[sherbert]

Another point I would like to add here Pete - your description of a loose agg. player could be viewed as a tight agg. player in some quarters. What you/we are all trying to avoid is weak tight. I think loose simply means at the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious: preflop; taking more hands to the flop than a tight player. I'm probably on the tight side here, perhaps 25% +. You might be taking 35 per cent through to flop, or more.
On the flop, by definition, a loose player will naturally then be taking more hands through to the turn, based on hopes of hitting a backdoor draw/set or 2 pair for instance.
If you are tightening up on the flop, however, this will make a big difference as to whether you actually fall into the loose aggressive camp or not.
Or say on the flop you are raising let's say top two pair more often than other players. Again that is not necessarily a mark of a looser approach than rivals, but of aggressiveness. And it depends on the player you are raising and texture of the flop.

I have no idea what any of these traits will do to variance. A lot of your earn in plo I'm sure is playing the player, a skill that falls outside the spectrum of loose agg/tight agg etc. I'm sure a lot of the plays you mention in your post fall more into that category.