Frequently Asked Questions: Aggressive Vs Passive Poker Playing

Let’s tackle aggressive poker play first. Aggressive poker play is when you’re going around the place constantly trying to bully people away from the pot. You’re raising. You’re re-raising. And you won’t take no for an answer.

On the flip side of aggressive vs passive poker, we’ve got the players who rarely make the first move. They might play hands, sure. But they tend to limp in. They might call. But are unlikely to raise or, god forbid, reraise. And if they want out, they’ll fold pretty easily.

On average, players who are aggressive tend to lose chips faster. But on the flip side, if things go their way (or they’re successful in intimidating players away from the pot), they can build up their stacks fairly fast.

Passive players don’t go in for the same kind of drama. So typically, their stacks tend to slowly dwindle away as opposed to disappear in one big bang. Of course, their conservative approach can see them win modestly too and slowly build up their stacks.

We’d say on average, an overly aggressive player tends to lose more chips. But of course, it depends on the circumstances.

Sure you can! And, in fact, there are serious advantages to doing just that. Aggressive play is great for winning chips, but if you do it all the time, people are going to start calling your bluff (literally as well as figuratively).

Meanwhile, passive play can be really useful for when you have a mid-strength hand and you’re at an early position on the table. It can also be great when you’ve got a super strong hand and you want to lure more players into the pot.

The disadvantage of passive playing strong hands is losing out on value. But in our experience, if you start passive and ramp up the aggression, it can lure players in to bet.