Different Player Types

Different Player Types – different games to play

28 Oct 2009 poker school, strategy

Since we are taking our starting hands against other players and their hands, what can we expect to see in the cardroom? Let’s discuss some of the various types of players you will see and how they usually play. This will help you form one of your most valuable tools as a poker player, and that is to put someone into a player category. It helps you narrow down the possible hands they could have and gives you an idea of how good your good your current hand is in comparison with theirs. When you are playing, do your best to categorize each player into the following (better types of players are listed last):

Calling Station:

heartbreaker This is the worst type of player and the most prevalent (sometimes called a “fish”). The calling station does what his name implies, he just calls. He has poor hand selection. On the flop he will call with just about anything, and will continue to do that all the way to the river. This person has very little skill or discipline. They will be in every hand no matter if there is a raise before them. In the face of a better hand (like when a straight or a flush is on the board and they don’t have it), they will just call it down. Most of the money you’ll make will be from this type of player. The reason this play is so bad is that it is the exact opposite of what you should be doing. Instead of being selective and waiting for good opportunities to put your money behind you spread it out over every hand, good or bad, and in the end that can’t work. Remember our bad investor analogy above. With these kinds of people in the pots, you’ll just play your cards and see what happens. What that means is that you can’t really put them on any kind of a hand since they could easily have AK as they could have 92.

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If you have a hand (like top pair with a good kicker) then just bet it and see what happens.

You will want to watch out for them, if they raise you though. Usually a calling station is a fairly passive player and when they raise it means something. If you canmake some good folds now and then, you’ll be a better player. If you can’t fold a losing hand then you’ll be a calling station and a losing player. When a person raises and what they raise with is another important item that you will want to watch for. It helps you not only categorize them but helps you select the hands that you play against them. When a calling station raises before the flop it could mean anything but usually they have a good hand (AA, KK, QQ, JJ, etc). Because of that, be careful about playing against them if you have a hand that could be easily dominated like KQ, KJ, KT, etc. If you notice that they are raising all the time with just about any hand they play then you may have found the next category.

Loose Aggressive:

A loose aggressive player is one who plays as many cards as the calling station does but they are inclined to raise, reraise and cap hands that they shouldn’t (like A5 offsuit, Q9s, etc). You’ll know very quickly if a person is a loose aggressive player. A person can’t get great cards all day and if they are raising three hands in a row then chances are all those hands aren’t premium. When you have two or more of these types of players in a game the pots can be very large, but it can also cost you a lot of money if you lose. Two points when playing against them: remember that when they raise they don’t always have AA so you can play against them with hands that you would normally just call with. A reraise when you have a decent hand to try to isolate them isn’t a bad move. The second thing to remember is that even if they are raising every hand it doesn’t mean that they aren’t going to get a good one now and then. So with that said don’t cap it with a maniac player if you just have top pair. That could be costly. Sometimes you’ll find these loose aggressive players, maniacs, only do that before the flop but afterwards they tighten up some. Try to pick up on things like this. Lastly, don’t be afraid of …them just because they like to raise. If you have a good hand, make them pay. Some typical loose aggressive players are young asian males and guys with a short man complex (no offense).

Rock:

BG-PNG

A rock is a super tight player who only plays premium cards. When they raise you know exactly what they have (AA, KK, AK, etc). They will not be in on many hands and when they are, it will most likely be with a raise. Now a rock is better then a calling station and a maniac but they aren’t playing correctly for low limit hold’em (or even other limits). The problem with low limit hold’em they run into is that when 6 other people are in a pot against their AA, it isn’t going to hold up much. In the upper limits they won’t get any value for their hands since the other players can read them so well. What you can learn from a rock though is that they pick good cards and try to put their money behind them. That is correct. They just aren’t playing enough cards. It is the opposite of a calling station. You want to stay out of a Rock’s way if you can. For example you wouldn’t want to bring KJoffsuit up against a rocks raise preflop. But if you are in a multi-way pot with lots of people in and the rock raises then you would want to play your drawing hands. One good thing about playing them is that they are very predictable. When they raise you, the almost always have it so don’t pay them off.

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Anyone who is watching the game at all can see what types of hands they are playing. You will run into some rocks playing low limit. The main reason for that is that if you are a rock it isn’t easy to progress up levels, you’re gonna get stuck at the low stuff because anyone who can play the game at the upper limits will cut them to pieces as fast as a calling station. The stereotypical rock is an old lady.

Weak Tight:

A weak tight player is fairly rare at low limit. This type of player has most of the skills that a wining player possesses with one exception, they are a little scared. Moving up in levels sometimes creates weak tight players. You fear the other players and they can read into that so you can sometimes get bullied around by raises. The creation of a weak tight player can also be the result of too rigid rules. Remember poker is situational. You shouldn’t be tied to any one book, saying, or system. Let your experience mold you into a good player. When you are playing a weak tight player you should watch out for them most of the time since they aren’t going to be putting too many “moves” on you: they won’t try to bluff you at all. It’s interesting to put a loose aggressive player against a weak tight one. The weak tight player gets bullied around waiting for good cards instead of basing his hand selection on the other players. If you do find yourself in a position where something scary hits in a hand and the weak tight player is your opposition, you may have found a good time to bluff. Weak tight players are big believers, especially if the raise is on a later round with the bet size is larger. Bluffing isn’t a big part of the game, but even in low limit it applies to this people since they are good enough to see what you may have and “smart” enough not to call. It is much easier to bluff a good player then a bad one since the bad player doesn’t pay any attention to what you may have.

Tight Aggressive:

This is the top of the pyramid. The tight aggressive player is the good investor, the laser, the sniper, the smart bomb in the poker world. This is your goal. The tight aggressive players ability to adapt to different games and players, as well as the confidence to back their moves with their bankroll makes them fierce opponents. To recognize a tight aggressive player is to see a person who doesn’t play that many cards but when they do they take control. They slow play great hands. They use their position to play weaker cards when the odds justify it. They are able to fold hands that other players would be trapped in. A better hand will be any player but you’ll find it difficult to make any money against a tight aggressive player. The best advice is to just play very good hands against them and hope to break even. You won’t run into many of these at low limit so don’t worry.