Aggressive
Aggressive describes a style of play with a lot of betting and raising instead of checking and calling.
The simple explanation
Aggressive describes a style of play with a lot of betting and raising instead of checking and calling. An aggressive player puts pressure on opponents and forces them to make hard decisions. The opposite style is passive.
A closer look
An aggressive style can build pots with strong hands and win pots with bluffs, but it is risky when it ignores hand selection and position. Players are often described by two words, such as tight-aggressive and loose-aggressive: the first plays few hands and bets them hard, the second plays many hands and bets them hard. Both are strong styles in the right hands, but they require good decisions on every street.
A practical example
A player raises on most hands and keeps betting on later streets. Opponents call them aggressive.
Full explanation
Aggressive describes a style of play with a lot of betting and raising instead of checking and calling.
Aggressive in poker refers to a playing style that involves a lot of betting and raising, as opposed to checking or calling. The style puts pressure on opponents.
Aggressive players take control of hands. They give opponents a chance to make a mistake by folding better hands or calling with worse ones.
Overly aggressive play can be costly if it is not balanced with good hand selection and awareness of position.
The word is often combined with tight or loose: a tight-aggressive player plays few hands but plays them hard.
A raise is an aggressive action
No-limit Hold’em · Blinds 1/2 chips · No rake
The blinds are 1 and 2 chips. Heads-up, the dealer (D) also posts the small blind.
Read the example transcript
Player A has the button (BTN) and posts the 1-chip small blind (SB). Player B posts the 2-chip big blind (BB).
- Preflop · Pot: 3 chips
The blinds are 1 and 2 chips. Heads-up, the dealer (D) also posts the small blind.
- Player A BTN / SB AAce of clubs (Ac)QQueen of diamonds (Qd) · Stack 199 · In this round 1
- Player B BB KKing of hearts (Kh)JJack of diamonds (Jd) · Stack 198 · In this round 2
- Preflop · Pot: 8 chips
A raises to 6 instead of calling the big blind. This is an aggressive action: A increases the wager and makes B decide whether to fold, call or raise.
- Player A BTN / SB AAce of clubs (Ac)QQueen of diamonds (Qd) · Stack 194 · In this round 6
- Player B BB KKing of hearts (Kh)JJack of diamonds (Jd) · Stack 198 · In this round 2
Cards are shown for learning; totals are displayed before pot collection.