4 Basic Styles of Play
Broadly speaking there are 2 ‘scales’ to consider when analysing a player in poker.
1 – How ‘Tight’ or ‘Loose’ the player is
2 – How ‘Passive’ or ‘Aggressive’ a player is.
A tight player plays few hands whilst a loose player plays many hands, an aggressive player creates a lot of action (betting and raising) and a passive player follows the action (mainly calling or checking).
Combining the above possibilities gives us 4 types of player:
Tight Passive – someone who is extremely conservative, playing very few hands and mainly calling and checking when in those hands, following other peoples actions and deciding what to do (how comfortable they are) based on what others do in the game.
Loose Passive – someone who plays lots of hands but when doing so plays them passively, mainly calling and checking and waiting for others to make the bets and raises then deciding how to respond (usually whether to call, check or fold).
Loose Aggressive (LAGs) – someone who plays lots of hands and also plays them aggressively, making bets and raises – this kind of player can be very dangerous, also known as a maniac if on the more extreme end of the scale.
Tight Aggressive (TAGs) – someone who plays few hands but when they do plays them aggressively.
These are not just types of players but also poker strategies, meaning that someone who is inclined to play tight passive may choose to play a more tight aggressive style of play in certain situations etc.
As these are scales as we get more advanced then Loose Aggressive could have another category added known as Slightly Loose Aggressive (yes, you guessed it, SLAGs – somewhere in-between tight aggressive and loose aggressive).
Worth noting, better players tend to be more toward the tight aggressive style of play most of the time. i.e. they play very few hands and when they do they play them very aggressively. Getting it right though is a fine art because if that is all you do, along with people knowing that you are a good player, then people will simply fold when you play and bet aggressively knowing you play few cards and are therefore likely to have a very good hand. Even if not sue they may fold anyway knowing that you play so aggressively and not being willing to throw a lot of chips in to find out.
So knowing a players style of play (or even the possible ways of playing) is useful, but as with everything in poker, when to adopt certain strategies? … it depends.
Poker is all about reading people and situations. Thats what tells you when to adopt which strategy and which cards to play.