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.

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.