Different Types of Poker Playing Styles & Poker Personality

Different Types of Poker Playing Styles & Poker Personality

A player is known by how he selects his hands, which cards he folds and which he/she calls or raises – that’s the primary difference between an amateur poker player and a professional. The starting hands and the betting patterns of a player usually define the type of playing style of a poker player.

Starting hands: Does the opponent play tight (few hands) or loose (many hands)?
Betting pattern: Does the opponent bet aggressive (frequently) or passive (rarely)?

1. The concepts of different poker playing styles matters a lot when you want to play and win big. Follow Spartan Poker blogs to play poker for real money.
2. There are three main classifications of poker: draw poker, stud poker, and community card poker. Pretty much every single variant of the game will fall into one of these categories.

Understanding different poker styles will not only help you exploit your opponents, but just might assist you in finding your own personal style as well. The NIT The NIT is content to sit back and wait for ultra.

So, there are two factors that define the general playing styles –
i) Tight vs.Loose
ii) Passive vs. Aggressive.

Starting Hands

• Tight poker players usually play a small number of only the best hands (AA, KK, AK).
  Also, a tight poker player generally plays less than 15% of the starting hands (55 + A7S + , A5s, A9o +, K9s +, KJo +, QJs)
• Loose poker players usually play a wide variety of hands (A3, T9, 75o).
  Also, a loose poker player generally plays the top 40% of the starting hands (33 +, A2 +, K2S +, K5o +, Q5s +, Q8o +, J7s +, J9o +, T8s)

As someone rightly put it, “Being tight or loose doesn’t necessarily refer to how somebody plays their hand, but merely the selection of hands that they play.”

Betting Patterns

The betting pattern is the relationship between betting and raising to calling. Also, you have to take into consideration the risk tolerance factor, as well.

• If any opponent bets or raises twice as often as he calls, he is known to be playing aggressively.
  Aggressive poker players raise more than call and are not afraid to put chips at risk.
• If an opponent calls more often then he bets or raises, he is known to be playing passively.
  Passive poker players tend to avoid confrontation and play with a fear of losing.

So, a player can play in four different possible combinations. Here are the 4 basic types of playing styles in poker, which can be displayed in a 2×2 matrix-

• Tight-Passive: The Rock
• Tight-Aggressive: The TAG
• Loose-Passive: The Calling Station
• Loose-Aggressive: The LAG

Loose-Passive

• • • Play passively (makes few bets, but more calls)
    • Plays a lot of hands (greater than 25-40%)
    • Minimal share of winning players

Strategy: Playing against a Calling Station (Loose-Passive Players)-

• Bet with good hands only.
• Do not try to bluff a Calling Station as they will end up calling/raising you anyway
• Make higher than usual pre-flop raises from a late position if they are sitting in the blinds
• Don’t play medium strength hands, fold and live to win another day

Even though not totally impossible, it is highly impractical to play in a loose-passive style and make a profit in online poker. The end result is almost always the same – the calling station gets bust.

Tight-Passive

• • • Play passively (makes few bets, but more calls)
    • Plays a few hands (less than 15-20%)
    • Minimal share of winning players

Strategy: Playing against a Rock (Tight-Passive Players)-

• Go for the player’s blinds with a 3BB raise from late position
• Play the very best starting hands, don’t raise with weak hole cards
• Since such players rarely bet, check instead of calling on the flop to see the next board card without staking more money.

A tight-passive player can significantly reduce his/her losses as they refrain from calling often. But, by playing this way, a player cannot get maximum profits on his/her good hands.

Loose-Aggressive

Different Poker Styles Types

• • • Plays aggressively (makes many bets, but few calls)
    • Plays a lot of hands (greater than 25-40%)
    • Average share of winning players – high winnings, high losses

Strategy: Playing against a LAG (Loose-Aggressive Players)-

• Play more hands than usual against a LAG
• Raise with strong hands on the flop against a LAG, if he/she bets before the flop
• Wait for the LAG to raise his bets when he/she is sitting in a later position than you

The LAG style of play is most used by professionals while playing tournaments. It is important to note that LAG is a high-risk strategy play and should not be played by just about anyone.

Tight-Aggressive

• • Plays aggressively (makes many bets, but few calls)
  • Plays a few hands (less than 15-20%)
  • High share of winning players

Strategy: Playing against a TAG (Tight-Aggressive Players)-

• You can steal a TAG player’s blinds if you are sitting in late position
• On pre-flop raises, play only with the very best of hands
• Re-raise only with the strongest cards (AA, KK, QQ etc.)

Since TAG players bet with only the best hands, they have the highest chance to win the pot when they do play a hand. Most poker pundits agree that the tight-aggressive strategy (TAG) in poker in the most profitable one.

There are also two other types of poker players who have the following playing styles-

The Nit: almost always folds the very few (<15%) starting hands he/she plays. Many Rocks and some TAGs are Nits. Nits only call or bet if they have a very strong hand
The Maniac: plays very loosely and very aggressive player. Don’t go on tilt if the maniac wins with weak cards. But, in the end, the maniac will always go bust.

It’s only by knowing how to master the basics do you become a poker player who is taken very seriously by his/her opponents. Learn more about the basics of poker-

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You will find many different styles of poker player while you play. These range from the tightest ‘rock’ to the wildest and craziest players around. By putting your opponents into broad categories based on how loose or tight they are and whether they like to bet out or to call – you can make your own poker play more profitable. This article goes though the main opponent types, and shows you what type of adjustments to make.

First you will find a detailed examination of how players are categorized based on the 2 main ‘axis’ and the addition of a ‘tricky / straightforward’ dimension. After that you can see the 4-main types of Tight-Aggressive, Tight-Passive, Loose-Aggressive and Loose-Passive – along with instructions on how to adjust to each of them. After that I have revisited the trickiness aspect and added a word of warning about players capable of switching between styles.

How We Measure Poker Playing Styles

Imagine a cross, on the vertical line we have the number of hands a player chooses to play, on the horizontal axis we have whether they like to bet a lot, or prefer to check and call.

This would give you 4 squares. 2 for players who play a lot of hands, one for ‘bets a lot’ (is aggressive) and one for calls a lot (is passive) – along with the same 2 squares for tight players. This gives us the 4 broad types of player you will find online, ranging from loose and aggressive, through to tight and passive.

I like to add another dimension to this based on whether an individual player is straightforward or tricky. A tricky player would be deliberately deceptive, liking the bluff and check-raise a lot. A straightforward player would mostly play true to the strength of their hand, preferring to bet out when holding a strong hand.

Adjusting To Different Poker Opponents –Types

Loose-Aggressive: These opponents can be tricky to play against. They will bet with a lot of hands and will try hard to push you out of the pot post-flop. You can often let this kind of player build a pot for you, then come in with a re-raise when the pot is already too big to justify a fold. Remember that a good loose-aggressive (LAG) player will play fast and loose with chips while the pot is small, and will often have the goods when the pot is big. Bad LAG players will not do this and can often be fooled into building big pots when vulnerable.

Loose-Passive: This is a common beginner error, playing too many hands then calling with weak holdings on the flop. These types sometimes bet big when they do have a hand, tipping off opponents that something is awry. Known as ‘calling stations’, loose-passive players hate to fold. You can use this to your advantage by betting your good hands for value on every betting round and cutting down on your bluffs.

Tight-Aggressive: Known as ‘TAG’ this is a more difficult style to play against. These players are careful with their hand selection and will bet and raise big when they do have the goods. At one extreme of this style you will find ‘nits’ – who only play the best possible hands. You will often find that nits hate to let these precious hands they have waited so long for go. If an extra-tight player suddenly raises – you can often call with speculative hands, knowing that if you hit the flop hard you will have the opportunity to win a big pot.

Tight-Passive Players: This opponent type will be reasonably selective with starting hands, and will often play ‘fit or fold’ on the flop. If they hit then they’ll bet out, if not then it is check and fold time. Some tight-passives will call with any draw or pair, allowing you to build a pot against them. Look out for those times the draw gets there and a big river bet arrives, you’ll usually be beaten.

Tricky Or Straightforward?

Players who show tricky behavior like check-raising, slow playing and running big bluffs will often have this ‘backward to their real strength’ as a core part of their style. Once you spot this then adjusting involves taking a free card when they check more often, and discounting their big raises a little more often too.

When a straightforward player starts betting, they are much more likely to have a hand.

Switching Styles and Your Table Image

As I mentioned in the introduction to this page, the best players can switch up their styles depending on their opponents and the game situation. You need to be on the lookout for people who can adjust and make a note of this for future reference. If you see people adjusting to a 3rd parties characteristics, you should note them as a thinking player and avoid playing too many pots with them. After all, the more predictable types are far easier to win money from.

Different Poker Styles Youtube

Finally, it can pay to be aware of what your opponents think of your style. If they think you are a tight-aggressive player who only raises good hands, and are still re-raising you – then it might give you a clue that they have flopped a monster hand.