
a) VPIP=27 / PFR=15 / Agg Pct=55 (Agg Pct Flop=64).
Tag Poker Range
The opponent is definitely a loose-aggressive player (LAG). He obviously plays a lot of trash hands, so his flop aggression percentage of 64 is borderline crazy. He didn't raise pre-flop, so a big overpair is unlikely; probably he caught something on the flop. Against a passive player we can consider folding here, but this particular opponent can bet just as easily second or third pair, or simply two overcards. You should at least call, but a better option may be to look at the villain's Fold to F Raise percentage and if it's high enough, raise him to force a fold.
Tag Poker Meaning Dictionary
b) VPIP=12 / PFR=5 / Agg Pct= 22 (Agg Pct Flop=28).
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Tag Poker Meaning Name
A weak-tight player bets two opponents out of position – a definite sign of a big hand – at least top pair with decent kicker. He probably would have slow-played a set or two pairs, but a nine in his hand would explain the bet as protection from overcards on the turn. Anyway, under the circumstances we have no more business in the hand and should fold.
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