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Playing aggressive poker is winning poker. You won't see many people win tournaments by calling and folding... they win by raising and betting. The problem many players have is they do not understand aggressive play and how to properly apply it. It is discussed in-depth in The Importance of Table Dynamics.

Here's a little secret for you... the key to aggression is all related to table dynamics. What does this mean? It means that you should take into account all of the various factors at that given time and place before making your aggressive move.

What are the blinds/antes? What is the size of your stack? Your opponent's stack? What position are you in? What action has happened before you? What are your opponent's playing tendencies that have acted in front of you? What are your opponent's playing tendencies that will act after you? So on and so on. It's a lot to take in, but it is these thought processes that distinguish between the average player who just reacts on instinct and throws his money in the middle, and the great player who takes every possibility into account.

Let's now look at a few of the above areas and what they mean.

What are the blinds/antes?

When the money is deep (that is early in the tourney when your stack is a significant multiplier of the big blind, i.e. you have 10K and blinds are 25/50) one should avoid coin flip situations or hands where their stack is entirely at risk. Aggression is still good here - but you must be able to get away from a hand without committing your entire stack. In this situation, it's also correct at times to call a raise if you have position on the raiser, more on position following.

When the money is shallow (later in a tourney, when your stack is usually a small multiplier, i.e. you have 12K and blinds are 1/2K) aggression becomes a much bigger factor. Normally, it is not correct to call a raiser, you must either move in, or fold. First to act, it is almost never correct to limp (unless you are holding a big hand and know a certain player to act after you has a propensity to raise limpers). Raising puts the decision on the players left to act - do they want to risk X amount of chips with Y holding?

What is the size of your stack?

Relates to the discussion above. The bigger your stack is, the more aggressive you should be. Reraising EP (early position)/MP (middle position) limpers lets you know where you are at. A lot of times they will fold. If they reraise you, you can base your decision on who they are and what their tendencies are (as well as your hand strength). If they flat call, you have position on them, which is key to post flop decision making processes. For example, say there are three limpers. You are a big stack with 30K, the 3 limpers all have 10-15K. Blinds 100/200 = 900 in the pot. You raise to 1500 and get one caller. You have 8-6 off. Flop comes 5-7-K. The limper could very well have K-Q, but because of your pre-flop action it is likely that he will check expecting you to bet so he can check raise you. You, of course, check.

The turn is what appears to be a harmless 4. He fires out a pot bet this time. You have him in a position now where he is going to lose a lot of his chips because you were the aggressor pre-flop and you have position on him. This is a play you can only make with chips/position and not one you should make if you are short stacked. Short stacked, it is better to sit back and wait and push strong hands very aggressively (i.e. big raises or all in pre-flop) and be willing to commit yourself to the pot regardless of what the flop is (meaning if you put more than 40% of your stack in pre-flop, most of the time you should go all in on any flop, caveat - most).

Opponent's tendencies

Paying attention to how people bet/play at your table is a skill that can't be emphasized enough. Is the player that limped under the gun the kind of player that limps a lot, or is it a tricky player who might make that play with a big pair hoping for a reraise. The former, you can often play back aggressively at. The latter, it is often better to fold and wait for a different situation - or at the same time, see a flop cheap and hope to crack his big hand if the flop hits you hard.

Are the blinds the type to release their hand from a cutoff or button raise? If so, you should attack their blinds relentlessly, with any two, at all times. If not, a little caution comes into play. Set up future plays if you can. If someone keeps raising your blind early in the tournament, let them. They will think they can do it over and over. Later in the tourney, when the blinds/antes mean something, pop him back. S/he'll put you on a better hand than you actually have and usually release.

Say you came in aggressively pre-flop. A problem many people have is knowing when to shut down... to not just keep firing chips into the pot. For example, in the K-7-5 flop above, if the player fired out a bet instead of checking, many players would call and try and hit their draw. This could be a mistake in many situations given the bet size and stack sizes (yours and your opponents). This, as with most things in poker, will depend on your opponent and how much they bet. If they bet weak into you and you have nothing, it might be correct to pop them back to see where you are at. If they reraise you, it's an easy fold and if they call, then you can see what s/he does on the next card. In situations like these, position is crucial as it lets you act instead of reacting to your opponent.

As the old cheerleading cheer goes, “BE AGGRESSIVE, B-E AGGRESSIVE!” Just make sure that when you are, you're thinking about the why and what of being aggressive.

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