How can i be a good LAG player?

Im playing tournament mostly now a days. People saying that in mid stage I should be more LAG than TAG " This is in Mid stage"

But I dont really have any idea how can i be a good LAG player.
What are the things should I do during mid stage?
What range of hands I should be playing?

Should I be limping more? Or raising more?

Any input would be really appreciated

-Alvin Pe

alvinpe said:

Im playing tournament mostly now a days. People saying that in mid stage I should be more LAG than TAG " This is in Mid stage"

But I dont really have any idea how can i be a good LAG player.
What are the things should I do during mid stage?
What range of hands I should be playing?

Should I be limping more? Or raising more?

Any input would be really appreciated

-Alvin Pe

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Limping isn't agressive.. When people say that you should be more lag than tag mid-stage they are most likely telling you to do this when the other players start tighting up near the bubble. When this stage happens I would start suggesting the following:

1. Open up your stealing range, as well as start stealing from the CO.
2. Open up your range in general, start raising with Broadway cards with a less than standard kicker.. K9 offsuit comes to mind. as well as start raising with lower suited connectors such as 56. These hands will often allow you to steal blinds way OOP as well as get HU situations.

When raising with these hands that are normally not in your range your post flop decisions should be very simple. Either you hit your hand or you don't. Sometimes you can shoot out a CB if you feel the board is scary.

The LAG players that I know have an above average ability of reading players, knowing opponents' betting patterns and really knows how to aggressively play in position. Something that I'm striving for myself. It has very little to do with your hands but everything to do with getting inside your opponents head and playing their cards.

alvinpe said:

Im playing tournament mostly now a days. People saying that in mid stage I should be more LAG than TAG " This is in Mid stage"

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You should be trying to exploit situations where your hand strength doesn't matter (ie, you don't go to showdown super often).

Essentially, you want to constantly find profitable ways to be in pots against exploitable players, even if it means compromising a bit on your starting hand requirements.

Ways to be Laggy:

- Steal more from late position. (exploit position, people who don't defend blinds)
- Re-steal more against late position stealers. (exploit the fact that their stealing range is wide)
- Isolate/punish limpers. (Exploit the fact that their hand range is weak)
- Float ABC TAG players with a wide range with plans to steal post-flop/post-turn. (Exploit their c-bet and give up/fit or fold post-flop tendencies)

LizzyJ said:

The LAG players that I know have an above average ability of reading players, knowing opponents' betting patterns and really knows how to aggressively play in position. Something that I'm striving for myself. It has very little to do with your hands but everything to do with getting inside your opponents head and playing their cards.

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That is my understanding, too. Doyle Brunson's Super System has some good hints on LAG play, although it certainly isn't my favourite poker book by any stretch of the imagination.

This isn't necessarily directly connected to your question, but I found my game improved loads after I watched Negreanu's "small ball" lessons on Youtube. In fact, I think I should go and watch it again lol.

Sorry if this too random.

Adam

I would not advocate being a LAG player. I guess here is a time and place for it, but my from perspective....LAG induces multi-way pots, uncertainty, and doubt. Again, I guess that is OK if your well versed, know what your doing and why your LAG in the poker world but for me....NAH!!!! I will take my chances with 1st in and raising or raising when you LAG...lol

I think striving to be a LAG player definately has its benefits. I would say my style (if I have one) is TAG. It's a great place to start but I would like to progress to a small ball/LAG style somewhere down the road. I would probably still have TAG as my default style, but being able to play LAG would open up some options. For example, it would be great to be able to change gears to a LAG'gy style every now and again just to keep everyone confused--a great way to mix up your play. Also, if you start the hand as a TAG and miss the flop, if you have developed your LAG skills you might be able to push your opponent off of their hand because you have a good idea of where they are at.

Playing LAG profitably is definately an upper echelon skill. I have tons of respect for those can do it well. You always seem to be in a tough position where you have 2nd or 3rd pair, an Ace on the board and your opponent just put in a pot sized bet. Now what?

Daniel has said several times in vids that I've seen, the small ball/LAG style relies completely on your reads. If you do not have great hand reading skills don't play small ball.

Good luck if you decide to persue the LAG style of play.

I want to learn how to be good at being LAG player I need it on mid stage and late stage of a tourney. People said you cant reach final table without playing LAG style. Which is true imo in my experience even playing TAG long the way long you cant reach final table. "Just my opinion and had experience it already.. I dont know maybe tight on mid stage doesnt work on me.

c9h13no3 said:

You should be trying to exploit situations where your hand strength doesn't matter (ie, you don't go to showdown super often).

Essentially, you want to constantly find profitable ways to be in pots against exploitable players, even if it means compromising a bit on your starting hand requirements.

Ways to be Laggy:

- Steal more from late position. (exploit position, people who don't defend blinds)
- Re-steal more against late position stealers. (exploit the fact that their stealing range is wide)
- Isolate/punish limpers. (Exploit the fact that their hand range is weak)
- Float ABC TAG players with a wide range with plans to steal post-flop/post-turn. (Exploit their c-bet and give up/fit or fold post-flop tendencies)

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+1

Pay attention to the master here, c9 has developed a solid logic/rationale for his LAG style, if you want to learn LAG search his posts/threads. His emphasis is cash games rather than tourneys, but the logic is applicable situationally to tourneys. Lizzy's comment on hand reading is also spot on.

You need to practice to make this style work, and much of it is counter-intuitive - but keep in mind that this style plays the player (as you can see from the advice above) above all else (note the emphasis on not having to show down).

Guys, I need tips on how to do this things.

-Re-steal more against late position stealers. (exploit the fact that their stealing range is wide)
- Isolate/punish limpers. (Exploit the fact that their hand range is weak)
- Float ABC TAG players with a wide range with plans to steal post-flop/post-turn. (Exploit their c-bet and give up/fit or fold post-flop tendencies)

What do you mean ABC TAG players?

How do you isolate limpers? and what does that mean?

How do you exploit c-bet?

Thank you in advance

-Alvin Pe

alvinpe said:

Guys, I need tips on how to do this things.

-Re-steal more against late position stealers. (exploit the fact that their stealing range is wide)
First, you need a way to distinguish someone who steals a lot in late position from someone who doesn't. If someone "steals" 8% of the time from late position, they're not stealing, they are generally playing stronger hands. If someone steals 35% of the time, the majority of the hands they're playing are not strong. Those guys you can re-steal from - i.e., raise their bet with a non-premium hand. If they re-raise, you fold - but a good deal of the time they'll fold, or call and fold to your cbet. Be careful about doing this if there are other players left to act, and keep in mind that good tourney players change styles throughout the tourney, so you have to infer from the stage of the tourney what they're doing.
- Isolate/punish limpers. (Exploit the fact that their hand range is weak)
If someone limps in front of you, they probably are not holding a strong hand like JJ+, AQ, or AK - they probably have a smaller pair, a weak A or K, or suited/connected cards (or they're playing ATC). It will be difficult for them to continue if someone raises behind them and they miss the flop. So raise behind limpers, if they continuously fold preflop you can do this with close to ATC - if they don't fold to raises preflop but do fold a lot to cbets on the flop, you can again do this with close to ATC. The preflop raise also discourages the blinds and players behind you from playing the hand (hence "isolating" the limper). Obviously this is easier to do if you're on the button than any other position - if you're UTG+1, this isn't easy to pull off.
- Float ABC TAG players with a wide range with plans to steal post-flop/post-turn. (Exploit their c-bet and give up/fit or fold post-flop tendencies)
You didn't ask about "fit or fold" - but it's important. Newer players in particular (and many more experienced players) tend to play their hand rather than the situation, so if they make a hand on the board they continue, but if they don't they fold. Cbetting these guys is fantastic. If they continue past the flop, they liked their hand for some reason, and frequently you can infer what they liked (this is part of what Lizzy was referring to as hand reading skills - is it a pair, a flush draw, straight draw, etc.). If the flop didn't hit them, they fold to your cbet immediately. Since they're easy to read, your reactions are pretty easy to map out (they raise, you fold unimproved - they call, you evaluate your situation). If they cbet the flop, they rarely cbet the turn - allowing you to take the pot (this is called floating, where you call a flop bet intending to take the pot on the turn - again, your cards are less important than what he thinks you have).

What do you mean ABC TAG players?
A player who plays premium hands for the most part, and act conventionally. Since these players are acting conventionally, you can infer their holdings fairly easily. A TAG player who raises preflop is generally holding 88+, AJ+, KJ+ depending on his position. Since this limits his holdings, you can evaluate the flop fairly easily to see if it helped them or not. A 7 high flop generally doesn't help an ABC TAG, as an example. They will also tend to cbet the flop, but may give up on the turn if the board doesn't help them - allowing you to bet and take the pot. Conversely, if the flop has 3 broadway cards, don't stick around when they cbet unless the flop helped you - too likely the flop helped them more than it helped you.

How do you isolate limpers? and what does that mean?

How do you exploit c-bet?
The flop hits your hole cards roughly 1 in 3 times. A player who cbets 80% of the time was not helped by the flop a significant amount of the time they're cbetting. On a very dry board (952r, for example) it's very unlikely that a guy who raised preflop was helped by the board (because, if he's an ABC TAG, he likely raised 88+, AQ+). When he cbets, he's either cbetting a pair or something like A high. You can call the cbet, and if the turn doesn't look threatening, you then raise his turn bet (or if he checks the turn, you can bet the turn). It's great when you're holding 55 for a set, but if he wasn't helped and doesn't have a strong pair, it really doesn't matter whether the flop helped you or not, nor what your cards are. Note again that position is critical here - this is much easier to do if you're last to act instead of first to act.
Thank you in advance

-Alvin Pe

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All comments above assume position (i.e., you're last to act, not first).

You should check out the Golden Archives for more context and better explanations. GL and see you on the felt!

Thank you for your well explained reply. I really appreciate it Mr. Sly. Thank you.

alvinpe said:

Im playing tournament mostly now a days. People saying that in mid stage I should be more LAG than TAG " This is in Mid stage"

But I dont really have any idea how can i be a good LAG player.
What are the things should I do during mid stage?
What range of hands I should be playing?

Should I be limping more? Or raising more?

Any input would be really appreciated

-Alvin Pe

Click to expand...

in order to be a good lag raise a lot in position, and basically just play youre position really strong and own ppl

lol for more visit deucescracked.com and watch foxwoodsfiend and krantz

I will try all your advices tonight on a tournament on pokerstars hope i can make it to the money

king of bluffs4 said:

Only play lag when the buy in is pretty big and you are up against opponents who know what the fold button is.

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This is somewhat true. Often the players at the low buy-ins will limp/call preflop, and fold to c-bets 90% of the time postflop. And you can value-town calling stations with QT just about as easily as with AK. While you can't be super crazy against stations, you can still isolate them pretty wide and try to exploit their stationyness postflop.

Playing LAG is just about maximizing factors other than hand strength. You pick spots to open up your range of hands that have everything else going for it. Sure, QTs may not be a monster, but when you're on the button, with a loose/terrible limper in the cutoff & nitty players in the blinds, QTs is almost as good as aces UTG.

If I have only 100$ br what is the most good and enjoyable poker game in tournament? In their specific buy ins.

alvinpe said:

If I have only 100$ br what is the most good and enjoyable poker game in tournament? In their specific buy ins.

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Play 1$ MTT's, or 2$ SnG's.

One thing to keep in mind is that one of the foundations of small ball is being willing and able to lose multiple small posts in order to win a few large ones. It's not that simple by any means since another vital part is winning small pots too, most often by using position to advantage. So, you have to be able to cope with not just playing lots of pots, but also the fact that playing more hands and doing so with a broader range means you will lose more of them.

Remaining unmarried to your hands/moves is also a skill you need to develop for LAG play.

In C3s QT example, you might hit the flop a little and meet resistance to your usual pressure even when you have a hand to back it up. You need to know the right time to keep pressing vs letting go of your cards and waiting for your next spot.

This is why the hand reading skill is important, or even mandatory. But you need to also know hw to act.

If you know the tight guy on the button who called your PFR wouldn't do this without JJ+ AQ+ then you need to know when the rest of the flop is telling you to let go of your middle pair-fair kicker hand.

And then you have to be able to let go without blinking. More cards are on the way.

You must consider your opponent at least as much as your cards, or you will be shooting out chipstacks like a fire hydrant.

I failed trying to be good lag player. During late game I was afraid to raise too much. I dont know. And I dont know what pretty much hand I should've be raising with..

Good news guys. I played 5$ tournament. And make a big success well for me. Place at 180th. I noticed my wrong move. On my AJ which is reraised 3bets. I was thinking the raiser were bluffing. thank you for you advice. It's now clearer for me. I need to tweak some of my mistakes/leaks though..

I think the keys are being able to read your table. As a player, you shouldn't force yourself to one strategy, whether it be LAG or TAG or anything else for that matter. You have to observe your table and go from there. Most of the time, I prefer not to assume that my opponent is bluffing unless I know they are overly aggressive. The worse thing you want to do is play for hours and get burned on one all-in because you thought they were bluffing. It's generally safer to fold than it is to call, especially if you don't have a good read on your opponent.

Kuberr said:

I think the keys are being able to read your table. As a player, you shouldn't force yourself to one strategy, whether it be LAG or TAG or anything else for that matter. You have to observe your table and go from there. Most of the time, I prefer not to assume that my opponent is bluffing unless I know they are overly aggressive. The worse thing you want to do is play for hours and get burned on one all-in because you thought they were bluffing. It's generally safer to fold than it is to call, especially if you don't have a good read on your opponent.

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There is loooots of good stuff here.

The thing about style is it pays to adopt one that works for the circumstances. To be comfortable in more than one is a boon. I am naturally a moderately loose aggressive player (usually too much loose and not enough aggressive. haha) But sometimes when opportunity strikes, i must become a tight player or even a nit.

It has been said that one should adopt the style NOT common to the table. Loose at tight tables, tight at loose ones. Overall it's a decent axiom.

Thanks Kuberr. I will try this later on. Im not that good at reading people even I have tracker. I dont know I just dont know how to use effectively. That call made me almost out of the tourney. I still regret it up to now. But I'll add it up to my bad experience and play better later on.