Bluff and fold equity
Another reason to play aggressively is that betting is the only way to bluff and take advantage of fold equity. Obviously, you will never bluff anyone by simply paying a bet. Less obvious are situations where the value of a hand depends on the combination of fold equity and showdown will. Understand that by raising you are giving yourself a chance to win immediately and an additional chance to win when your opponent calls.
This applies to semi-bluffing. For example, you call a raise on the button with co-connectors and find a flop with a straight draw and a flush draw for a total of 15 outs. Your opponent makes a bet. Many players simply call here to see if the turn will give them one of the outs to complete a straight or flush. In most cases this is an error.
If your opponent made a continuation bet with a bad hand, it is unlikely that he will continue to act after you pay off his continuation bet. If you don’t get any of your outs on the turn and your opponent has a decent hand, he will likely charge you more to see the river by offering negative odds. In most cases (depending on stack size and pot size), it is best to overraise the flop. If you go all-in, you will be able to make better hands (hands made with stacks higher than you) and when you get paid, you will still have 15 outs (about 55% chance) to win on the turn and river.
