When it comes to the stereotypical fish their rocks are either loose-passive or tight-passive. A form of fish called the donkey incorporates a ton of irrational loose-aggressive poker in their playstyle opposed to the typical fish that just makes really dumb calls and has to chase really bad odd hands to the river. TAG is the best choice hands down but very few players of the modern area of online poker are loose-passive (especially on sites like https://www.kiu99.com). Now they come in a form of too-safe (TP) or the donkey (LAG) styles. Loose-passive fish do exist but they are not the majority which means TAG should not be used in order to counter them.
The short formula is, if the styles are equal then the looser player will profit since they read and bluff the other players easily. If the range of styles are equal then neither style counter the other, but you will see the AG player normally dominates since they tend to control the size of the pot of any wins or losses. But if the passivity is opposite then the tighter player wins due to the fact that the looser ends up being baited again and again and that makes them unable to respond.
The thought that Agg is actually better than Pass comes from the main concept in poker. That is that in order to afford to lose money on things like misses, folding, coolers, and bad beats then you need to win it back on all of your good hands and good bluffs. If you normally play pretty passive, then you are leaving the chips that are both won and lost in your enemy’s hands. This ends up randomizing your profits and losses rather than making it even in a way that you can control the pot.
When it comes to finding out which is the best playstyle, whether it be TAG or LAG, it really should be a mixture of both. People will argue against this saying when pro poker players go head to head they end up adopting a fundamentally TAG playstyle. That is because being loose doesn’t help anyone at all at the pro poker level. In other words at that level you need to be willing to bet a little here and a little there in order to get any tells form your competitors. Nothing will kill a TAG player faster than checking to the river when they only have a two pair and end up over betting. The LAG player on the other hand is highly skilled and will not bet a lot regularly. They will not even enter every single hand but they most definitely will enter the hands that TAG’s wouldn’t and they will raise with no increase in their hand strength or softening the meaning of their raises.
It is essential for players to understand the difference between a loose fish and a LAG shark. The shark will fold in many different situations as to where the loose fish will not. The LAG shark will not be loose in order to prove his or her bravery. They also will not be loose simply for the thrill.