Online Poker Forum - How can i improve aggression? (got a bit long)

nolan6

Right im not even sure if i need to be more aggressive but i was looking at Poker table ratings and whilst there i looked up a few of the forum regs who i know are real solid players, they were - Riddim Adam27X and Nilgiri. One thing i noticed was that on there analysis page, all 3 players were more aggressive than approx 85% of players at the limit. Whereas i am only more aggresive than about 60% of players.

Now, i do understand that different limits require different levels of aggression etc, but i consider myself to be quite an aggressive play - im nealy always playing the most pots at my table, unless there is an absolute maniac.

Resons

Prehaps this is why im only at 60% because it takes into account the maniacs who play 10nl a few times then dissapear - as these people wounldnt be as common at higher limits.

Im not sure how its worked out, maybe because my standard c-bet into a pot of 70 is 50 as appossed to 60 or 70 and this could be deemed to be less aggressive.

I looked at grader for 10nl 6max and it looks quite good.

PRE-FLOP TIGHTNESS: You are 7% looser than optimal. Good Work!

PRE-FLOP AGGRESSION: You are 24% more aggressive than optimal. Be somewhat less aggressive.

FLOP AGGRESSION: You are 3% more aggressive than optimal. Good Work!

TURN AGGRESSION: You are 6% more aggressive than optimal. Good Work!

RIVER AGGRESSION: You are 5% more aggressive than optimal. Good Work!

SHOWDOWN FREQUENCY: You showdown 5% more often than optimal. Good Work!

Do i need to be more agg at my level or is being closest to optimal always best?
Im just concerned that all you better players are way more agg than the people at your limits but im not, which is odd because apperently games get more agg as you move up.

FWIW i also showdown a bit more than the 3 mentioned which suggest prehaps im pot controlling too much???
Also PTR has missed a bunch of my sessions latley so maybe i shouldnt listen to it anyway.

Thoughts as always appreciated.

lovebeefstew · Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 5:30 am Post subject:

I'll let one of the said players answer this given that I don't play cash games. But what I will say that stood out at me from your post was you saying you play the "most pots at the table". This does not mean you are aggressive at all. You could play 100% of pots and be the least aggressive player. On the contrast, someone could be playing 15-20% of pots and be REALLY aggressive. Aggressive is the adjective used for people who raise alot and often continue their betting after the flop, not someone who simply plays alot of pots.

nolan6 · Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 11:34 am Post subject:

I think i figured it out a little..

aggression i now know is the balance between checking and calling as aposed to folding and raising. With a hand like 88 or QT on a Q72 board, i'd check call, figuring if i bet out i cant get called by much worse, and the villain is likely to bet 100% of his range when checked to - to a certain degree i'd say this is fine at 10nl -

but is check calling a leak as apposed to either betting out or check folding, as im not so sure if this is a leak?

adam27x · Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 12:37 pm Post subject:

The table ratings numbers are probably useless. You should aspire to reach some statistic just because it looks good, you should simply play every hand as optimally as possible. Let's say you're at a table where you keep getting dealt small PPs in the CO and BTN but you just get absolute junk in every other position for like 100-200 hands or so. What will happen is that you'll wind up either flatting a lot of EP/MP raises or opening a lot from the CO/BTN and folding otherwise so your VPIP/AFR for the session could be as ridiculous as like 32/6 which would make you almost look like a fish. Should you start going crazy and raising some of the junky hands to make your stats look more like the normal 22/18 or whatever? Absolutely not.

And your question as to whether c/c'ing or betting is a leak is waaaaaaaay too general. There are a lot of times where betting is best and a lot of times where checking and calling is best, and you shouldn't just try to bet more for the hell of it, you should have a reason.

There is a (somewhat useless) statistic out there called the Agression Factor (AF), which is a function defined as such:

AF = (bets + raises)/calls

So the really agressive players bet and raise way more than they call and have an AF that is much higher than 1, where a station would have an AF that is less than 1. I still have this stat on my HUD and I probably shouldn't and Aggression Frequency may be more useful, but I'm explaining this to just help define what aggression really is.

Riddim · Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:35 pm Post subject:

Yeah I forgot to respond to this earlier. Basically, don't read too much into stuff like this. You'll improve and may/may not find that your aggression goes up as you do. Not all people play the same.

nolan6 · Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 8:00 pm Post subject:

thanks for the feedback everybody.. i know my game is effective at 10nl i think it uses a smallball approach which is good as i can control the pot and still get value with good hands. maybe as i move up ill have to adapt, but that is something i'll deal with then.

i dont want to get stuck playing one way forever though but at the same time untill i start losing or its a more obv leak i'll stay the same for now

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