Aggressive Poker = Winning Poker

• Commit this concept to memory: aggressive poker is winning poker.

• There are two fundamental kinds of poker players in the world – passive
players and aggressive ones.
• Passive poker is losing poker, whereas aggressive poker is winning poker.
• Let me refine this statement a bit further:
 Misconceptions of Aggressive Poker
• People often think that an aggressive poker player is one that’s constantly
betting, raising, and pushing people around at the poker table.
• They are grouping good, aggressive poker players with maniacs, giving the
term aggressive poker a negative connotation.
• There’s a difference between controlled, well-timed aggression and
uncontrolled, reckless aggression at the poker table.
• In reality, there are two types of aggressive poker:
– Controlled aggressive poker (TAGs and LAGs)
– Uncontrolled aggressive poker (Bad Aggressive Maniacs)
 Why is Aggressive Poker Winning Poker?

• When we play passive poker, we can only win a hand at

showdown by making the best hand.
• When we play aggressive poker, we give ourselves a chance to
win with either the best or worst hand.
– With the best hand, we simply bet for value and hope to extract as much
money as possible from our opponents.
– With the worst hand, we can bluff or semi-bluff and make our opponents
fold better hands.
• We’ll elaborate on the reasons to bet in the next lecture.
 The Downside to Passive Poker
• Passive poker players are generally
risk-averse.
• Their goal is to play a hand as
cheaply as possible.
• Rather than raise pre-flop, they
prefer to limp.
• Post-flop, they typically play the
same.
• They play scared monsters under
the bed poker, fearing the worst and
only betting strong value hands.
• The problem passive players have is
that aggressive poker players will
exploit their weaknesses:
– When they limp, a good player can
simply raise them out of the pot.
– When they check, a good player can
bet and often make them fold.
– When said player does become
aggressive, a good poker player will
realize they have a strong hand and
adjust accordingly.
• All of this makes passive poker
players very easy to play against.
 Example Hand: Exploiting Passive Poker
Hand Details
A weak-passive player from UTG open-
limps for 1bb, MP folds, and another
relatively passive player limps in from
the CO.
The action folds around to us in the BB.
We look down at 9♣ 9♥ and raise to
7bb. Both UTG and CO fold and we win
the hand pre-flop.
Discussion Points
This illustrates a typical scenario you’ll
regularly see at the micro stakes.
Several passive poker players limp pre-
flop, an aggressive poker player puts in
a significant raise and all of the limpers
fold.