You need to be an aggressive player to have a chance in poker. While it’s not impossible to win playing passively, it’s much, much more difficult. However, aggression isn’t just about raising every single hand and stealing the blinds. It can be a matter of raising for value, or to get a free card. It can also mean playing strongly when you need to defend your poker life.

As you probably know, I’m an aggressive player. I enjoy raising and re-raising, but it’s not something I do blindly, and there’s always a solid reason for doing so. Often, it’s because I want to bluff my opponent off a hand, but sometimes it’s because I want to see a free card on the turn.