At the beginning, I'd start with two categories...good and bad. (Red and Green). I also used to have an orange category for Wild players. That is probably sufficient at first.
But as you get better and then require more finesse to your intel, you can broaden your categories. Watch the Evan Jarvis video further up the thread for a good breakdown. (Evan describes them in the context of barrelling).
...TLDR; (TLDW?)
NIT - super tight. Easy to push of a pot where they're losing. Though will call with top pair or better. (Jonathan Little hates these types for some reason).
TAG - Tight and Aggressive. (Where most of us should be aiming for). Aligning hand strength with position and putting pressure on opponents via betting.
LAG/WAG - Loose/Wide and Aggressive. Like TAG, but with less positional awareness and wider range. Still puts pressure on others with betting. Lots of bluffing from LAGs.
FISH - Typically play too many hands from too many positions in a passive manner. Are more likely to call than raise. Do not often CBet unless they've hit. A straightforward fish will often fold to a raise or CBet without a made hand, or overvalue their hands and often act as call-stations.
WEAK TIGHT - Always playing the cards and not the position/opponent. When you bet and they call (or 3Bet), they usually have a made hand. More checking and calling than betting and folding.
DONK - Donks can have quite high variance and are unpredictable. They will often bet into the villain who opened the pot (showing zero respect for the opener and their position). Donk's are capable of calling you down to the river over and over again. You may struggle to push them off a pot, so be careful, or make sure you've actually got a good hand before you start abusing them. (But in general, you should be careful and avoid too many pots with them as they can also hit big by the river, or put you all in when you thought you were just finding an agreeable pot size.)
One thing to note. be careful to not let all such labels get too stale. Its great to sit down at a table and realise you are playing with opponents which you have past reads on. However, this can work out poorly indeed if your assessment is stale or inaccurate. People will change and you will also get some labels wrong. So pay attention all the time and keep them current.
For example, if your HUD tells you their VPIP is 65%, and your label says TAG, then something is wrong (or their on one helluva roll).
I know lots of people have me labelled as a fish, and that is fine with me. I will often make sure I do a couple really stupid things early on in a game to give this image, and then set a trap. For example, when you're deep stacked, calling a river bet you know you shouldn't call. Or showing cards rather than mucking. Heck, I've got LOTS of fishy tools in my arsenal, because I didn't leave that label behind very long ago!
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
ObbleeXY
Wild
__________________
Do not go broke with JJ.
|