Loose-Aggressive style for poker has become quite popular among poker players and it just might be the most popular poker style out there right now. And I mean most popular style trying to be adapted, since most players manage to do quite a poorly at it. It's no wonder, since this particular style is very challenging, filled with action.
First off we're going to start identifying this poker style, and we can see the word "loose". This means LAG style players plays a lot hands... his starting hands are played in a very loose way, since there are a lot of hands he's willing to get into the pot with. The second word, "aggressive" means this player plays his hands aggressively and this is where players usually fail to succeed. All of us can play a lot of hands, but to play them aggressively and profitably is another thing. Players who master this style are probably the biggest winners out there right now (at NL Hold'em).
Most likely when a LAG player gets into a pot (and he does that often) he'll be raising or calling. Basically, a player who raises a lot of hands pre-flop can be identified as a Loose-Aggressive player (so far). But calling raises isn't rare either. Most likely when you see a Loose-Aggressive player joining to a pot, there has been a raise made at some point pre-flop.
Continuation bets are a huge part of this poker style, and the word "aggressive" comes from making continuation bets as much as it comes from raising/calling pre-flop.
A Loose-Aggressive player plays by taking an advantage of his/her table image and position. That's basically it. Players who successfully adapt this style, are most likely good-great at valuing their hands, understanding how their position matters, and how their style matters to positions. Understanding implied pot odds, continuation bets and to a certain degree, timing tells. Position play is the most important part of being a winning LAG that a lot of players don't understand too well.
Loose-Aggressive poker style is generally difficult for beginners to execute successfully. I'd even say a new player should start-up with something like playing TAG style poker, which means "Tight-Aggressive". Then, when you understand more about hand strengths and the importance of position, it might be a good idea to try playing LAG poker.
Also, a very effective way to play winning poker is to switch between these styles once you manage them both well. This will obviously confuse opponents. In contrast to LAG style being probably the most effective way to make money by playing poker (again, when correctly played), it's also the most effective way for a player to lose money.
How to Develop LAG Style - I play Loose-Aggressive poker myself (generally) and the best way to get better is to play as many hands as possible. I actually played almost every hand I was dealt for about a week in a row. Yes, that resulted me losing some money, but what even though I did it in the purpose of getting better as a poker player, I could have never imagined how much it actually helped.
Two qualities get better: the understanding of position and the understanding of hand value. Also, you'll see how playing every hand will affect to your table image, however the results for that are quite obvious: people will play a lot of hands against you.
But back to what I was saying... when you play every, or close to every hand, it really opens up your eyes about position. You'll notice how even quite horrible hands (Q5o) can be played somewhat profitably by playing in position. You'll notice how it's easier to play suited connectors rather than K9-offsuit.
Don't confuse playing every hand directly with playing all of them aggressively. By playing every hand, we're just going to try to find profitable ways for them, not push all them until you're all-in. So playing every hand hasn't got too much to do with being aggressive, but it's more about comprehending ways to play even generally unprofitable hands, since that's got a lot to do with being aggressive when you start playing LAG style poker.
Continuing Loose-Aggressive writings: LAG Myths
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