Identify the Loose Aggressive Player

The Loose Aggressive players or the LAG players in poker are the dominating types. They are the ones to call a raise on every round of betting and they would fold only on limited number of hands. Such dominating players would raise against the bluffs as well. You would be able to find these players on the pot limit or the no limit tables. At the same time as the Loose Aggressive style of play could be beneficial in poker, the bullies are pretty limiting too.

One of the initial ways to identify the bullies is that they play far too many hands. They are known to play at least 40% of hands, extending up to 605 in some occasions. They would bet and raise even at times when the table shows the cards. This makes it fairly difficult to identify the kind of cards they gave and such obscurity is their primitive advantage.

Without any knowledge of their cards, it becomes intricate to determine the kind of hand they possess and there are minimal chances of beating them. The expected value calculations are altered because of them and the opponents are forced to calculate the odds, since the bullies might have a completely random set of cards. The only possible way to deal with these bullies is to have a tighter game during all times.

Bullies usually have a larger chip stack and therefore they opt to play on the no limit tables as compared to the ones with the pot limit. By making larger bets and increasing the pot size on a constant basis, they would make the pot odds appear poor, unless for the rare monster flop in Omaha or Hold’em. The bullies would force these odds on the other players and make them fold the hand instantly. Such a strategy works really well on the tight, inattentive and the cowardly players. The tight players would fold out on the decent hands and would hardly get a chance to witness the showdown. On the other hand, the multi-tabling player would often be unaware of the actions of the bullies and they would solely interpret the higher raises incorrectly.

Take a stand

The only weakness of the bullies is that they play the weak hands as well. They also have a knack to play out of position, but since they play too much, such a situation might be incidental. Bullies do not fold easily; therefore beating them would lead to a table showdown. This would mean larger pots with their continued bets.

If you are facing a bully on the poker table, you must enter into the contest only if you have a hand of premium value. The game also has to be a heads-up match, although having a third player into the game is highly dangerous.

The Advantages & Disadvantages of Loose Aggressive Play

Loose Aggressive style of play in poker involves playing a lot of hands with more raises. More often than not, people aspire to have a Tight Aggressive kind of play; however it is not the preferred style when it comes to playing in the tournaments as well as the Sit n Go tournaments. Introducing some of the LAG elements would improve the game up to a great extent.

At the time when you raise pre-flop with more than 35 hands and end up getting only about 1 or 2 callers, you would end up taking the pot, most of the times. At times when you happen to miss the flop entirely, the pre-flop raise would put you into complete control. It has been estimated that two-thirds of the time, your opponents would miss out on the flop completely. A continuation bet in such a situation would usually take the whole bet completely.

One of the biggest advantages of LAG approach would be the profits yielded by such a style of play. Obviously, like all the other strategies of poker, this tactic might not work all the time and you are likely to get check raised. However, you should be able to get away from the hand quite easily and you would also be able to control the losses. On the whole, it would increase your bankroll by getting you the smaller pots continuously; after all it would be practically impossible to win all the pots. It would be wise to fold at the time when you get check-raised.

There are a few disadvantages to the LAG approach as well. While using this style, you would always come across players who are inexperienced or calls more often even with the bottom pair. This would destroy your stack completely and therefore, it becomes mandatory to study the opponents appropriately and know whom to target effectively. It would make no sense to bluff at the point of facing a calling player. Secondly, by going into the pot with marginal hands, you would often find yourself holding the second best hand. Even if you are holding the kicker or the middle pairs, as a LAG player, it is imperative to stay away from these second best hands, without actually losing a lot of money. If you are not careful enough, this would cause serious damage to your chips and also ruin your chances in the later stages of the game.

Nevertheless, the LAG elements in your game would ensure that you accumulate enough chips for the later stage of the game. You would also have an added advantage over the players who are playing tight in the early stages. These extra chips would allow you to take some risks during the later phases and provide some breathing space. On the other hand, the players who adopt a TAG approach would always be dependent on the best cards in the game and hence would have fairly less chances at the pot.

Tight Aggressive Vs Loose Aggressive Play in Poker Tournaments

It is always assumed that you must adopt the Tight Aggressive style of approach, at the time of playing poker games. With this conception, most of the players across the world use such a strategy. Even though Tight Aggressive Game or the TAG might seem like the best strategy in no-limit games, it is not the ideal tactic to employ, especially if you are playing bigger tournaments or Sit-N-Go games.

One of the most common strategies known by the advanced players is to adopt a style which is opposite to your opponents’ style. Now since majority of the players are using the TAG approach, it would be suggestive to add some Loose Aggressive elements to the game. This would give a new dimension to the game and you would often leave your opponents guessing, since it involves playing different varieties of hands.

A lot of the experienced players would suggest that you cannot stick to just one style of play for a longer duration. If you adopt the TAG style, you would eventually become fairly predictable and therefore your opponents would figure out that you are playing only premium hands. Such a way, you would be bluffed a lot more and hence you would not get paid even with the monster hands. To overcome such a problem, you must effectively mix your play, so as to keep the opponents wondering about your strategy. These are the steps towards building a strong tournament approach. It wouldn’t be necessary to completely move to LAG style; however you can add some key elements and see a major improvement in your games.

To elaborate more on the Loose Aggressive approach, here the players would call and raise larger number of hands, with the sole intention of outplaying the opponent holding the stronger hand. Such LAG players are highly alert and would often back down as soon as there is some sort of retaliation or resistance. Such a player is also likely to send semi-bluff into the pots and would easily take over opponents who are weak or cannot call.

The LAG approach would easily exploit the aggressive players in the game. The LAG strategy is focussed towards obtaining more chips into the pot from those players who otherwise call only on premium hands. No Limit Cash Games would allow you to sit through for longer periods of time without calling; however the scenario is different when it comes to Sit-N-Go tournaments. There are antes and blinds which continuously affect the bankroll and therefore you are required to make your moves constantly. If you choose to add the LAG elements in the game during the start of the play, then there are chances that you would be able to save some chips till you come across some frenzied circumstances during the later parts of the game. LAG approach would allow you to pick up loads of smaller pots, without much resistance involved.

Identifying the Types of Poker Players

Poker is one of the most played games in the world. It happens to be a favourite pastime of many, all around the world. However, to master the game at the professional level, you are required to have some advanced knowledge about the skills involved in poker. Identifying the poker players is one of the mandatory skills that the players must possess. In order to simplify the process, the players could be classified in the following three categories.

The Weak/Loose Player

The standard weak players are the ones who would see a lot of flops and would bet them straight forward, without employing any tricks in the game. On the other hand, they would not put money into the pot and would make only mandatory raises. Simply put, such a player would easily limp in the game, with a higher number of flops. While dealing with these players, you must punish them for limping in the game and wait until they make mistakes. Staying tight and aggressive is another way to deal with them. Such players usually have a lower Post Flop Aggression Factor.

The Loose/Aggressive Player (LAG)

This type of player would ‘raise’ too much and also flop too much. These players are fairly intimidating and are easy to exploit, if they do not send you on tilt. The key to dealing such players is to 3 bet them preflop and put the aggression on them consecutively. You can also check raise them post flop with some decent holdings. LAG players usually don’t prefer getting played back and therefore they must be slow played. It is a misconception to tighten up against the loose players, in fact you must call big raised with suited connectors regardless.

Tight Aggressive Players

These are the toughest to play with. Such players would see lesser flops and would call lower raises. Avoid playing a tricky game against them since they are most likely to figure it out. There aren’t many of these players in the poker rooms, until you start moving to the $.50/$1.00 games. The best way to play against these players would be to continue with your game and aspire to be one of them.

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