Poker Statistics: Aggression Factor (AF)
The Aggression factor is to be defined as a ratio of the number of the post- flop actions such as bets and raises to the number of calls. Bear in mind that checks and folds are not be taken into account. Players need to take into consideration the total aggression as well as the aggression on the different streets – flop, turn, and river. Usually AF is greater on the flop and on the turn and the river it decreases. In case your opponent’s AF increases on the river, you need to be very careful, since he may be willing to use slowplay with his strong hands. A non- aggressive opponent most likely won’t bet and in order to win, you need to bet yourself. A very aggressive opponent is willing to bet even with a bad hand, using a pure bluff. Against such an opponent, when you have a strong hand, you may check – raise or even check –call.
It is impossible to recommend maintaining a certain level of aggression since different successful players have different aggressions. But no matter what, the aggression should be not lower than 1,5. In short stack games the aggression should be higher, since only the strong hands are played. Besides, there are played always actively – raise on the pre –flop and in most cases it ended during the flop – turn with fold or all – in. But bear in mind that you can lose very easy if you bet often on weak hands and your AF is 5 or higher. With a big stack usually more hands are played, there is an opportunity for limp or call with low pairs in order to form a set, with suited connectors etc. In case you haven’t managed to form a better combination with these type of hands on the flop, you are to play check – fold and your aggression factor becomes lower.