Poker Articles

This article was written by Muddywater, who is an instructor at CardRunners.com.

With the new breed of young aggressive poker players taking center stage in the poker world, a loose aggressive style of play has become very popular. This is no coincidence. Playing a loose aggressive (LAG) style is a very good strategy, possibly the best, when playing no-limit hold’em. For those of you that are members of CardRunners.com, you know that we preach a LAG style exclusively. However, I have observed that as many people blindly adapt to this style, some clarifications need to be made.

There are a few reasons why a LAG style is successful. The key to being a successful LAG player is realizing the importance of position. More than anything else, LAG players use position to their advantage. When position is correctly used, it achieves several objectives. One of these goals is deception. If you are raising a lot of weak hands, it is very hard for your opponents to put you on a hand. In addition, when you play loose in small pots, you lead your opponents to believe that you will play the same way in large pots. A good LAG player won’t play a large pot without a near lock hand, but many players don’t realize this. Furthermore, good LAG players use position to pick up pots that they normally would not win. Being the aggressor is very important in no-limit hold’em, and correctly using position greatly aids in successfully being an aggressor.

Playing a LAG style does not mean that one should apply the exact same LAG style to every type of no-limit hold’em. Adjustments need to be made for different games and limits. A LAG style works best for higher limit cash games. That does not mean that it doesn’t work in other games. The basic concepts outlined above hold true for all variations of no-limit hold’em.

For instance, when playing a SNG, low-limit especially, it is not correct to play loose in the early stages. However, I still endorse a LAG style for SNGs. This style is achieved by playing tight during the early stages and gradually opening up as the blinds increase. The correct style of play at the bubble is LAG. This overall style accomplishes two things. First of all, it accomplishes deception by portraying a tight image. This image allows one to steal when the blinds increase. In addition, it keeps one out of trouble early in the SNG. There is no reason to play large pots without very good hands early in SNGs.

Another variation to consider is low limit cash games. There are many differences between the play in a 5/10nl game and a .50/1nl game. Two examples of differences are that players at 5/10nl pay much more attention to position and will fold much more often. With this in mind, one must tighten up at the lower limits. It doesn’t pay to watch players at higher levels and exactly emulate their play. The basic principles that they use hold true at all levels, but are applied differently. I still consider the way I play at lower limits LAG, but I don’t play nearly as loose as I do at the higher games. The most important principle to apply to lower limits is position. However, it doesn’t pay to blindly raise in position. The effectiveness of continuation bets is much lower at the smaller stakes. That fact alone means that a successful player must tighten up. In addition, semi-bluffs decrease in effectiveness as well.

Multi-table Tournaments (MTTs) pose another challenge when trying to apply a LAG style. I believe that early in tournaments, one’s play should imitate cash game play. There is a similar chip stack to blind ratio between cash games and early stages of MTTs. LAG players can raise weaker hands in position, but they still need to avoid playing large pots without good hands. I don’t fault someone for playing a tight aggressive (TAG) style early in MTTs. In fact, I think that at the lower limits TAG is the best style to use. Similarly to SNGs, as the blinds increase it is important for players to open up their game and begin to steal blinds. This is where the LAG style goes into action. However, it is very important to not overdo it. If players at a table begin to feel that a LAG player is running over the table, they will play back. LAG players must walk the fine line of raising many hands without becoming “out of line” in the eyes of their opponents.

It is important to realize that a LAG style does not dictate the same play at all variations and limits of no-limit hold’em. No-limit hold’em is a game that requires continual adaptations to different situations. Adjusting a LAG style to different situations is a prefect example of that. I feel that if used correctly a LAG is the most effective way to play no-limit hold’em; it just must be used properly.