Playing a Loose-Aggressive (LAG) Style at Micro-Stakes NL

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While it is commonly understood that playing a tight-aggressive (TAG) style is the safest and easiest way to make money at micro-stakes, I think all professionals will agree that it is not as profitable as playing a loose-aggressive style, given that your post-flop skills are top notch.

If you're playing a solid TAG game and winning - it might be time to start opening up your game and playing in more marginal situations.

Why is Loose-Aggressive more profitable?

It's simple - at micro-stakes, it pays to play pots against weak opponents. They are generally easier to read and easier to get value out of. You'll want to play in position to players like this as much as possible if you're comfortable with your post-flop hand reading abilities. Here are some examples:

Suppose you are playing a 6max NL game. You are on the button with the 7h 9d. UTG folds, UTG+1 limps in (VP: 35+, PFR: 5-), and then it's folded around to you. The players in the blinds are both TAG Regulars. What should you do?

Most TAG players would likely just fold this hand, but with one limper it will almost always be profitable to raise and isolate him in position, almost regardless of your cards. Suppose the flop came: 8s 9h 4c

This is a flop where you can get lots of value out of drawing hands and small pocket pairs, like 33-77, and you will very likely be called. Additionally, weird hands like Jc 7d will likely come along for the ride.

The other upside is that you have an advantage over the regulars - they can't always put you on a "decent" hand. Let's look at another example:

Suppose you are on the button again with the 3c 4c. Everyone folds to the Cut-Off (CO) who opens for 3x the bb. He is a TAG regular, playing a (VP: 16 PFR: 13). You know he's going to have a strong hand here a lot, so you'll now have implied odds with your small suited connector to play against him. You also invite the blinds to call and you'll get a multiway pot where you hand will perform well. Suppose the flop comes: 5c 6d 8d or 2d 5c 7h

Against raggedy flops, you'll be able to get bigger hands to fold, which your TAG opponent is likely to have (AQ, AK, KQ type hands) when you re-raise their c-bets on the flop.

It is also particularly effective if you use a small-ball style of play where you are trying to pick up a lot of uncontested pots for 1/3 - 2/5 pot sized bets.

The critical component to playing a LAG style is to play as much as possible in position and limit significantly the hands you play out of position.

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