Identify Your Opponent at the Texas Hold'em Poker Table
Texas Holdem Poker players have varying styles of play
and different levels of experience. If you can quickly
identify the type of player you are up against and their
skill level you can use this knowledge to alter your
playing style and maximize your opportunities. There are
many types of Texas Holdem Poker player, and, of course,
many levels of experience between those players. Texas
Holdem the card game is similar to pushing spaghetti
around a plate - some will get more, others will get
less and the house always takes a slice. The statistics
of cards over time dictate that we all have the same
opportunities. The key to maximizing our potential gains
is to quickly identify your opponent type and skill level.
If you can correctly identify your opponent then you
will be able to alter your playing style to maximize your
win, and just as significantly, minimize your loss.
Let's review the various playing styles that you will
come across in an average Texas Holdem Poker cash game.
Players will either be:
* Rocks * Tight Players * Calling Stations * Maniacs
And within these styles you will find a range of aggression
that goes from passive to aggressive. What follows are
some strategic hints and tips to help you play against
each form of poker player in an online environment.
Rocks
Rocks are the most common type of Texas Holdem Player.
They are the easiest to beat and usually are inexperienced
new players who think the game revolves around the cards
that are dealt. It's also the most natural playing style
and so you will come across them regularly. These are the
people you should look to play against. Controlled
aggression is the way to proceed. Bet at these players
when flops look ugly and they'll most likely fold. If they
re-raise you in return, step aside and let them take the
hand, coming right back at them next round. A rock who
has been sitting folding the last 20 hands, only to come
out betting, is the easiest read of all. If you can't see
them coming then I'd suggest you take up a different game.
Tight Players
Tight players are usually battle hardened. The difference
between a tight player and a rock is that they understand
the need to come out more often, with the occasional bluff
here and there. More importantly they usually use the time
spent sitting out, to identify opponent characteristics
in order to play their weaknesses. The best of all players
sit in this category - Tight Aggressive No Limit Texas Holdem
players need to be identified early on and avoided at
all cost. Find one and you should re-examine your table
selection (yes you should move table). Real life examples
of this type of player would be Howard Lederer and Erick Lindgren.
Calling Stations
Calling stations present an interesting playing style and
are the second most common type you'll find in online poker.
By definition fairly weak, these players rarely take the
initiative and thereby have to rely on the luck of running
up against an aggressive player while holding the nut or
near nut hand. More often than not these people will lose
because they are:
1) Playing their cards and not their opponent
2) Have no initiative
3) Regularly rely on card catching strategies
It's worth pointing out at this stage that card catching
is a bad idea in almost any circumstances (except as part
of a semi-bluff play).
Maniacs
Maniacs are a rare breed of player seldom seen in low limit
or tournament Texas Holdem Poker games. They have no fear
of losing, indeed it'll look like they want to, and it is
this that sets them apart from most players online today.
Difficult to play against, these opponents rely on your
fear of losing your stack to gain chips. Often seen with
large chip stacks relative to the table, Maniacs will bet
large regularly, and whatever hand you choose to play, it
is likely that you will have to be prepared to go all-in
with it. No card catching against these opponents - if you
try you will be punished. The identification of Maniacs is
easy, as is your assault on their playing style. Clearly the
weakness these players have is that they are susceptible to
large pocket pairs (AA, KK, QQ, even AK). The difficulty is
that you will likely have to wait a good number of cards
before you get to play such a hand. Maniacs are far from
stupid (they often evolve in experience terms from Rocks
or Calling Stations that have read Doyle Brunson's Super
System books and progressed from there. To hit them properly
you have to either get lucky early on with the big pair or
play enough cards so you are not identified as a waiting
Rock (obviously you don't want them to get out of your way
when the time is right). If you beat an aggressive Maniac
once, you'll find they go on Tilt really easily, which provides
further opportunity for the brave. I recall hitting one for
$800 from $200 in 3 hands because he went all-in 3 times in
a row with no cards at all. He incorrectly judged that I
would fold rather than re-stake my entire winnings on each
of the next 2 poker hands. Fortunately for me they were
fairly solid starting hands in the circumstances but I can
tell you it's not easy going all-in pre-flop for $500 with
just King Jack. I'd be mad to do that in any other circumstance
but I felt I had a good read on the player type and his hand
which turned out to be 92 unsuited didn't stand up.
Hopefully you'll observe playing styles and look to pick
off Rocks and Calling Stations. If you come up against a
tight (particularly Tight Aggressive) player, with no other
easy to beat players around, you should move on. I've been
at many tables where the poor players have lost and left,
the good ones remain, and one off those triggers the table's
break up by saying "no easy money here, the only winner will
be the rake, lets move on." If you've not had this said to you,
or you've not made the statement yourself then consider that
you may be a fish.
