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Player types

In poker, you tend to find any number of playing styles on a hand-to-hand basis, but they can all generally be summarized in a few broad playing styles. The main ones are conservative, strong or solid, aggressive and super-aggressive. We’ll discuss the main styles, what they are, how they play, and generally the best ways to address them in general.

Conservative

Every player tends to start out as a conservative player. These types of players tend to only bet when they truly do have a hand, and fold when they don’t. For cash games, they tend to limp with pocket pairs in order to set-mine (hope that they flop a 3-of-a-kind cheaply), and raise large whenever they have AK, QQ+

It’s pretty easy to know how they play. They tend to only put money in the pot (for example on the flop) if they have top-pair top-kicker or greater when starting. They don’t make any attempts to bluff at pots, or if they do, so rarely that it’s almost always -EV to call their larger bets on the river to see if they’re bluffing that one time out of say twenty.

On the turn, if they’ve checked twice, there’s a good chance they either have nothing, or want to see a cheap draw to the river. You can probably bet them off here with just about anything, provided you bet the pot. If they call, there’s a chance they are drawing to something. Be careful that the river does not provide a 3^rd card of any given suit or you could be in big trouble if you bet.

In tournaments, it’s even easier to make money from conservative players. They only tend to bet if they have something, and most starting hands tend to be poor hands that can be easily folded even by top pros. This means that whenever a conservative player (also known as a ‘nit’) has to pay the big blind, a solid bet in the cut-off or button positions of 3.5-5x the big blind should land you some easy chips that you absolutely need in order to survive the tournament longer. If a conservative player goes all in, unless you have KK+, you have a tendency to fold, as even having JJ or QQ could put you in a risky flip situation which could cost you your tournament life.

Solid

These are the people who are probably the least profitable at a table, as they have a healthy mix of conservative and aggressive tendencies that help them maximize profit long-term, as it’s difficult, or even impossible to predict their hand at a given moment. These players tend to raise about 10-15% of the time, and voluntarily play (as opposed to limp in with blinds) about 20% of the hands dealt to them in tournament play. They tend to know how to steal blinds in tournament games, and have the ability to make the odd bluff in order to survive the blinds increasing every orbit.

It’s hard, but not impossible to know how to play against them. They generally do not bluff often so if they are raising their entire stack by the river, you better have a good hand to call them down with, or else you’re going to hurt.

In cash games, solid players tend to make the most money, as they are able to really read their opponents and know how they would most likely act based on their betting and actions after each street. They tend to try and take weaker players’ blinds in order to maintain or improve their hourly win rate. Re-raising them large when you feel as though they are stealing your blinds can tend to cause them to fold and give you respect for your image (the kind of player others at the table view you as) if you’re a conservative player. Even solid players can have a vulnerability to be bullied by aggressive or super-aggressive players if they aren’t paying attention to the different player styles.

For example, on the flop of say T58 (ten, five, eight), a solid player with Ace-8 might bet 2/3^rd of the pot in position against even an aggressive player, who would probably have over-bet a hand out of position to try and knock the known solid player out of the hand. The aggressive player even knows that a solid player isn’t the type to try and make moves all the time to take down smaller pots. The solid player takes advantage of the various player styles from hand-to-hand to best maximize their chances of winning the hands, and overall, the tournament.

Aggressive

These are the types of players who make the big moves and bully other players around. These players tend to move the chips around, but stay focused on knowing when it’s ok to push, and when it’s not. They tend to raise more often than most players, but don’t necessarily shove with any two cards, as they often have an idea of what hands they can get away with, or they might take advantage of their image as a loose player when they have a big hand and really wallop those who doubt them. They are also capable of routinely stealing blinds so be on the lookout for those who seem like they’re always raising in late position if you feel as though they’re trying to take advantage of you.

An example of an aggressive play would be if the aggressor was in mid position and raises with just 22. Two people call after him and the flop is 38J. The aggressive player, knowing that both players are conservative, checks, and actually calls a min-bet from the one conservative player, with the other folding. Turn is a 2, and checks to the conservative player, who bets the pot, as he probably has a decent hand of perhaps Ace-Jack. The aggressive player, knowing that the conservative player rarely bets large, shoves all in, making it look like he is putting a move on, he gets called and sees the conservative player was trying to take a stand against the aggressor with JJ, but at the wrong time. The river is a 2 and the aggressor wins the big hand, knocking out the one conservative player.

Super-aggressive

Any two will do! Super-aggressive players will shove because they think everyone else will fold. They often spew chips and are quite profitable to have at a table provided they don’t hit a hand. They are quite profitable and most players dream of being up against those who shove with just about any hand. Keep track of these players, since they can easily make you easy money and contribute to your barnkroll.

Regards,

L2Poker Staff

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This entry was posted on Sunday, August 2nd, 2009 at 7:39 pm and is filed under Poker Guides. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.