'Aggression'

I've read alot of poker books that speak of playing aggresively, taking control of the table, dominating, etc. Later on down the line, they preach playing solid, and starting hand charts, etc. It doesn't quite make alot of sense to be talking about stealing blinds and being feared at the table, when you mention in the same breath that you should be playing solid and folding garbage.

When I think of aggression, I think of the maniac that raises and reraises to take you off your blinds, that plays crap all the time. I see playing solid as waiting for those good few hands and then playing them aggressively, more selective aggression.

However, I dont consider someone who folds preflop 85% as dominant, or in control of the game. I always wondered how Doyle could preach making the table fear him, wanting everyones money, and then go on to say how he only like to play the good hands and suited connectors. You're not going to get them very often.

Can anyone shed some light on this? What does being an 'Aggressive' player mean? (i.e. Gus Hansen is an aggressive player...how does he differ from a solid player who plays good hands aggressively?)

agression is more about raising vs calling. an aggressive player will bet. a passive player will call.

a tight player will play very few hands. a loose player will play lots of hands.

sooo. a loose passive player, calls into every hand.
a tight passive player calls into a few hands

a loose aggresive player raises most hands
a tight aggressive player raises a few hands.

that's how i think it works anyway.

That's right. There are basically two scales: tight to loose, which basically describes how many hands you play; and passive to aggressive, which describes how much betting and raising you do (and the amounts of those bets and raises). Tight/aggressive is not a contradiction, it just means that when you get those pocket kings, you raise pre-flop, you raise post-flop, you raise raise raise. But if the flop comes AAx and you get re-raised, maybe you fold - because you're aggressive, not stupid.