If you’ve just started playing poker for fun or even for money you may not be aware that you have a playing style. You just enjoy the game without thinking about the different playing styles that you notice at the table. Even though you may not be aware of it, you represent one of the four types of poker players which is not difficult to figure out after you read this article.

Poker players fall into four categories depending on how tight and aggressive their play is. As a result we have 4 types of players: the tight-passive, the loose-passive player, the tight-aggressive and the loose-aggressive.

1. Tight (plays very few hands) vs. loose (plays a lot of hands)

2. Aggressive (raises and bluffs) vs. passive (calls other players’ bets)

When playing, you should always pay attention to the other players at the table to see what types they represent. Be aware, though, that good players switch between these playing styles very easily in order to confuse their opponents.

Tight-Passive player

This type of players raise or call only when they have a very strong hand so, if you ever have to deal with such a player and he calls your raise, be sure that you have a strong hand to backup your bet.

Loose-Passive player

Loose-passive players are also called “fish” or “calling stations”. They usually call you down to the river even when they have weak hands so the best tactic to employ against them is to value bet your big hands. Don’t bluff because they rarely fold once they’ve seen the flop and they will follow you with any two cards.

Tight-Aggressive player

Tight-aggressive players are also known as “sharks”, they are very good players and rarely bluff. They play only good hands and play them aggressively. You should be very cautious when playing against them.

Loose-Aggressive player

Most famous poker players can be found in this category. They have no problem going “all-in” as if this is the safest poker move. The best poker players use a mix up of aggressive and passive play to confuse their opponents. They sometimes go all-in with a pair of aces and other time with a simple 7, 4. Their unpredictable style puts everyone in difficulty and there is no wonder why they are the high-rollers of Texas Hold’em.

This post comes as a follow-up for my previous one on smart aggressive players because there is a resemblance between the two types though they are in fact quite distinct. Maniac players are often met in low-stakes poker at the beginners’ tables. Therefore, you should know how to exploit their lack of exprience and their maniac style.

Maniacs’ main feature is to make a lot of raises and re-raises in spite of the position in the hand, the cards they have or how many players have called before them. They are extremely active players so it is best to sit at their left at the poker table because this position permits you to respond to their actions.

Maniacs are consistent losers but on occasions they can do a lot of damage to your bankroll. The best tactic to use against them is to play by the book and forget about creative and fancy play. ABC poker gives the best results with this type of players.

Here are some basic rules to follow:

1. When you have a good position you should better lead with strong hands but if your position is not favourable then you must check/raise because maniacs bluff at almost all flops. Make them fall into your trap with strong hands on dangerous flops.
2. When out of position, never engage in a pot with them with medium hands.
3. When out of position don’t chase flushes and straight draws because maniacs overbet and you will find yourself forced to pay and pay and pay!
4. When you are BB don’t re-raise preflop because that won’t throw him out of the pot. Additionally, when in BB you must lead when you hit ( i.e. bet on the flop, a strategy that fails against smart agressive players) because they will most probably call.

Maniacs are addicted to pots so try to lure them all in if you are sure that you have the strongest hand (but only if you think he has a good hand too, otherwise you should just bet).

“Setup play” is the play you make at the beginning of a game to make the other players believe that you are a maniac. Generally, it is done when someone raises from first position and you make a re-raise from last position even though your hand is weak hoping he will follow you to the show down. At the end, when you both show your cards, he will see with what type of cards you played like this and he will consider you a maniac. Since this impression will last in his mind, you can change your strategy over the course of the game hoping your initial setup will pay off at some point.

I’m sure you all have had, at some point, a hard time figuring what tactics to use against the smart aggressive players at the poker table. Before delving into this topic, it would be better to emphasize some of the characteristics of smart aggressive players.

This type of opponent usually makes raises from last positions (cut off, button) trying to steal the blinds when everybody has folded or when a tight player has called. He is a very active player so it is advisable to sit at his left at the table so that you can take advantage of the information provided by his actions. When you are not positioned well try not getting involved in too many pots with him/her.

On the other hand, when you sit on any of the first two places at his/her left, you will lose position when you have the small or big blind. Since you know that he will make a lot of raises from button and cut off positions, you have to challenge him from time to time to keep him honest. Under no circumstance should you let him abuse you every time and steal the blinds. The blinds are the soul of the poker game as they bring in the action, without them everyone will just wait for the best hand preflop to come: pocket aces. When the smart aggressive player raises button and there are already players in the hand it would be better for you to fold because you will be out of position. If nobody enters the hand and he raises you have to take some time to analyze if he is bluffing or not, taking into consideration the frequency of his raises from last position. If the aggressive player does this quite often, you must protect your blind with hands stronger than his range (range is the type of hands that you assume he has when he raises on the button). You must never call with any two cards. If you don’t hit the flop, you have two options: to check/fold after he bets on the flop, or the check/raise bluff that can fool him you have a stronger hand. Of course, the bluff can’t be used too often.

When you hit the flop you shouldn’t bet because the aggressive player will probably fold making you lose money on the long term. Why do you lose money on the long-term? Because you hit the flop 1 out of 3 times. Let’s say that the first two times the button raises 3 times the Big Blind(BB), then you call, you don’t hit, you check/fold. After those two times you have -6BB. Third time you hit and let’s say you win the pot of 6BB (3 yours and 3 your opponent’s). This leaves you at the end with -3BB. In order to end up on profit you have to check/raise. In this case, let’s assume he will bet 4BB in a pot of 6BB, you raise to let’s say 10 BB and win. In fact you win 7BB: his initial raise preflop (3BB) and his bet on the flop (4BB). 7BB-6BB( the first two times you lost)= 1BB profit. Another alternative is to re-raise preflop hoping that the button will get intimidated and fold. However, to make a minimum raise in this spot is a mistake, your bet should be 3 times bigger than his in order to throw him out of the pot.