The term “GTO” (standing for “Game Theory Optimal”) has been thrown around a lot in the poker world over recent years. To clarify its meaning and application, the aim of this article is to define what it is, when to use it when playing, what strategies to apply for how to play GTO poker, for beginner and more advanced players! A poker player who grasps the fundamentals of playing solid tight aggressive poker, but is not making adjustments against good players who are exploiting his TAG style. More About TAGfish. A TAGfish is a reasonably solid player. What is TAG in Poker? TAG stands for ‘tight aggressive’ and is used to describe players with a tight aggressive play style. TAGs enter the pot only with strong hands and proceed by playing aggressively on the later betting rounds. The majority of winning poker players are TAGs earning it the title ‘king of all poker styles’ by many. Poker Terms - Common Phrases and Acronyms. In poker, there is practically a library of poker terms that are commonly used. For the uninitiated, these terms can sound like a completely different language, when a poker player says, 'I flopped a belly buster on a rainbow board', when they are really saying that they have an inside straight draw, after the dealer dealt the first three cards, all. TAG Poker Strategy: Explained Of the 6 major player types, TAG is the most important. The average grinder employs a TAG poker strategy and many players should learn a TAG style before doing anything else. TAG is an abbreviation for “Tight Aggressive” and is in between a nit and a LAG.
Abbreviation for Tight Aggressive Poker. It is an acronym mostly used in online poker to describe a playing style. A tight aggressive player is playing good starting hands and will play them aggressively by betting and raising both pre-flop and post-flop.
By being selective with the hands a TAG player chooses to play, it usually results in having the best hand at showdown. This aggressive style also allows you to pick up lots of small pots when you’ve raised before the flop and make a on the flop to take down the pot.
EXAMPLE: “I was playing TAG so my table image was probably perceived as a nit.”
Related terms on PokerDictionary.net
TAG = 'Tight + Aggressive'
'The king of all poker styles'. Tight refers to playing only the strongest starting hands. Aggressive refers to taking aggressive actions (betting/raising) more often than passive ones (checking/calling).
Preflop
A good 6max TAG will play anywhere between 16% and 23% of starting hands. Anything below 16% of starting hands would possibly fall into the “nit” category.
Most of these hands will be open-raised pre-flop given the opportunity, but not all. Some will be flat-called after another opponent raises. A TAG playing 16% of hands will probably be raising about 12% of hands, depending on the table. A TAG playing 23% of hands will probably be raising about 17% of hands.
Statistics
The two main stats used in identifying TAG opponents are:
VPIP (voluntarily put chips in pot %)
Tag Poker Terminology
PFR (pre-flop raiser)
An opponent who plays 21% of hands and open-raises 17% of hands can be identified as 21/17. Often you will see players described with an additional stat i.e 21/17/1. This third stat is the “aggression factor” and will be discussed in later articles.
Position
Good TAG poker players understand the concept of position in poker. Just because a certain TAG might be playing 20% of hands does not mean he is playing that amount of hands from every position. A good TAG will be playing more hands from the BU (button), than he does from UTG (under-the-gun).
Tag Poker Terms
If a TAG is playing 16% of hands he may be playing closer to 25% of hands on the button and closer to 8% of hands under-the-gun. You also should adjust your starting hand selection depending on your position at the table.
Postflop
The postflop strategy for a TAG is to come out betting with big hands. TAGs may slowplay from time to time, but 90% of the time they play their big hands by betting big.
Often when a TAG player misses the flop they will give up on the hand, but not always. Smart TAGs will still find good opportunities to bluff. Their opponents may realise they are playing tight and give them credit for having a strong hand more often.
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Why TAG poker?
Firstly, by playing tight you will usually be getting into pots as a favourite. Your postflop decisions will be easier, because you will either make a strong hand, or you will miss. (You won’t often need to worry about if your kicker is good or whether your second pair is good, because you will largely be making top-pair-good-kicker hands or stronger.
By playing aggressive you generate what is known as “fold-equity”. It means that you may win a decent amount of pots without having to get to showdown, because your opponents fold. Take pre-flop as a simple example – if you open-limp, you will always see a flop with your hand if no-one raises. If you open-raise however, you might win chips without even having to see a flop.
