Interpreting the Aggression Factor in Poker Calculators

The Aggression factor used in poker calculatorthey represent.
software is a valuable profiling measurement that youTo clarify though, high aggression factor only tells you
can use to strategize against your opponent whether itthat your opponent rarely calls, it doesn't tell you
be high or low. Aggression Factor, or AF, is a actuallyanything about how often he bets/raises. So you still
a ratio, not a percentage which describes the natureare not going to "know" one way or another if he is
of a player's betting tendencies, and it’s importantstrong. The frequency of certain aggressive traits
to know how the AF is actually determined and whatindicates a range of hands and a style of play of your
it really means.opponent. Since you still cannot determine if any one
So let’s start here: The formula for determining AFparticular hand of his is strong, it will eventually come
= ((bets + raises) / calls ) .  So an Aggression Factordown to risk, probabilities, tournament stage and
of 1.0 implies that the person makes bets equal to thestructure.
mount of times he calls, which is a relatively balancedPlaying against such a player often puts you in the
and flexible marker.difficult conundrum of re-raising or folding, and a lot of
In general, if you see an opponent’s AF droppingthat depends on your counter strategy and plan of
consistently below .75, you can surely consider him toattack against him, and that it makes sense for your
be a passive player, but being too passive isn’tsituation in the tournament and bankroll. You cannot
normally a good strategy in poker. An AF over 1.5guess what they have, but you can be reasonably
might be considered an aggressive player, but you stillassured of being ahead when you NEED to be ahead.
have to monitor this over a matter of time.You can also use smaller re-raises on the flop and turn
So what if an opponent has a relatively highto further determine if your opponent actually has
aggression factor, like for example 2.5 or 3.5 and thesomething. If he hasn’t given up on the hand, his
person bets or raises post-flop? How are youhole card strength is presumably better than normal
supposed to know the person has the strength theyand has possibly gotten help from the board. However
represent with their bet or raise?  This would be aif your poker tournament strategy situation is critical,
much easier answer from someone with a passiveM-Red or M-Orange, getting it in against this type of
aggression factor less than .75 because an opponentplayer with one of your medium strength hands is an
who has been checking/calling, and then suddenly betsexcellent strategy.
raises, is more than likely to actually have the strength