tight v. loose aggressive

[joseki]

This might be long and sophomoric and personal, but if anyone has any input, I'd appreciate it...

My basic question is: Is playing 'loose' required for a very aggressive approach to be profitable? And is tight-aggression less profitable than 'loose'-aggression?

I started playing poker about two months ago and have played over 30,000 hands of low-limit hold 'em in that time(.5/1, 1/2 & 2/4, between P-Stars and Empire). I've also read a bit and collected over 20,000 hands in poker tracker. I've averaged 2.9BB/100 hands, but I feel my play is far from optimal. I've improved my results by tightening way up from when I started (VP$IP~17%), but I'm having trouble seeing profit when I increase my aggression to the level many seem to advocate.

Maybe I just don't understand how to implement the LAG way, but when I try to play aggressively w/ mediocre hands (KJ, AT, Axs, middle-pair/big-kicker, top-pair/little-kicker, etc.) I just lose money. Do I need to increase stakes to profit from the aggro plays I read about on here? Is straightforward play the only way to profit at these limits?

I'm also wondering how to vary aggression through a session. I find myself playing my usual tight-moderate (ok, maybe passive) game for a while and then trying to ramp up aggression later. By then many players are leary of playing with me unless they hold strong hands, and I find that pots get smaller and that I only get called when I'm beat.

Anyway, I've just been wondering about balancing hand selection and aggression and hoped somebody might have some thoughts...

[nothumb]

What books have you read that say you should be loose-aggressive? Even when you are raising with middle pair, you should be doing it based on game conditions and EV, thus being selective, or tight. In other words, if you always raised middle pair, you'd be loose-aggressive. The hands you mentioned should be pushed in some circumstances, not most.

From what I understand 17% VP$IP is pretty much in line with a lot of players.

[ QUOTE ]
I just lose money. Do I need to increase stakes to profit from the aggro plays I read about on here?

[/ QUOTE ]

A yes, the old, "If I move up, will good players lose more to my play than bad players?"

No, they won't.

NT

[Michael Davis]

You need to be selectively aggressive.

In low limit games, it simply doesn't matter what you are doing on previous hands, your opponents don't care. You could play with some low limit players for a week and raise only AA. You might not get this hand until the third day of your session. When you raise UTG, you will get six coldcallers.

-Michael