Different poker styles - PokerTraining.org

Different poker styles
Know your opponents - and yourself

Loose-aggressive:

An opponent that plays loose-aggressively is usually described as a “maniac”, a crazy guy who terrorizes the table by bets, raises and weird behavior. His pattern is that he doesn´t have a pattern when deciding what and how to play. Such a player doesn´t select the hands he´s playing and is almost involved in every hand on the table (“loose”), in addition to that, he initiates a lot of action (“aggressive”) whether he´s bluffing or holding a value hand.

Those players usually join a NLHE ring-game table with e.g. 20 $ and either leave it with 0 $ 5 minutes later or increase their initial buy-in to 80 $ after 30 Minutes and leave the table with 0 $ half an hour later.

Playing those guys requires some patience and ice water in your vanes. You have to stay calm in order to wait for your chance instead of calling one of their raises with a trash-hand yourself. Remember, it´s not your job to act like the sheriff on the table and to punish the maniac, your job is to win big bets or tournament buy-ins. On the other side, when you have a hand and hard information on your opponent being totally crazy, you even have to push with mediocre hands and must not be scared of raises or even re-raises. Expect a lot of bluffing and illogical behavior out of those players.

Should you try to bluff such a player? No, I wouldn´t recommend that unless you assume that you´re still somehow ahead of him.

Should you try to slow-play such a player? Yes, this might be a good option if you want him or her to blow up the pot. On the other hand, some of those guys are so crazy that they even call your bets and raises with inferior hands making it possible for you to forget about slow-playing.

Playing against maniacs is difficult and even the craziest guy sometimes holds a value hand so proper bankroll management is extremely important when facing off against those players.

Loose-passive:

Someone who´s loose-passive is usually a beginner in Poker and may best be described as a “fish” or a “calling station”. These players don´t select the cards they´re playing (“loose”) and have a tendency to only reacting to other players’ actions (“passive”) instead of initiating the action themselves.

A player that is loose-passive typically is involved in almost every hand because he wants to see some action. He doesn´t understand the “mechanics” behind Poker and feels bored when not being involved in a hand. Such a fish usually calls another player´s bets despite bad odds or even not having a hand himself, simply to see what the next card looks like. On the other side, he´s way to passive and scared when really having a hand. Those players normally check-call even with top-pair/over-pair on the flop or bet something near to the minimum just in order to avoid making any big mistake.

Should you try to bluff such a player? Never, ever! He calls you down anyway so when you´re not holding a good hand, save your chips and hope for the best. In case such a player often folds on the river when facing a steep bet, use that knowledge against him if you have a feeling that the calling-station might have seen one or two scare-cards.

Should you try to slow-play such a player? Please don´t! Those players don´t bet most of the time, meaning that the only way to get chips or money into the pot is by betting yourself, thereby using their tendency to excessively call hands without having a reason to do so, in your advantage.

Be aware that such a “loose-passive” player, similar to the “loose-aggressive” maniac is difficult to read, so you shouldn´t spend too much time on analyzing the potential range of hands he might be holding. However, in contrast to the prototypical maniac, you won´t have to put as many chips at risk when facing off with him.

Tight-passive:

Tight-passive players are usually guys who know a little bit about Poker as they select the hands they are playing (“tight”) but are scared to make mistakes. In order to avoid any kind of error, they prefer to check or call when a bet or raise would be more appropriate. Their problem is not that they waste a lot of chips or $ by getting involved in too many marginal hands, they simply don´t win enough money and don´t protect their cards enough when being involved in pots with strong hands. Another problem some of those guys have is to fold a nice-looking hand (middle pocket-pair, top-pair with a poor kicker) when they´re clearly beat because of their shaky post-flop play.

Should you try to bluff such a player? It depends. Only if you feel that your opponent won´t call you down because he might have seen a scare-card too much. If you bluff, rather bet too much than not much enough. Those players want to avoid mistakes and the more money being involved, the bigger the potential loss a wrong call would represent.

Should you try to slow-play such a player? Rather not. If they don´t hold a great hand, they probably are content to simply see flop, turn and river and hope for the best when reaching the showdown.

Tight-aggressive:

A tight-aggressive playing style is usually the style that gives you the best chances of winning in the long term. The key is to play selected hands (“tight”) in an aggressive way. That means your common goal has to be active and initiate most of the action on the table when being involved in a hand. The advantage of playing in such a way is that you win a lot of chips when having a great hand in case you find someone who´s willing to call your bets and raises. On the other side, these players know how to protect their hands when facing draws or other inferior hands.

Should you try to bluff such a player? Yes, but don´t overdo it! Tight-aggressive players are the easiest ones to get out of a pot due to the fact that they don´t make any weird decisions. However, as those players generally pay a lot of attention to the action on the table, they will realize that you´re only bluffing rather sooner than later. So mix it up and be aware of your image at the table.

Should you try to slow-play such a player? Yes, you should switch your style up against a tight-aggressive player and show him some different looks. Let´s assume your opponent raised pre-flop, you called and you hit something great on the flop (top-pair, 2-pair, and trips). Instead of betting right away, you have the option to check and wait for the continuation-bet from your antagonist. In case the continuation-bet comes as expected, you can raise the other player and probably win the pot on the flop and collect some additional chips or $.

If you play against a tight-aggressive player, you have to respect his moves and try to find a pattern. These players are very rational, that means collecting information about them is extremely important in order to find out what combination of cards makes them bet, call or fold.

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Don´t get me wrong, those four playing styles are extreme examples. Very often, you find it that a certain player not only represents one single playing style, but a mixture of two of these. That´s the situation where observing your table closely and collecting information about your opponents becomes crucial in order to find out which combination of cards triggers a player into a certain behavior. Another important aspect is that players compete in a different way depending on the situation they find themselves in. If you consider an SNG, the chip-stack, any kind of pressure and the play of the other guys on the table play a key role in determining a certain opponent´s playing style. When looking at a ring-game, think of aspects like the chip-stack, the play of the other guys on the table, any kind of winning- or losing-streak and the possibility of your opponents getting more and more intoxicated as the night goes on.

In case you´re reading this article in order to reshape your game let me give you this advice:

Playing tight-aggressively gives you the best chance of winning in the long-term! Select the hands you want to play (You should play only around 20-25 % of the hands that have been dealt to you) and don´t be afraid to be aggressive. The difficult thing is to find the perfect balance between pushing too much and not pushing enough. That is something you can only learn from experience or while being coached by a more experienced player.

If you managed to dominate your opponents over a long time, you may even think about loosening up a little and taking a peek at more flops, thereby extending the tight corset of your playing style a little in order to switch your style up and being unpredictable. However, until that happens, tight-aggressive is the way to go.

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