Categorising Opponent's Style

[omegaFish]

Any tips on to quickly nail down opponents style in real 9-hand cash games. I find it too hard to keep mentally track of everyone esp. if there is no standout aggressor. Is it better to focus on the person to your left or right and work forward?

 

[Markjduk]

Trying to nail down an opponents style quickly is tricky as they might hit a good run of cards and keep raising and betting and you think they are aggressive maybe a maniac but then you come across them days later and they barely play a hand. I have found that using a HUD once you have 400-500 hands on a player you can make a pretty accurate call.

 

[LetterRip]

In general you can determine basic characteristics in two orbits. Tight/Loose and Passive/Aggressive tendencies. Any open limp is likely passive. If they open raise most hands, generally aggressive. If they rarely play hands before the CO or HJ they are likely tight. If they regularly raise from HJ/CO/BTN they are likely aggressive and blind stealers.

If they 3bet regularly from BB/SB/BTN/CO/HJ they are almost certainly aggressive.

The players to focus on are the two to your left - who will always have position on you except when they are in the blinds; and two to your right - because you will always have position on them except when you are in the blinds.

 

[Phoenix Wright]

The short answer is that you can't really get a super accurate insight with such a small sample size (well without outside factors like knowing the person before you met at the tables or live tells if playing in-person). Probably just the best you can do early on is try to assess how wide of a range different people play in certain spots. Generally, the aggressive players will play wider ranges and the tighter players narrower ranges. I say "generally" because players sometimes decide "in the moment" on what to do and their playstyle won't influence their hand 100% of the time (maybe a super tight player gets a random urge to play 72o for one hand; yes it goes against their typical playstyle, but sometimes people vary on a whim).

Luckily for you, the process of determining who plays what (tighter, looser, 3-bets often, limps often, calling station etc.) is a constant process where your assessments should become more accurate as you observe them more and adjust accordingly.

 

[redboy23]

Hi there,

What you are trying to do is not an exact science and it really depends on the session and the cards your opponents get. All I try to do when I play is establish betting patterns and see how often players call and raise. The most information can be obtained when you actually see a hand at a showdown and can replay it to establish a betting pattern. From there I give a colour to the players at the table and make notes on them like; bets 3 x BB on Ax hands or bet sizes vary with the strength of hole cards. My colours tell me if a player is tight, aggressive, passive, loose, tight-aggressive, or loose-aggressive. If I cannot classify a player I simply give a neutral colour and note their general performance during the session. That way I know how well they did and if they took money from me!

If you are playing live, then you simply make a mental note of the aforementioned tendencies. If you never get to see a player's cards because their opponents fold to their aggressive betting then you simply have to avoid them and be patient - wait for a huge flop or very good hole cards AA, KK, AK or suited connectors if that is your cup of tea.

Finally, if keeping track of your opponents is difficult then keep track of your table image and how your encounter with each player is handled. Try to get an idea of who generally calls your bets, folds to you or raises when they play against you. When I play, it is a mix but I generally try to maximize my position and would usually come into a hand with a standard 3 x BB and c-bet or check-raise, especially against aggressive players. It has been my experience that you get more action when others see you as a controlled player willing to play a wide range of hands and not just huge holdings. I am usually the chatty one at the poker table and always try to get a reaction from players while keeping the game fun.

Playing live poker is a lot of fun and I prefer it to online play. I get a much better read on the person's personality and their tells.

 

[Madalin Poke]

Personally, I think that aggression is the key in poker when it comes to players of a certain value. But to win quickly against opponent's even if your constantly aggresive might not be a good call. I guess there is no good strategy for quickly earnings.

However i'm thinking that the key to dealing with good aggressive players, in turn, is passivity. That doesn't mean that you have to fundamentally transform your game, on the contrary compared to most competitors you have to display an aggressive style of play. The passivity I'm talking about is applied only against very good and extremely aggressive opponents.

You will find quite quickly that such an approach has unexpected effects, the consequences are 180 degrees compared to what you would normally expect. This passivity becomes a real boomerang for the aggressive opponent in front of you. The biggest nightmare of an aggressive player is to play against an opponent who is tight pre-flop and who then borders on flat calls on the board. The opponent will never have information about your hand, he will only know that you went with a reduced range of cards and, as such, you may have completed something powerful if a big card was dropped between the common cards. Even so, owning one is still beyond the reach of the average person.

Good luck at the tables!

 

[zamana80]

I always mark my opponents as "callers", "waiters" and "weird but probably he get something".
And there is always 1 agressor who will raise like 90% of hands and all you need is just luck with pre flop and reraise him once so he will chill