Learn how to adapt your play based on opponent's playing styles.
Once you know the playing styles that exist you need to learn what to look for from your opponents in order to properly classify them. You should try to do this before you sit down if possible so that you spend less time determining your opponents’ tendencies and more time exploiting them.
To determine if a player is tight or loose the main thing you should look at is the number and types of hands you opponents play. Generally the more hands a person plays, the looser they are. You will also find that loose players will routinely play hands out of position. Along with playing stronger starting hands, a tight player will consider their opponents and their position before committing to a hand.
Beginners will start to classify almost all their opponents as loose because at the lower limits, so many more people play weak starting hands.
When assigning an opponent to a tight or loose style it is important not to consider one style better or worse than another. While many people believe in the saying “tight is right” some of the greatest professional players are considered loose players. How a person plays after the flop tends to determine their skill level more accurately then the starting hands they play.
The other key factor to look at is whether your opponents are aggressive or passive. As stated earlier aggressive players bet and raise while passive players check and call. When we put all these factors together you get players who fall into one of the following four categories:
Loose – Passive (These players will seem to be in every pot but they won’t do very much betting. Because they are playing weaker hands they tend to spend more time calling and trying to draw to their hand.)
Loose – Aggressive (Some people refer to these players as ‘Maniacs.’ They are tough to play against because they are so unpredictable and it is tough to determine if they are bluffing or playing with a strong hand. It’s best to wait for a premium hand and try to fight their aggression with your own. These players will go broke in the long run but their short time success can come at your expense if you aren’t careful.)
Tight – Passive (These players are rarely in a hand, but they are easy to read. If they bet or raise there is a very good chance that they have a very strong hand. Because of this they are good bluffers but they tend not to be in enough situations to be profitable.
Tight – Aggressive (This is what every beginner and intermediate player should strive to play as. Only get involved when the conditions are favourable to you and when you have a hand punish other players by betting and raising the majority of the time. These players tend to keep the pressure on and are very strong bluffers since they show down many strong hands.
By Jon Marier
Poker Strategy