A closer look at the loose-aggressive style
For a long time, top players advocated using a very tight preflop strategy to play No Limit Hold’em. Over time, many great players such as Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu began to develop a style that allowed them to play a wide variety of hands very aggressively, in order to exploit weaker players. This “loose-aggressive” style is one that can be highly profitable; however, there is a fine line between playing a winning loose-aggressive style and just playing bad, loose poker. Here are some pointers that you can use to better understand the difference between winning loose-aggressive poker and just playing too many hands.
First, I am assuming you all understand that most players are playing solid cards. Players who have read any poker book recognize that it is necessary to fold garbage hands such as 2-7 and 3-10. Solid, straightforward players even understand that folding trouble hands like A-8 or K-9 suited is right in most situations. However, I’m going to explain to you how the loose-aggressive style I use allows you to play a wider variety of hands, as long as you’re careful.
It’s now common knowledge that players who play only solid cards are exploitable if you carefully and aggressively play a wider variety of cards. If you know a certain player will only reraise with big pairs and A-K, there’s nothing wrong with making a slightly loose call against him with 9-10 suited in order to try to flop a huge hand. If you can put him on one of three or four hands, over time you will crush him because he will have no idea what you hold. However, you shouldn’t just blindly play lots of hands; you need to think of it as taking calculated risks each time you play a speculative hand.
It’s always important to consider the value of table position. When you have the button or are near the button (and not in the blinds), you should loosen up your game. I would recommend raising just about any reasonable hand at the “back end” of the table. Raise hands like Q-5 suited, 10-9, K-3 suited, as well as your premium hands. If there a few limpers before you and you have 7-9 suited one off the button, make a slightly over potsized raise and force these players to call your bets with poor table position. What do you do when the flop misses you completely? Make a bet of about three-quarters the size of the pot and force your opponent to make a decision. You will be amazed at how often players simply miss the flop and fold, and even more amazed at how many times a “scare” card on the turn, combined with another three-quarter-pot-sized bet will get them to re-evaluate their hand. Just make sure that you’re playing against rational players who have some idea of what is going on. If players won’t ever fold, there is no point in trying to bluff them.
It can be fun to play this style of poker: raising the blinds in late position and frustrating other players; but you need to make sure you follow some strict guidelines. First, don’t get too loose out of position. Although it’s profitable to be raising speculative hands from late position, it’s a terrible leak to call raises, especially out of position, with these same hands. For example, you should fold hands like Q-8 suited when you are in the blinds and a player has already raised the pot. It can be tempting to play these hands, but there are a few reasons you shouldn’t. First, the players who raise the pot against you will, on average, have a better hand than you. Combine this with the fact that they get to act after you in subsequent betting rounds and that gives them a distinct advantage. Many players incorrectly reason, “Well, I can bluff my opponent off the hands on the many occasions when he doesn’t hit the flop.” This isn’t necessarily true, because of the style you are playing. Since you are raising more pots than usual, players aren’t going to give you credit for a hand very often, especially when they have position on you and can call one bet to see what you’re going to do next. You will find that they won’t fold as often as you would like, which can make things very difficult when you have worse starting cards and table position than they do. The most general rule to remember is: You should be playing loose and aggressive, not simply loose. If you find yourself calling a lot of bets, especially preflop, you are setting yourself up for disaster. Select a fairly wide variety of hands to play, maybe 20% to 25% of the hands you are dealt, and raise or reraise them instead of just calling.
I have had great success using these very same principles, all the way up to $100-$200 NL cash games. No matter what games you’re playing, a loose-aggressive style can be quite profitable. If you make sure you focus on these fundamental guidelines, and in particular what not to do (call, play too loose), you should be well on your way to success at the cash game tables. Thanks for reading and best of luck.
