Aggression is key to being successful in poker. Being aggressive avoids so many problems, gives you easier decisions and increases the number of ways you can win the hand. By aggressive we do not mean shouting, kicking and screaming at your opponents, we mean betting and raising.
It may sometimes feel that you are constantly losing to passive players. How many times can you recall where an opponent had check-called you all the way to the river and hit a miracle two pair, completed an inside straight or backed into a flush? Countless times, I bet. While it can be frustrating to play against this type of player and lose to them, their success is extremely limited, mainly because they have to rely solely on having the best hand in order to win -- and that does not actually happen as often as you would like to believe.
Think about all of the best players in the world and they share a common trait; when they enter a pot they are 100% committed to bet, raise and check-raise their way to winning that hand. Irrespective of them playing a wide range of hands or play tightly, the best poker players play aggressively for the vast majority of the time.
Being aggressive is so important for a number of reasons that we will highlight in the remainder of this article. One of the biggest reasons is the fact being aggressive gives you more ways in which to win the hand. By calling, you can only win the hand by having the best holding. By betting, you can make a better hand than yours fold, have the best hand, prevent a weaker hand from drawing to one that beats yours and still make the best hand and win. As you can see, being aggressive gives you many more chances to win than being passive.
Aggression also makes your hand strength more difficult to read. Even the most passive of players will struggle not to bet when they have a monster hand, but because this is the only time they do show any aggression their opponents have an easier time letting go of their hands. However, if that passive player was an aggressive one, their bets could be an overpair, a draw, a set, ace-high, a made straight or a total bluff. You will never know. This is one of the reasons the better players among us seem to get paid off time and time again.
If you watch hyper-aggressive players such as Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan play poker, you will see they bet and raise constantly and with 100% of their hands. These players are a different breed when compared the rest of us and we would not advise going on the all-out attack like this duo do on a regular basis. Instead, whenever you enter a pot, make sure you have a plan, an aggressive plan on how to win the chips that are in the pot. Sometimes, your aggression will be met with an even larger show of aggression and you will have to fold, but at least you were trying to win the pot in the first place and have probably saved yourself more chips than someone who would play the same pot passively.