At a glance
- On the HUD
- All streets AF·Flop AF·Turn AF·River AF
- Formula
(bets + raises) / calls, flop, turn and river- Typical range
- All streets 1.5–3.5
- Flop 1.2–3.5
- Turn 1.2–3.5
- River 1.2–3.5
- Where it shows
- Every open badge. By street: badge: donk bettors, probers, stabbers, plain bettors and raisers on that street.
- Read hint
- Above: Very aggressive after the flop: call down lighter. Below: Passive after the flop: their bets and raises mean strength.
- Trust it after
- 12 chances. Below that the number is faded; reads need 12 chances and a number at least one standard error outside the typical range.
What it measures
Aggression factor compares the two ways a player can put chips in after the flop: aggressively (a bet or a raise) or passively (a call). An AF of 2.0 means two bets or raises for every call. In short: when they put money in after the flop, do they lead or follow?
What AF leaves out matters as much as what it counts. Checks and folds are ignored completely. A player who checks and folds most flops but bets the few hands they like can show a perfectly normal AF, because none of the folding reaches the number.
That makes it easy to mix up with its neighbors. Aggression frequency (AFq) puts the folds back in. Omar and Priya each made 20 bets and raises and 10 calls, so both show AF 2.0; Omar folded 5 times and Priya 40, so their AFq is 20 / 35 = 57% and 20 / 70 = 29%. PFR is preflop aggression only. Spot stats such as c-bet and check-raise measure one situation each; AF throws every postflop spot into two piles.
How it’s calculated
The HUD counts every postflop action, not one per street. A flop bet that gets raised and then called adds one bet and one call. Then:
- Aggressive actions: every bet and every raise on the flop, turn and river, all-in shoves included.
- Passive actions: every call, including a call of an all-in.
- Ignored: checks, folds, and streets where only one player still had chips behind.
AF = (bets + raises) / calls
It’s kept for all three streets together (the main AF, typical range 1.5–3.5) and for the flop, turn and river separately (typical 1.2–3.5). The sample behind AF is its bets, raises and calls added up.
Example: over a few sessions Nadia made 26 bets and 8 raises after the flop and called 17 times. Her AF is (26 + 8) / 17 = 2.0, resting on 51 actions. By street: 14 bets, 3 raises and 6 calls on the flop (17 / 6 = 2.8), 8 bets, 3 raises and 6 calls on the turn (11 / 6 = 1.8), and 4 bets, 2 raises and 5 calls on the river (6 / 5 = 1.2). Her 21 folds and 60 checks change none of these numbers.
If a player has bet or raised but never called, there’s nothing to divide by, so the HUD shows ∞. Over three or four actions it’s just a small sample. Over a dozen or more, it describes a player who bets, raises or folds and never calls: your bet wins whenever they hold nothing worth raising, and their raises are their whole continuing range.
Why it matters
AF tells you what a player’s bets mean. Against a low-AF player, the rare bet or raise is mostly value: they’ve shown they prefer to call with draws and medium hands, so when they take the lead they usually have it. Against a high-AF player, bets are cheap: they bet with a wide mix, so your bluff-catchers gain value and folding loses money.
It’s most useful next to went to showdown (WTSD), which sits beside it on every open badge. AF says how they put money in; WTSD says how far they go:
| AF | WTSD low | WTSD high |
|---|---|---|
| High | Bets, then gives up when played back at: raise or float their bets | Aggressive and sticky: value-bet big, call down, don’t bluff |
| Low | Passive and fold-prone: bluff them, believe their bets | Calling station: value-bet thin, never bluff |
Pots grow street by street, so the expensive decisions (call a barrel, bet a medium hand, believe a raise) come on the turn and river. AF’s street splits show where a player changes gear.
Too low, about right, too high
The HUD colors AF gold above 3.5 and blue below 1.5. PokerNow home games tend to be passive, so many players sit under 1.5; solid aggressive players usually land mid-range.
Too low: under 1.5
What it says
They call much more than they bet or raise. Usually this is a recreational player who plays fit-or-call: any pair or draw continues by calling, and they bet only when they’re sure. With a high WTSD on top it’s the classic calling station; the HUD’s Station type needs AF under 1.5, WTSD over 34% and VPIP 26%+. With a low WTSD it’s a weak-passive player who calls a street or two and then lets go. Either way the read hint holds: their bets and raises mean strength.
How to exploit it
- Fold one-pair hands to their turn and river raises. A check-raise from a player with AF 0.8 is rarely a bluff.
- Value-bet thinner. Top pair with a weak kicker can bet two or three streets on boards where draws missed, because they call with worse.
- Size up with strong hands: 66–75% of the pot rather than 33%. Players who call too much tend to call bigger bets too.
- Bluff only when their WTSD is low as well. Low AF with high WTSD means they call, and bluffs burn money.
- Bet more often when they check to you: passive players check weak and medium hands alike.
About right: 1.5–3.5
What it says
They bet and raise more often than they call, but not overwhelmingly. That fits most competent players: c-betting as the preflop raiser, calling with some draws and medium hands, raising strong hands and some semi-bluffs. It can also be an average of two extremes, such as a player who bets every flop and calls every river, so look at the street splits before you decide they’re balanced.
How to exploit it
A typical AF gives you no shortcut, so look for the edge in narrower numbers:
- Compare flop, turn and river AF. A flop AF of 3.0 with a turn AF of 1.0 is a one-and-done c-bettor: call flops in position and bet the turn when they check.
- Check fold to raise and fold to c-bet to see where they give up, since AF can’t show folds. AFq in the player database helps here too.
- Use River bluff (shown) for close river calls. AF alone doesn’t separate a value bettor from a bluffer.
Too high: over 3.5
What it says
They bet or raise more than three and a half times as often as they call. Two different players produce this. One is a genuine maniac who bets every street and raises often. The other is a bet-or-fold player: they bet the hands they like and fold the rest, and because folds don’t count, AF looks wild while their real aggression is modest. AFq tells them apart: the maniac’s AFq is high too, the bet-or-fold player’s is ordinary or low.
How to exploit it
- Call down lighter, as the read hint says. Top pair and good second pairs become bluff-catchers rather than folds.
- Check medium-strength hands to them and call. They bet their air for you, and you avoid a pot that only better hands continue in.
- Slow-play big hands more: check-call the flop and check-raise the turn, or just keep calling.
- Against the bet-or-fold version (high AF, low AFq or low WTSD), raise their flop bets with draws and backdoor hands. Many of their bets are one-and-done.
- Don’t bluff a high-AF player whose WTSD is high too. They bet a lot and call a lot.
On the flop, turn and river
Flop: aggression factor
Flop AF depends heavily on the player’s preflop role. As the preflop raiser they get to c-bet, and every c-bet is a bet. As a preflop caller, the flop usually starts with someone else’s bet, so their flop actions are mostly calls and folds. A frequent preflop raiser shows a higher flop AF than a caller with the same postflop habits, so read it next to their PFR.
A flop AF under 1.2 usually means they call flops with pairs and draws and rarely raise. Their flop raises are then strong: fold top pair to a flop check-raise from them. Over 3.5 usually means near-automatic c-betting and very few flop calls.
The flop exploit: when flop AF is high and turn AF is much lower, they fire once and stop. Call the flop in position with any pair or reasonable draw and bet the turn when they check to you.
Turn: aggression factor
Turn AF shows whether a player keeps the pressure on. The pot is bigger and a turn bet costs real money, so many home players slow down: they c-bet the flop with everything, then check the turn unless they improved. That drop from flop to turn is what you look for.
A turn AF that holds near the flop number means they barrel. Their turn bets include plenty of draws and air, so call the turn with hands that beat a bluff. A turn AF under 1.2 means turn bets and raises are mostly made hands; a turn check-raise from that player is close to the top of their range, and one pair should usually fold.
The turn exploit: if turn AF is high but river AF falls well below it, they barrel the turn and give up on the river. Call turn bets with your bluff-catchers and expect many rivers checked to you: check back showdown hands and bet your best ones.
River: aggression factor
River AF is the cleanest of the three: with no cards to come, a call is a pure bluff-catch and a bet is either value or a bluff.
A river AF under 1.2 marks a bluff-catcher: they call rivers far more often than they bet them. Value-bet thin against them with top pair, and believe their river bets and raises. A river raise from a player with low river AF is almost always very strong. A river AF over 3.5 means they bet rivers often and rarely call one. Some of those bets are bluffs; how many is what River bluff (shown) tells you from the hands they’ve shown down.
The river exploit: if river AF is high and won at showdown (W$SD) sits below its typical range, call river bets with any hand that beats a missed draw. River actions are the rarest of the three, so check the count in the tooltip first.
When it’s your own number
Your AF sits on your own badge, and anyone at the table running the HUD sees the same number. Under 1.5, observant players will bet when you check and give your bets and raises credit. Over 3.5, they’ll call you down lighter.
To check yours, look at the street splits. A very low river AF often means you call rivers but check strong hands you should bet. A turn AF far below your flop AF means you c-bet and give up, which good players punish by calling flops in position. Fix the street, not the average: bet more value on the river, and keep barreling on turn cards that add to your draws or hurt the hands that called.
Using it on the HUD
AF is on every open badge in PokerNow HUD Advanced, shown to one decimal. It turns gold above 3.5 and blue below 1.5, and stays faded until 12 bets, raises and calls stand behind it. The tooltip shows the counts, so you can see whether an ∞ rests on 3 bets or 30.
When a player bets or raises on a street, their badge can show that street’s AF. A read such as “Very aggressive after the flop: call down lighter.” needs 20 bets, raises and calls after the flop, at least 8 of them calls, and the number outside the range by at least one standard error, so an ∞ never becomes a read.
For noise, treat AF as a share: AF 1.5 means 60% of their bets, raises and calls are aggressive, AF 3.5 about 78%. At 20 aggressive actions and 10 calls (AF 2.0), one standard error either way spans about 1.4 to 3.0; at 80 and 40, about 1.7 to 2.4. Read it with WTSD and AFq.
Questions
What is a good aggression factor in poker?
Somewhere from 1.5 to 3.5, the HUD’s typical range; a solid aggressive player usually sits in the middle. Frequent preflop raisers get more c-bets and run higher. Under 1.5 usually means a passive player whose bets mean strength. Over 3.5 means they rarely call, either because they raise instead or because they fold.
What does an aggression factor of ∞ mean?
It means the player has bet or raised after the flop but never called, so there’s nothing to divide by. Over a handful of actions it’s only a small sample. Over a dozen or more, it describes someone who bets, raises or folds and never calls: small bets work as bluffs against them, and their raises are their whole continuing range.
Does aggression factor count checks and folds?
No. AF divides bets and raises by calls, and checks and folds are ignored. That’s its biggest blind spot: a player who checks and folds most flops but bets their good hands can match a constant bettor’s AF. Aggression frequency puts folds back in; c-bet and bet when checked to show how often they check when they could bet.
Aggression factor vs aggression frequency: what’s the difference?
AF is a ratio, bets and raises per call, running from 0 to ∞. AFq is a percentage: bets and raises out of all bets, raises, calls and folds. Both ignore checks. AFq also shows how often they give up. With 20 bets and raises and 10 calls, AF is 2.0 whether they folded 5 times (AFq 57%) or 40 times (AFq 29%).
How many hands does aggression factor need?
Count actions, not hands. The HUD fades AF until there are 12 bets, raises and calls after the flop, and only makes a read after 20, with at least 8 of them calls. Even then it moves a lot: AF 2.0 from 30 actions is consistent with anything from about 1.4 to 3.0. Loose players fill it quickly; tight ones who rarely see a flop take much longer.