In cash poker it’s super important to be able to quickly and efficiently work out how your opponents are playing. By matching them up with one of the following playing styles you’ll be able to beat them up all day long.
Tight-aggressive players, aka TAGs
These players use a style that the vast majority of winning players employ. They play tight, which means they don’t play too many starting hands, but they also play aggressively when they do enter a pot. This means that when they’re involved in a pot they often have the lead and are often asking the questions of other players. There are good and bad players using this style, so look at the decisions they make in order to assess how well they’re playing. TAGs can often be exploited because they play in a predictable fashion – for example a non-thinking TAG will always continuation-bet, so can be exploited by raising on the flop a lot.
Loose-aggressive players, aka LAGs
These players used to be very rare but have become more common in recent years. They play loose, meaning they play more hands than average, maybe even more than is optimally correct. They also play aggressively, so they try to take the lead in the betting. Good LAGs will often be very dangerous opponents. Look at their decisions in big pots to assess how well they play. Exploit them by playing premium hands against them and widen your calling range so they can’t move you off hands.
Calling stations
This category covers a lot of losing and recreational players. They may play loose or tight, but whichever it is they don’t play aggressively enough, often opting to call rather than raise or take the lead in hands. They also find it extremely difficult to fold hands if there is any chance they could be winning. You should be seeking these droolers out, as they are easy to play and exploit. Simply don’t bluff them very often and make sure you value-bet them to death by widening the range of hands you value-bet and increasing the size of your bets to make them pay the maximum. Take them to Value Town!
Maniacs
These guys play a tonne of hands and play super-fast and recklessly loose. They like to gamble and make moves against opponents, seemingly getting off on the thrill of making monster bluffs. They can be dangerous opponents but they can also be a huge source of profit. You must be prepared to stack off lightly against them or don’t play them at all. Look to reraise them and isolate them but also to call them down with very marginal hands.