Looseness vs. Aggression
You may well encountered the term LAG when reading poker books and forums. LAG refers to Loose-and-Aggressive. Be very clear that Loose and Aggressive are not the same when referring to poker styles. Loose refers either to how many pots or hands someone plays. A loose player is in a lot of pots and a tight players plays very few pots. But you can be loose-aggressive or tight-aggressive and good players are somewhere in between.
An aggressive player is more likely to be betting and raising, as opposed to calling and checking. You can play very tight but still be aggressive, if when you play you are betting and raising the pot. A loose player simply plays a lot of pots, but an aggressive player may play a few hands or a lot of hands but when the aggressive player is in the pot, you will know it.
If players are playing loose than you can afford to play more hands. However, if players are being aggressive you should play tight. Loose is not the same as aggressive and the response to aggressive is not the same as the response to loose. If you play aggressive, you love loose players. If you are loose, you want tight players. Being able to change your style in response to the table dynamics is the sign of a good, solid, loose, tight, aggressive player.
-this is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #154
