Can you be too aggressive?... I think so

[Perseus]

Can you be too aggressive...I think so

I’ve read some posts lately where people have very high aggressive numbers, but are not beating the game for more than 1bb/100. Even though their other stats look fine, VPIP, PFR, etc, their POSTFLOP aggression numbers look something like 4-5 flop, 3-4 turn, 2.5-3.5 river, and they can’t understand what they are doing wrong.

In fact, I just looked up my own numbers, and they were, at one point of over 15k hands, reading:

flop: 4.8
turn: 3.6
river: 2.9

Now I obviously don’t have as much SH experience as many of the posters here, but my first half of hands at SH I was playing these high aggression numbers and I was running under 1BB/100 hands, while the next half I dropped my postflop aggression numbers by about a full point on each street, and I have more than doubled my win rate.

My educated guess based off this result is that there are many times when it is appropriate to just call postflop, regardless of the old “fold or raise” axiom. I am interested in hearing other’s opinions on this topic.

If you think I am way off base here please don’t rip me apart, I am just giving my personal results. Has anybody found that they too won MORE when they dropped aggression a bit? I think this might be an interesting topic.

Thanks for any opinions,
Jon

[wahooriver]

If you read my posts, I agree with you. When you are overaggressive you can become too predictable. I love playing against predictable players.

It is much easier to set traps for overaggressive players.

Many draws call for calling rather than raising. If your opponent clearly has a good hand (and very likely has you beat), why would you help him by raising?

The challenge for all good players is to find the optimum aggression (which I believe will probably vary amongst players). One can win with various styles. One can also lose with various styles. Thus, style is only one factor to consider in how well we play.

I favor selective aggression. I vary my play according to my opponents. My goal is to fool them (if they are foolable).


Good (and important) post.

[reddred]

I like your post......I take the 'be aggressive' motto of poker to mean be aggressive when you have the best hand, or ocasionally when you don't think your opponent does. IMAO, reckless betiing is not a way to beat the game long term. Better to be smart and crafty.

[MAxx]

i like to be running around 2.5 overall, assuming normal card distribution and i am makeing good decisions. if i am under 2.0 for an extended period of time, i would wanna check my head. if i was over 3 for an extended period of time, i would wanna check my head.

just my opinon. and there are many other facturs, including the fact that AF is a very crude calculation.

[Perseus]

bump...any other comments on this

[pheasant tail (no 18)]

[ QUOTE ]
I take the 'be aggressive' motto of poker to mean be aggressive when you have the best hand, or ocasionally when you don't think your opponent does.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think there are many instances where a more passive line w/ the probable best hand is best. Many players wont give up any BB's if raised on flop, but will gladly keep bluffing.

So the result often is that you get lots of action when 2nd best and little when best. (This almmost always applied to HU pots where your raise has less usefullness).

Knowing when to find these spots is the key. Hard to do when multi-tabling (at least for me).

[sinfulslick18]

the past month i was in a somewhat downward spiral insane swing thing... but i tried lowering my aggression this past week and my winrate is amazing. i agree that too much aggression can be dangerous in SH. I know that this should not jump up amazingly...maybe its the cards right now..but it should slowly change nicely in my favor

-sinful

[ctv1116]

Overaggressive players-->very easy to trap. Your aggression stats are too high; I'd ratchet it down a couple notches.