Tight, aggressive, loose: discover the main poker styles

Tactical thinking and hard-headed calculations are key to poker, however this does not mean that personality does not also influence the game. As you play more, you will come to identify different styles of play by the way people bet, raise and fold. Being able to identify these styles in others and in yourself is crucial to success.

Here are the three key poker-playing styles. Click on each to find out more:

Playing tight means keeping a tight control on the number of hands you play, or playing very few hands. This is because it is estimated that only about 10%-25% of all poker hands are actually worth playing. However, within the category of tight play there is a spectrum that ranges from aggressive to passive that you need to understand.