Skilled LAG play?

[emil3000]

Here's my take...
I play a hand when I think it's profitable to do so. Sometimes this leads to playing a lot of marginal hands, sometimes it leads to playing super-tight. Meta-game considerations aren't high up on the scale for me, that is, I don't play lots of hands just so I can get paid off when I make a hand. However if I happen to have played a lot of hands and played them very aggressively I am aware of this, and try to figure out which of the players have adjusted to my play, and then I try to readjust to them. You just kinda go with the ebb and flow of the game and your cards.

Oftentimes, especially in a shorthanded game I raise with marginal hands in late position to isolate the bad limper who I want to play with. Some people might regard this as LAG play, but really it's only a matter of playing a profitable situation in the most profitable manner. Profitable button play for me at least includes a lot of weakish holdings.
whitelime writes more about this in his post.

Raising suited connectors and stuff early is a slightly different story, in that it also serves to widen my hand range and make it harder for my opponents to play against my big pairs. Still, I don't raise UTG if I don't think it's at least neutral EV in the current game conditions. If you get called a lot by bad opponents anyway, you have less need to mix it up. If you have been playing few hands, and the table is also playing tight, then you have a good chance of stealing the blinds. Also your opponent are likely to misread your hand, which leads to profitable situations.

So I don't really care that much about LAG or TAG play as such, I just try to recognize profitable situations. The so called solid players see fewer situations as profitable, and so they play fewer hands.

[xorbie]

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lag is loose aggressive.. the main difference between TAG and Lag is probably the consideration of position. LAG cares less.

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wtf no.

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lag is loose aggressive.. the main difference between TAG and Lag is probably the consideration of position. LAG cares less.

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wtf no.

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Blame it on Harrington if you disagree. In HOH, p.40, defining the "agressive style" as compared to conservative and super aggressive, Harrington writes that an aggressive player will open with:

"1. all pairs 2. any two face cards 3. ace-anything 4. suited connectors, even as low as five-four suited.

"Aggressive players aren't terribly concerned with positional requirements, so all of these hands are suitable for opening even in early position."

I think it is true to say that position is less important to a lag in preflop play (I mean starting requirements), but lags focus more on using position postflop.

Certainly that is what Harrington was saying.

And to quote another notable American: "can't we all just get along?" [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

I used to, and I got paid off handsomely when I made my hands, but I discovered that my postflop play isn't good enough, and my variance was huge.

You've just gotta be really good at making judgement decisions postflop.

So, no, I don't, but I know good players can. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[elus2]

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Have you read Supersystem?

Playing "any two," and picking up pots when no one has anything, means you get paid off bigger when you actually make your hands.


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so which is it? if they fold too much how do they call when you have the goods?

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Have you read Supersystem?

Playing "any two," and picking up pots when no one has anything, means you get paid off bigger when you actually make your hands.


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so which is it? if they fold too much how do they call when you have the goods?

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Is this not standard poker metagame theory?

They fold when they don't have anything. They call when they have the 2nd best hand, since they don't put the LAG on the best hand.

That's why your reading and postflop play has to be excellent. You have to be able to pick up the pots when no one has anything, and be able to get away from them when they do.

[elus2]

what about all the times when they call with the best hand because the lag doesn't have anything.

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what about all the times when they call with the best hand because the lag doesn't have anything.

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What about it?

The point is to use your skill and judgement to avoid these situations. If it comes up, hopefully we still have some outs because we've been intelligently semi-bluffing and not rampaging with 27o. Obviously you don't want to bet air when you put your opponent on a hand.

As I said previously, it comes down to reads and postflop skill, which is why *I* don't do it, but you can't play any style of poker if you're always scared of the nuts.

[mudbuddha]

full ring or 6 max??

[Skuzzy]

For simplicity sake say full ring. But I ask the question, in part, because I'm trying to learn 6 MAX and find the transition very awkward as a "traditional" tight player.