CanadianPokerPro
14-07-2007, 06:04 PM
I thought this was an interesting read...
Loose/Aggressive:
This is the maniac at the table, bullying and stealing and bluffing his/her way to—hopefully—a winning position. This person likes to buy-in big and have a huge stack of chips, hoping to intimidate the rest of the table. This person likes the thrill of gambling, hoping for the big win to make it all worthwhile. If they really want control that bad, let them have it. Just sit back, keep tallying their mistakes, and put your ego on hold. Some players get offended by these animals, wish they would just leave so they can enjoy their game. Some of these steamrollers are angry to boot, with a look of outright rage the whole time they’re at the table, whether they win the pot or not, all the while grumbling at the dealer and the other players at the table. I welcome these players. Much more often than not, these players will walk away without a single chip, having donated every single one. If you exercise patience, you will stake your claim on some of it. What’s funniest about these players is that no matter how many times they lose, they will still walk away from that occasional big win patting themselves on the back, reinforcing the notion that they know this is the way to play.
Loose/Passive:
The loose/passive player is the ultimate loser. Even the maniac has his/her good nights. Loose/passive players lose consistently. These people never put you under any pressure, and you can read them like a book. They are what are known as “calling stations.” They love to draw out straights and flushes, and sometimes do. The only problem (for them, not for you) is that once they drag in a pot, they immediately commence putting it all back, little by little. They see almost every flop. When they end up drawing out against a top-two-pair they are often heard justifying themselves with lines like “What was I supposed to do, fold pocket twos?”, or “I had 3-4, but hey, they were suited.” These are your best friends at the table. Sure you’re going to get outdrawn by them on occasion, but just remain calm, let everyone else at the table get frustrated. And who’s going to get the most red-faced at the loose/passive players? Yep, you guessed it, the loose/aggressive player. Loose/passive players are unpredictable, but as long as you are playing a solid game, these players are the least of your concerns.
Tight/Passive:
These players can be frustrating. This player understands the concept of playing only premium hole cards, but pays little or no attention to what others are doing. These players often get scared by aggressive players, and many will often fold winning hands. I’ve seen these players hold the outright nut hand, and got scared into a defensive stance by a strong bet, thinking that somehow they must have the second-best hand. What’s frustrating about this is that they can look legitimately beat, at least by the way they are betting, and stay in, only for you to find out he had the nut straight the whole time. No, he’s not tricking you, he honestly thought that somehow you must have him beat, because you were aggressive. I once played a hand against an extremely tight, but extremely passive player. The flop came up 9-10-J. I had played Q-8 suited on the button. He, of course, held Q-K. It was checked to me, even he had checked, so naturally, being in last position, I bet. He called, everyone else folded. The turn and the river offered nothing indicating anything higher than a K high straight, which he gave no indication of having. The entire hand he checked while I bet and he turned around and timidly called. Now, any solid player would be raising all along, knowing that, in the worst-case scenario, the pot would be split. He, of course, won the hand, and when I questioned him about it, he quite sincerely answered that he thought, by the way I was betting that I might have had him beat. With what? This is a pretty extreme example of a tight/passive player, but they’re out there. The average player of this kind is not that bad. They are simply very cautious, as a rule. Many play strong cards, look at the flop, and calculate the best possible hands and whether or not they have them or not. This is proper, of course, but they seldom look at what they have in terms of position, or what happened before the flop. If there was no raising before the flop, and you hold A-J off-suit (playable cards with no raising pre-flop), and the flop gives you top pair with a flush or straight draw showing on the board, as an aggressive player you’re going to bet. Hell, you have top pair and a pretty strong kicker. You want to drive out the players with drawing hands, and if you get raised, hell, at least you know where you stand. A tight/passive player will not do this. A tight/passive player fears the guy who might have Aces in the hole, even though no raising happened before the flop. Some of these players simply fear being seen taking control of a hand and losing to someone who had them beat all along. Overall they are very predictable. You know they are only going to see the flop with very strong cards. If the board shows low cards with no strong straight or flush possibilities, you should be able to get this guy to fold pretty easily, because if they have nothing paired or don’t have the straight or flush already wired, they’re looking for any excuse to get out.
Tight/Aggressive:
A tight/aggressive stance is the essential strategy of all strong players. Because of this, it is extremely important that you identify these players ASAP. Players who have mastered this style of play will put the pressure on you at just the right time. They won’t let you try and draw the flush without it costing you. They will calculate the odds quickly, play close attention to the action, and go for the kill. They will maneuver an unbeatable hand in such a way as to induce the biggest number of bets they can. However, tight/aggressive players can be predicted and beat, you just don’t want to go up against them unless the circumstances are just right. So, as odds go, this is not going to happen often. Just wait for the right opportunity. Don’t try and trick these players. If you feel you have them beat, raise them, they will respect your raise, especially if they have identified you as one of their own. When the rare opportunity presents itself of having the absolute unbeatable hand, and this player tries to put the screws to you, you have the golden opportunity to squash this person’s notions of being the best at the table. If they take control, they’re going to keep being relentless until there is some indication from the board that they are beat. And if they stay aggressive until the river, that’s when you check-raise. For the most part, however, this is not going to happen but in the rarest of occasions. If you are playing a solid game, you will most likely find yourself giving more money to weaker players, because the tight/aggressive player makes it easy for you to fold, and God bless them for that, just as long as the table is not filled with them.
Others:
Although players fall essentially into those four categories, you will occasionally run into the oddball player who is just so unpredictable it’s hard to classify him/her. That’s fine. Perhaps the best option is to treat these people as you would a tight/aggressive player. I am not a world-class player, but I have run into a few (there aren’t that many). It is always possible that a player you cannot quite pin down is one of these. Really outstanding players will change their stance to fit the table, to give off the impression of a poor player, or, for the most obvious reason, just to be unpredictable. I sat at a five-player game with a fellow once who was so good, he quite literally changed the way the whole table played. He sat and played extremely tight poker for about an hour. He may have seen perhaps three flops at the most, and only for very cheaply, and perhaps two of them he won, showing down absolutely monster hands, and made his point very well on each. Very soon the entire table had tightened up. About the time that happened he had loosened up for about a half-hour, stealing several pots, because no one was confident enough to challenge him. Then, when the table loosened up again, he tightened up again. The converse can also be true. I don’t normally mess with these kinds of concepts, but once or twice I’ve tried loosening up considerably when I’ve found myself sitting at an extremely tight table, the kind of table where the action is virtually non-existent. Becoming a loose/aggressive player for a short time in this situation can sometimes steal you a few pots and generally loosen the table up, get them to take a few more chances. Mainly, you should be aware that those players are out there. Once one gets into the habit of classifying players, one finds it is not very difficult. So when you run into that player that you just can’t quite pin down, there’s probably a reason for it, so proceed with caution, and just accept that you may be over-matched, and deal with it.
Loose/Aggressive:
This is the maniac at the table, bullying and stealing and bluffing his/her way to—hopefully—a winning position. This person likes to buy-in big and have a huge stack of chips, hoping to intimidate the rest of the table. This person likes the thrill of gambling, hoping for the big win to make it all worthwhile. If they really want control that bad, let them have it. Just sit back, keep tallying their mistakes, and put your ego on hold. Some players get offended by these animals, wish they would just leave so they can enjoy their game. Some of these steamrollers are angry to boot, with a look of outright rage the whole time they’re at the table, whether they win the pot or not, all the while grumbling at the dealer and the other players at the table. I welcome these players. Much more often than not, these players will walk away without a single chip, having donated every single one. If you exercise patience, you will stake your claim on some of it. What’s funniest about these players is that no matter how many times they lose, they will still walk away from that occasional big win patting themselves on the back, reinforcing the notion that they know this is the way to play.
Loose/Passive:
The loose/passive player is the ultimate loser. Even the maniac has his/her good nights. Loose/passive players lose consistently. These people never put you under any pressure, and you can read them like a book. They are what are known as “calling stations.” They love to draw out straights and flushes, and sometimes do. The only problem (for them, not for you) is that once they drag in a pot, they immediately commence putting it all back, little by little. They see almost every flop. When they end up drawing out against a top-two-pair they are often heard justifying themselves with lines like “What was I supposed to do, fold pocket twos?”, or “I had 3-4, but hey, they were suited.” These are your best friends at the table. Sure you’re going to get outdrawn by them on occasion, but just remain calm, let everyone else at the table get frustrated. And who’s going to get the most red-faced at the loose/passive players? Yep, you guessed it, the loose/aggressive player. Loose/passive players are unpredictable, but as long as you are playing a solid game, these players are the least of your concerns.
Tight/Passive:
These players can be frustrating. This player understands the concept of playing only premium hole cards, but pays little or no attention to what others are doing. These players often get scared by aggressive players, and many will often fold winning hands. I’ve seen these players hold the outright nut hand, and got scared into a defensive stance by a strong bet, thinking that somehow they must have the second-best hand. What’s frustrating about this is that they can look legitimately beat, at least by the way they are betting, and stay in, only for you to find out he had the nut straight the whole time. No, he’s not tricking you, he honestly thought that somehow you must have him beat, because you were aggressive. I once played a hand against an extremely tight, but extremely passive player. The flop came up 9-10-J. I had played Q-8 suited on the button. He, of course, held Q-K. It was checked to me, even he had checked, so naturally, being in last position, I bet. He called, everyone else folded. The turn and the river offered nothing indicating anything higher than a K high straight, which he gave no indication of having. The entire hand he checked while I bet and he turned around and timidly called. Now, any solid player would be raising all along, knowing that, in the worst-case scenario, the pot would be split. He, of course, won the hand, and when I questioned him about it, he quite sincerely answered that he thought, by the way I was betting that I might have had him beat. With what? This is a pretty extreme example of a tight/passive player, but they’re out there. The average player of this kind is not that bad. They are simply very cautious, as a rule. Many play strong cards, look at the flop, and calculate the best possible hands and whether or not they have them or not. This is proper, of course, but they seldom look at what they have in terms of position, or what happened before the flop. If there was no raising before the flop, and you hold A-J off-suit (playable cards with no raising pre-flop), and the flop gives you top pair with a flush or straight draw showing on the board, as an aggressive player you’re going to bet. Hell, you have top pair and a pretty strong kicker. You want to drive out the players with drawing hands, and if you get raised, hell, at least you know where you stand. A tight/passive player will not do this. A tight/passive player fears the guy who might have Aces in the hole, even though no raising happened before the flop. Some of these players simply fear being seen taking control of a hand and losing to someone who had them beat all along. Overall they are very predictable. You know they are only going to see the flop with very strong cards. If the board shows low cards with no strong straight or flush possibilities, you should be able to get this guy to fold pretty easily, because if they have nothing paired or don’t have the straight or flush already wired, they’re looking for any excuse to get out.
Tight/Aggressive:
A tight/aggressive stance is the essential strategy of all strong players. Because of this, it is extremely important that you identify these players ASAP. Players who have mastered this style of play will put the pressure on you at just the right time. They won’t let you try and draw the flush without it costing you. They will calculate the odds quickly, play close attention to the action, and go for the kill. They will maneuver an unbeatable hand in such a way as to induce the biggest number of bets they can. However, tight/aggressive players can be predicted and beat, you just don’t want to go up against them unless the circumstances are just right. So, as odds go, this is not going to happen often. Just wait for the right opportunity. Don’t try and trick these players. If you feel you have them beat, raise them, they will respect your raise, especially if they have identified you as one of their own. When the rare opportunity presents itself of having the absolute unbeatable hand, and this player tries to put the screws to you, you have the golden opportunity to squash this person’s notions of being the best at the table. If they take control, they’re going to keep being relentless until there is some indication from the board that they are beat. And if they stay aggressive until the river, that’s when you check-raise. For the most part, however, this is not going to happen but in the rarest of occasions. If you are playing a solid game, you will most likely find yourself giving more money to weaker players, because the tight/aggressive player makes it easy for you to fold, and God bless them for that, just as long as the table is not filled with them.
Others:
Although players fall essentially into those four categories, you will occasionally run into the oddball player who is just so unpredictable it’s hard to classify him/her. That’s fine. Perhaps the best option is to treat these people as you would a tight/aggressive player. I am not a world-class player, but I have run into a few (there aren’t that many). It is always possible that a player you cannot quite pin down is one of these. Really outstanding players will change their stance to fit the table, to give off the impression of a poor player, or, for the most obvious reason, just to be unpredictable. I sat at a five-player game with a fellow once who was so good, he quite literally changed the way the whole table played. He sat and played extremely tight poker for about an hour. He may have seen perhaps three flops at the most, and only for very cheaply, and perhaps two of them he won, showing down absolutely monster hands, and made his point very well on each. Very soon the entire table had tightened up. About the time that happened he had loosened up for about a half-hour, stealing several pots, because no one was confident enough to challenge him. Then, when the table loosened up again, he tightened up again. The converse can also be true. I don’t normally mess with these kinds of concepts, but once or twice I’ve tried loosening up considerably when I’ve found myself sitting at an extremely tight table, the kind of table where the action is virtually non-existent. Becoming a loose/aggressive player for a short time in this situation can sometimes steal you a few pots and generally loosen the table up, get them to take a few more chances. Mainly, you should be aware that those players are out there. Once one gets into the habit of classifying players, one finds it is not very difficult. So when you run into that player that you just can’t quite pin down, there’s probably a reason for it, so proceed with caution, and just accept that you may be over-matched, and deal with it.