How can I be more aggressive?

[Aequitas58]

I wasn't away as long as I thought. Here goes.

Raising for Value. Basic terms: You have a good hand, and a raise simply builds the pot. You are raising for value, because you are trying to make the most money out of the hand as possible. This is hand-in-hand with check-raising. I.e.: You have a good hand, and you're raising someone's bet to build the pot up. "Raising for value" isn't hard to understand - you probably just haven't heard it put like that.

Isolating Players. This is a little more difficult. When you raise to isolate, your goal is to "isolate" 1 or 2 players ... in other words, you want to make the action 3-way or heads-up. Your hand stands a better chance of winning against fewer players than it does against a full field, so when you raise to isolate, you are making people fold to 2 bets who would have originally limped. Those limpers might have flopped something to beat you - and when you make them fold, you are essentially freeing up outs.

I hope this isn't too hard to understand. I can't find my cigarettes.