The 4 basic villain types you face at small stakes games-- and how to play against them.

Today's post is a 15-minute audio on classifying--and exploiting--villain types at the low-stakes tables:

Some key takeaways and additional points not raised in the podcast:

• Most of the opponents you face at low-stakes games will have big leaks and weaknesses.
• Finding these weaknesses—and learning to hand read—begins with stereotyping and classifying the villains.
• The most basic and important classification looks at two related aspects of the villain's preflop hand selection: a) how loose (or tight) the player is; and b) aggressive (or passive) the player is with their two starting cards. These are represented by "VPIP" and "PFR" statistics, respectively.
• We can plot these two factors on a two-dimensional “PATL” grid.
• There are four basic, broad categories of villains you'll play against at the low-stakes poker tables. They can be categorized by which quadrant of the PATL grid they land in.
• The quadrant of the PATL chart that the villain resides in will give a big clue as to the types of mistakes (if any) they make.

• Tight-Aggressive Villains. Good players can be found in the upper left quadrant of the chart. These players are known as tight-aggressive, TAgs, regs, and/or pros. 
• TAgs play a tight, selective preflop style, playing only a fraction of the hands dealt to them, but doing so very aggressively. This is the recommended preflop style of play for beating most low-stakes games.
• You can spot a TAg by the fact that on average they're playing about one in five or six hands dealt to them, and doing so with serious aggression. They're also playing a very positionally-aware style, being much tighter in EP, and looser in LP. They're often taking control of hands, and will raise draws on the flop as semi-bluffs, and will bet-fold rivers.
• TAgs are the trickiest of players to counter. They don't make many mistakes, but it's still generally best to play straightforward against them. In general, your profit is going to come from other players--not these guys; you'll mostly just trade chips back and forth with other TAgs at the table if you're a good player, too.
• If you can, sit to the left of these players to help minimize the damage.

• Tight-Passive Villains. Players in the lower left corner of the chart are know as tight-passive, weak-tight, nittish, timids, or rock-like. 
• These players play few hands, but unlike TAgs, they mostly just call when involved in a hand, with very little raising in general, even post-flop.They often make a small profit or are marginally break-even, primarily because they stay out of trouble and make few big pot mistakes. They generally value position, but they don't open up as much in LP as a TAg.
• These players generally fold too much preflop, and give up on pots too easily after the flop is dealt unless this hit it very hard (TPTK or better). If they hit moderatly hard, they'll sometimes call a single bet, sometimes with strong draws, but then will give up on the turn if they don't improve.
• These players can be bluffed relatively easily, both preflop (steals) and postflop with c-bets on flop and turn. On the other hand, it's hard to get a lot of value from these players, as their tendency is to fold if bet into.
• If one of these players bets and/or raises, it's probable they have a very strong hand. Proceed cautiously and only with strong made hands that can withstand a showdown. These players rarely if ever bluff.

• Loose-Passive Villains. Players in the lower right corner of the chart are known as loose-passive, LAps, calling stations, no fold'em hold'em players, sheriffs, fish, and/or ATMs. Almost all LAps at low-stakes tables are long-term losers.
• These LAps play a lot of hands and call a lot-- far too much, both preflop and postflop. They're poor players in general and make a lot of "let's see a flop and make a hand" mistakes. They don't usually understand position, or if they do, they don't employ it very strongly in their preflop starting hand strategy. Often any two suited cards are good enough for them to play. A common saying you'll hear from them is, "you can't win if you don't play."
• You should not usually try to bluff these players; they won’t fold even their weakest hands to aggression.
• Against these players, you should bet your medium and strong value hands on all three streets to build a pot and get paid off. Value is the name of the game to beating these guys, and in fact the majority of your profit at small-stakes tables will come from LAps.
• You will occasionally get bad-beaten by these players because they stick around with crazy stuff that a normal player would have smartly folded two streets early. When you take a bad beat by one of these guys, remind yourself that results don't matter; decisions do; and, if you don't want to play against bad players, who do you want to play against? Over time, you will make a lot more value money from these guys than you lose to them on bad beats.

• Loose-Aggressive Villains. Players in the upper right of the PATL grid are said to be loose-aggressive, or LAgs. Some professional and semi-professional players employ this style with good results (but also with high variance); this Bug is one of them. Extreme players in this quadrant are known as maniacs. Aside from the pro's, most LAgs at small stakes are losing players.
• These players play a lot of hands and raise most of them. Because of this, they often put too much money into the pot with their weak holdings and then have trouble getting off the hand, even when they know they're beat. They like love to bluff, often with multiple barrels on multiple streets.
• Open up your game a bit against bad LAgs, and try to do so in position. By definition, they're playing too many hands, which means weak holdings. If possible, seat change to be on their left. They usually undervalue position in their own play, and isolating them with your big hands can be very profitable.
• Don’t over-committ against these players with your weakest holdings. If you do have a medium or strong hand, however, you should be willing to play a big pot with them, often for stacks. Variance is something you'll have to get used to when playing against a LAg.
• Be wary of the professional LAg, as they will be hand reading well and will not pay you off.

Hope this helps you focus your game. Learning to classify players is the first step in the hand-reading process, and if you make even small adjustments based on the tendencies and style of play of the villains at your table, you'll be way ahead of most of the other players competing for pots.

All-in for now...

-Bug

Player Types - Part 2

In my last post (here) I wrote that we can sort the players we face at a poker table into seven basic categories. These categories are based on two distinct preflop traits of the player: VPIP and PFR. One way to visualize this is to create a two-axis graph with VPIP along the horizontal X-axis, and PFR up the vertical Y-axis. Every player we face at the tables can be located somewhere on this chart. The more hands the player voluntarily gets involved with before the flop, the farther to the right they are on the chart. Similarly, the more aggressive they are before the flop, the higher they get placed in the vertical direction:

For example, a player who only plays premium, high-quality hands, but does so in a relatively passive (read: non-raising) fashion, is said to be a Nit or a Rock. This person would be found in the lower left of the chart. When a player like this actually does raise, you need to look out; he or she probably has a very, very big hand:

In contrast, so-called Break-Even or Recreational players typically understand that they need to play more hands than a Nit, but they sometimes go too far. They also know that they're supposed to raise, but they haven't quite mastered the skill of applying aggression hard enough and/or selectively enough in their game to win consistently. This type of player is usually someone who has read a book or two on poker, and is trying to play properly, but isn't quite there yet:

Then there are those players who take the idea of playing more hands way too far, but also remain relatively passive. These players are called P-Fish (for "Passive") or Calling Stations. Players like this usually can't be bluffed very effectively, so the way to beat them is to take them to value town with your good hands, and quit when you miss:

If someone plays a lot of hands like a P-Fish, but does so in an aggressive manner, we would call him or her an A-Fish (Aggressive Fish). At the extreme upper right hand corner of this group would be the so-called Maniacs. Like P-Fish, bluffing doesn't work very well with these types of players. Betting for value is usually a good option against them, but just as frequently you an let them bet for you; i.e., you can play more passively against them with your big hands, letting them bet and raise, and you just call down. At some point in the hand, when they feel pot committed, you can start raising, too:

In the upper left hand corner of the VPIP vs. PFR chart are the players that are Level-1 and beginning Level-2 winners. This is what is usually taught to new students of the game as the basic formula for winning. TAG (Tight-AGressive) or Reg (for "Regulars") are the standard terms used for these players. They play a selective group of hands, and when they do so they play them very aggressively. This is the most common way to play winning poker, especially at the low limits. It can be a bit ABC and, therefore, exploitable. These players are also bluffable:

To the right of the TAGs on the chart are the so-called LAG (Loose-AGressive) players. Most professional players and solid Level-2 players adopt this style of play, as it's more profitable (and less exploitable) than plain ABC TAG play. On the other hand, it's much harder to play this style, and you have to be really good at reading your opponents' hand ranges. The variance can also be more extreme on your bankroll via a LAG approach:

Here are all six basic types shown together:

But wait a minute. Didn't I write that there were seven types of players based on VPIP and PFR? Yep, I sure did. The seventh player is the true master of the game. This is the villain who actively changes his style of play to counter the way his opponents are playing. I call this type of player the Gear Change Specialist, or GCS, as they can effortlessly shift gears, moving their starting hand requirements between tight and loose, and their aggression between aggressive and passive to suit the current table dynamics. If they find themselves at a table of Nits? No problem, they adapt by playing somewhere between LAG and Maniac. Their opponents are Recreational players? Again, no problem, they adopt a basic TAG style. They're surrounded by Maniacs? Again, no problem; they simply tighten up their range and play more passively.

When players first start out, they almost always play a Nit or P-Fish style, with an emphasis on the latter. As they get better, they transition to Rec style, and eventually, TAG. Then they begin playing LAG, but frequently go back and forth between TAG and LAG as their bankroll gets beat-up and they learned the winning LAG style. And finally, at the higher stakes, winning players either stagnate at TAG or LAG style, or they truly advance their game by morphing into the GCS style. IMHO, this is where you should strive to play... and if and when you do master Gear Change Specialist style, you can exploit and attack the other six styles with ease.

All-in for now...
-Bug

Player Types - Part 1

Poker is a game of incomplete information. We have limited facts upon which to base our reads. People are actively and constantly trying to deceive us. We don’t always know why someone is betting, checking, or calling. Are they bluffing, or do they have the goods? Do they want us to bet, or are they afraid if we do? Everyone wants you to believe the opposite of what they’re actually doing. In other words, poker may be a game of incomplete information, but this is just another way of saying that it is ultimately a game of deception.

To cut through all this duplicity and start putting players on hand ranges, we have to start by sorting our opponents into different categories. The problem, however, is that there are all manner and variety of players that we encounter at the tables. There are reckless cowboys, timid calling stations, clueless amateurs, and skilled young professionals. Ages range from the very young to the very old. Skill levels also vary, as do the amount of table time a player has under their belt. Some players are aggressive, while others are passive. Some play straightforward ABC poker, while others think FPS and bluffing should be part of every hand. Some players fold nearly every hand that they are dealt, while others almost never fold before the flop.

It seems that there are as many different types and tendencies of players as there are people. Yet if we could somehow sort all these different players into a few basic categories, we’d have a leg up on the process of putting these players on hands. Professionals do this initial “sorting” based on a number of factors, but chief among these are the actions they observe their opponents make at the table. A good pro can figure out what category a player fits into in just a couple laps of the table. They then continuously refine and adjust these initial reads from that point onward. In other words, they pigeonhole their opponents, which allows them to start to understand the types of hands these opponents are likely to play in various situations. As the game progresses, the professional is able to make more and more accurate reads based on this information.

So if we want to learn how to do this "sorting" of players, how do we get started? What are the basic categories of players we'll face? In my humble opinion, there are seven basic subsets into which we can slot our opponents. And these seven categories are based primarily on two actions* that are very easy for us to observe and take note of at the tables: 1) how many hands they play; and 2) how aggressive they are with these hands.

These two numbers are of course "Voluntarily Puts Money Into the Pot" (VPIP) and "PreFlop Raise Percentage" (PFR). In the next blog post (here) I'll tell you what the seven categories are, and I'll explain how these two numbers factor in. Then we can start assigning hand ranges to each player type, and then start formulating ways to counter and attack them.

Understanding who we're playing against--and what their strengths, weaknesses, traits, and tendencies are--is one of the first steps in learning how to beat them.

All-in for now...
-Bug
*There are obviously other important factors we’ll add to these two as we learn how to make reads (e.g., tricky vs. straightforward, positionally-aware vs. not, playing with "scared money" vs. not, etc.) but we’ll start with these two very basic factors at first: VPIP and PFR.