Types of Players and How To Play Against Them

You'll run into many different types of players at the Hold'Em table.  I'll quickly discuss the basic ways we describe playing styles and how to play against them.  In future sections, for each situation we discuss, we'll describe how to play it against various playing styles.  All of the playing styles that we talk about are continuums, like numbers between 0 and 1.  Players don't just play one style or another, it's some value in between, and better players are changing their style all the time.

Tight/Loose.  The first slider we use is the idea of tight vs. loose.  A tight player doesn't play many hands, they fold weak hands and only play strong hands.  A Loose player is calling a lot, playing a lot of hands.  In poker, it is generally good to play "properly tight", but that doesn't mean you should play very tight, that may be too tight.  If you play too tight, you are folding sometimes when you have the best of it, or when you have good odds to draw.  When you are too loose, you are playing hands that are worse than your opponent, or calling when you don't have odds, or just playing hands that are likely to win small pots and lose big ones.

Weak/Aggressive.  This slider is basically about how much you bet.  An aggressive player bets a lot, both betting when they thing they're ahead, and betting with bluffs.  A weak player plays pretty straightforward, doesn't bet a lot, will just check or call when they probably have the best hand.  Generally in poker is best to play aggressively, but as usual you can also lose money by playing too aggressive.  If you play weak, you allow worse hands to cheaply draw and beat you; you also just aren't making enough money when you make the winning hand.  If you play too aggressively, you may win a lot of small pots (when your opponent folds), but you set yourself up for a lot of check-raising and slow-playing, and you will lose big pots too often.  Note that this aggressive play is basically good, it's just when you get too aggressive and it's too predictable, you can be easily taken advantage of.

Good/Bad.  Another common slider is just good vs. bad.  Obviously you just want to be a good player.  A good player does everything we talk about in this book.  A Bad player is probably Loose/Weak, and also doesn't vary their play much, doesn't adjust for situations, doesn't understand odds, doesn't see the way you're playing, etc.  You can find players who are Tight/Aggressive and also Bad.

An opponent is characterized by values from all of these, plus any additional traits that make up their play.  For example, you might have someone who plays like :

- properly Tight
- someone too Weak
- average (on Good/Bad)
- overplayings low pocket pairs

Also, many people will have different characteristics on different rounds.  For example, many people play too Weak/Loose pre-flop and again on the river, but play reasonably on the Flop and Turn.

Now, how do you play against these player traits generally?

Against someone who is too Tight : primarily, you are coming out betting a lot, because they fold too much, and you can pick up the pot more often.  When they come back at you, you fold unless you have a very good hand or a good draw with odds.  Someone who is tight, but also an aggressive re-raiser and will make a re-raise-bluff is a good player; many top pros play this way.

Against someone who is too Loose : you bet for value.  He is calling a lot when he shouldn't, so you let him do it.  Bet when you think you have the best hand, and let him call with worse hands.  Don't bluff very much because he's going to call too often.  You basically have to show down the best hand against this player.  Someone who is too loose and also a big bluffer is hard to play against, because you'll have to put in a lot of chips on marginal hands; this game will have very high variance.

Against someone who is too Weak : play more straight up, just try to show down the best hand.  They aren't betting when you're beat, so go ahead and check it down and try to make a winning hand by the river.  You might bet or not based on whether they are also tight or loose.

Against someone who is too Aggressive : trap them.  First of all, don't value their bets as much as you would when the board looks like they may be bluffing, you could call with something like any top pair in this situation.  Then, slow play and trap them with your big hands.  They will do the betting for you, so you can get a lot of chips in the pot when you make big hands.

You make money from opponents mistakes.  First, start by playing your best game
straightforwardly.  Then -

If they bluff too much - call more often
If they are too aggressive - reraise when you can beat them, fold when you can't
If they fold too much - bet at them, bluff
If they check-raise too much - check and take the free card
If they slow-play too much - check and take the free card
If they call too much - bet a little more often
If they bet too much - check a little more often