Hold Em Authority - Texas Hold Em Strategy and advice for all levels of players

When picking apart your opponents, it helps to put them in a category that describes the kind of player they are. Generally, I think it’s good to split players up into 4 different playing styles: tight, loose, passive, and aggressive. Today, we’ll be talking about the tight player. A tight player can either be passive or aggressive, and we’ll tackle the passive player first. Generally, generally, not always, the best way to beat a certain style is to play the opposite style. If the player is tight/passive, play loose/aggressive and vice versa.
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The tight-passive player is one of my favorite types of players to play against. If this player enters a hand, chances are he/she is holding a very good hand. However, even if this player is holding a very good hand, if you represent a lot of strength, this player will probably fold anything less than the nuts, or at least close to it. Your favorite position in regards to this player should be to his right, because you will have the luxury of stealing his/her blinds all day. This player just tries to blend in with the wallpaper, eek out a profit, and call it a day. While there isn’t anything really wrong with this strategy, this type of player will never be a superstar in the world of poker. In tournaments, the ever increasing blinds will simply eat up this passive player unless he/she gets an amazing string of cards throughout the tournament.

The tight aggressive player is the next type of player we will discuss. This is the player that I strive to be, and while it doesn’t suit everyone, this type of player can be extremely successful in the world of poker. This type of player plays very few hands, but really represents strength when he/she chooses to enter a hand. They are not as easy to push around as a tight/passive player, because they have a better idea of what other players at the table are trying to do. Dan Harrington and Phil Hellmuth are both world class players, and they have both adopted this style of play. Obviously, they have had much success with it.

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How do you beat the tight aggressive player? This is a little more tricky, and I don’t have a definite answer for you. Because they still do play very few hands, it is still feasible to believe that you can bully them around a little bit. However, once this player represents strength, get out of the way unless you have a monster!

Here’s the sequel to the tight playing style article - a little cram session on how to play against a loose player, whether he/she be passive or aggressive.First off, the loose passive player. I’ll be honest, I hate playing against these players. I believe that you’ll find most beginner hold em players lumped into this category, and as most of us already know, beginner players don’t like to fold. The problem with playing against these loose passive players is the fact that they really don’t fold, and if you think about bluffing against them, think again. I also can’t stand these players because they will play any two cards, and there are a lot of different hands that can be dealt to a player. It’s extremely difficult to know if a board of 2 4 8 hit this player, because he/she might actually be playing 8 4. My advice on playing against the loose passive players is limited, but here’s what I got for you….

I feel that you can take one of two approaches:
1. Pick a hand and go with it - Since the loose passive player plays so many hands, generally just calling, calling, calling, it’s hard to tell when he/she has a legit hand. Some players opt to just pick a hand they like and go with it, more of a preflop committal. For example, if they have AK, and the loose/passive calls, he/she will pop the pot, and then bet the flop hard no matter what it is. I don’t hate this strategy, because chances are, even if you miss the flop, your opponent will have as well, seen as how he/she could be holding any two cards.

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2. This is more my style of play - Wait for a monster - Sure, that’s easy to do, and having a monster will be beneficial against pretty much everyone, but the trick with the loose passive player is to keep him in the hand. Preflop, on the flop, turn, and on the river, bet large enough as to not look suspicious, but not so large as to drive him/her out of the hand. Remember, this is a loose passive player who likes to see cards, most of the time, all 5.
It really depends on what you feel comfortable with, but both of these methods can be effective when used properly. They can both be used together, using number 1 preflop, and number 2 postflop.

That’s a brief overview on the loose passive player, now on to the loose aggressive player.

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Again, good luck bluffing this player….. it ain’t happenin’.

This type of player frustrates me, but will pay me off any time I have a big hand. These players can’t get away from any hand they play; they bet, raise, and raise some more. If you’re holding a monster, you might as well let this player do the work for you. For example, let’s say you’re holding AA, and the loose aggressive raises. Why not smooth call here? You obviously know you’re ahead, take a flop and see what happens. Let’s say it’s a best case scenario and the flop is A 9 5, rainbow. This is an exaggerated scenario, and I would actually probably do the same thing with a hand as marginal as AJ on this flop, but you might as well let him do the betting again. Smooth call on the flop, turn, and river; let him/her pay you off. This saves you the problem of calculating how much to bet, and chances are, even with AQ, you have the best hand, and will continue to have the best hand, because the Loose Aggressive player plays, and bets, almost any 2 cards.

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I think this is the best way to play against the Loose aggressive player; slow play your monsters and let him/her do all the work.

However, this scenario won’t pop up all the time, so you have to be armed with a few other techniques to take down this type of player. If you become short-stacked, be willing to reraise all in with many more hands than you normally would when you are up against this type of player. Be willing to reraise more marginal hands even when you aren’t short-stacked. Chances are, you’ll be ahead, because K 10 to a loose aggressive player is pure gold.

These players may intimidate the table, but you can’t let this player intimidate you. There are so many ways to extract money from this player, so find one that works for you and get after it!