“The best players of that period [the 80s and 90s] were Stu Ungar, Jack Keller, and Bobby (Robert) ‘Chipburner’ Turner.” —Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie, Harrington On Hold’em, Volume 1 The term, new young aggressive poker player, is a misnomer. New young aggressive poker players have been around since the beginning of poker. Every decade new aggressive players emerge.

As in boxing and chess, there are always new champions whose personal style adds information about the game. However, the young aggressive poker players who have increased their table time through internet poker have not invented a new form of super aggressive poker; nor does their super-aggression establish these young players as all-around long-term champions.

Almost every classic poker book, from no-limit hold ’em to seven-card stud, recommends an aggressive strategy. Before there was online poker, Doyle Brunson stated in Super System, in his chapter on no-limit hold ’em, that aggressive play and attack is the key to winning poker.

David Sklansky in the 1980s talked about the new aggressive and scientific poker player. David was correct that more players are playing aggressively and employing scientific and mathematical concepts to poker, but this fact does not change the core theory of aggressive play: Get to the flop with hands of marginal value, see cheap flops, and know your opponent’s betting patterns and starting-hand standards.

Why is super aggressive poker a winning strategy? Harrington’s Second Principle of Poker, “The Aggression Principle,” states: “In general, aggression (betting and raising) is better than passivity (checking and calling).” When you bet and raise, you are creating two options to win: either you have the best hand and win in the showdown or your opponent folds immediately.

Ungar, Keller, and Turner are considered the role models and originators of the aggressive style. However, even their style is tempered with strategically conservative play during tournaments and tight play in cash games.

Robert “Chipburner” Turner is still a tournament poker force to be reckoned with on the Southern California Poker Circuit. Turner plays the edges with marginal hands, but he also plays tighter than most would anticipate in various stages of the tournament and limit cash games such as the HOE (hold ’em, Omaha/8, and 7-stud/8) game Turner hosts three nights a week at Hollywood Park Casino.

Aggressive poker is good, but stay awake and be aware when aggression becomes foolish stubbornness, reckless abandon, and gambling strictly for the sake of the gambling. An overly loose, hyper-aggressive strategy of playing against all odds, pure bluffs with substandard starting hands, and rash post-flop play with a completely uncoordinated board can plunge you into a losing abyss.

The negative aspect to playing the edges is the mathematical probability of turning money-winning hands into money-losing hands. If a player were to play 100 hands, the odds against winning all 100 are astronomical. Knowing which hands to play on the flop and which hands, with a coordinated board, to play post-flop is the difference between skill and dumb luck.

A winning aggressive (and super aggressive) player is highly selective and disciplined regarding the cards played and the traps set.

A great example, and one of the most famous traps in poker history, is the 1988 WSOP main event final table. It was heads-up, with Johnny Chan, known as a solid aggressive player, versus Erik Seidel, who was regarded as a young aggressive player at the time. Chan flopped a straight, and Seidel aggressively raised on the flop. Chan slow-played his straight, allowing Seidel to think he is ahead. Chan takes his time to call, and on the river Seidel pushes all-in. Chan’s “insta-call” proved Seidel’s aggressive strategy to be his undoing. Chan’s patience, experience in playing against aggressive players, and his trapping skills won him his second bracelet at the WSOP main event.

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