Types of Poker Players

And How to Beat Each One

Most poker players fall into one of four categories, and once you're experienced enough, you'll be able to place your opponents into particular groups very quickly. This is a detailed definition of the different types of poker players you'll find. As you play poker online you should try to pick up as much information about a player to accurately place them into a category.

But remember the boundaries of the different types of poker players are not clearly defined and the best pokers players can change their style of play very quickly to mislead the rest of the table.

Types of Poker Players :

Tight-Passive
A tight-passive player is one that won't raise or call unless they have a very strong hand. This type of player is normally best suited for limit Texas Holdem poker and will very seldom take a risk on their hand. If a tight passive player calls your raise you'd better have the courage to backup your bet.

Loose-Passive
Loose passive players are also known as "calling stations". They call any bet you place and it's best to avoid bluffing these players. They'll very seldom fold once they've seen the flop.

Tight-Aggressive
These players will only bluff occasionally. They only play good hands and once they've got that hand they'll bet aggressively. Beware when this player raises he could end up taking a huge chunk out of your stack.

Loose-Aggressive
Some of the most famous poker players are loose aggressive. These players have no problem going "all-in", but the best loose-aggressive players will mix up their aggressive and passive play, it's hard to read their hands. They go all-in with a pair of aces or just a simple 7, 3. These are the high-rollers of Texas Hold em poker.

Now all you need to do is begin by placing yourself in one of these categories, then go to the online casino and see if you're can spot the different types of poker players and then play your strategy accordingly.

TYPES OF TEXAS HOLDEM PLAYERS

"PLAYER STYLES AND HOW TO LEVERAGE THEM"

Learning to read and play properly against various players depends upon their style, and how quickly you're able to read a poker player's "style". You'll be amazed at how it massively boosts your profits. Styles can often be determined by quickly by observing:

how many starting hands a player typically plays, and
the player's betting patterns.

Figure 1.1 shows a map of player's styles of play.

A player who plays relatively few (typically only premium) starting hands is termed "tight", whereas a player who plays many more starting hands is termed "loose".

The second factor to consider is their betting style; that is, whether they tend to be more "passive" and just check/call a lot and rarely bet or raise, or they're instead much more "aggressive", tending to bet and raise quite often.

As we can see here, the combination of the number of hands played and betting style is used to "type" a player. Watch players closely and you'll typically see a pattern emerge in their overall play and be able to type them fairly quickly.

Figure 1.1 - Poker Player Styles

Figure 1.1 shows a "target play zone", the overall area that good players should strive to maintain their play. Most pros will play Tight-Aggressive, with occasional forays into the other quadrants to mix things up and keep everyone off balance, guessing about what they'll do next.

Let's discuss each of these styles in a bit more detail, ensuring you can recognize the styles of play (including your own style, or "table image").

Loose-Passive (Amateur)

This is the typical "amateur" play style, since these players like the action and just want to play and have fun, playing just about anything that's remotely playable. These players are sometimes referred to as "fish", since they're easy to defeat. They'll often just Check or Call with even marginal hands like Ace-trash, low to medium pairs and they'll call just about everything, hoping to pull something out of thin air. These players are also sometimes termed "calling stations", since they'll call most anything.

Bet into these players whenever you have a decent hand. If you bet too much, you'll probably scare them out, so bet just enough to keep them in the hand, contributing to the pot size and "milking" them for whatever chips you can get them to put in at each stage (flop. turn, river).

Be careful trying to bluff these players, though, as their "calling station" tendency could backfire - if you do bluff them, attack them very aggressively with a significant Bet / Raise in order to effectively bluff them.

Tight-Passive (Tight)

These "weak" players are typically fairly easily beaten. They just hang out waiting for great starting hands and big flops, and then they come after everyone all of a sudden. When these players seem to suddenly "wake up" and start betting significantly, get out of their way, unless you have a strong hand, since they probably have a good-to-great hand (that's about all they'll play, since they don't like risk-taking).

These players can "survive" a long time since they don't risk many chips at all. These players are very easy to bluff out of a pot, since they're highly risk-averse (avoids risk-taking unless they have a real, strong hand). These players tend to play "honest" - betting roughly in proportion to the strength of their actual hands, making them easier to read.

Loose-Aggressive (Maniac)

This style is typically referred to as the "maniac", since they'll aggressively bet or raise with just about anything and they play far too many starting hands, using their aggressive betting style to make up for their lack of good hands.

Be very careful when you encounter these types, as they can quickly injure you. Since they play so many hands, you never really know when they have a trash hand, a real hand, a draw or a monster. Players like Gus Hansen use this style very effectively, yet can be beaten several different ways, as we'll discuss in a lot more detail in the "Beating Aggressive Players" lesson. Basically, remain patient and figure out how to get under these players' skin and trigger their aggressive response systems, doing so when you're holding a great hand, and they'll often bet heavily into you, exposing most or all of their chips to you!

Tight-Aggressive (Solid)

So, now it's time to discuss our preferred style of no-limit Texas Holdem play: Tight-Aggressive. These players choose their starting hands carefully, and instead of "limping in" (check/call) to see a flop, they'll either Bet or Raise significantly if they do play or just Fold without seeing a flop at all.

On the Turn and River, they'll usually make aggressive Bets/Raises when they hit their hand. These players are typically only risking their chips when they have a strong hand. When they do bet, they bet heavily and quickly build a significant size stack by winning just a few key hands.

This style is easy to spot, so you'll quickly get typed by the other players using this style. To address this, you must occasionally shift quadrants (as shown in Figure 1.1) to throw players off, and deliberately playing as if you're a "maniac".

By raising smartly with strong hands, and then mixing it up occasionally with nicely-timed bluffs, semi-bluffs and blind-stealing, you'll be able to keep your opponents off balance, never knowing what to expect from you.

Truly understanding these poker player styles is essential to winning. Knowing your own style and "table image" is important, as it'll help you predict your opponents' moves, and ensure you profit and win bigger every time that you play.

Written by Rick Braddy
Rick Braddy is an experienced online poker journalist who writes articles on a range of no limit Texas holdem poker topics. Readers looking for information on Texas Hold'em Poker or the Types of Poker Players have found his articles informative and factual.