$18.75 $32.99 New fashion striped poker print short sleeve T-shirt. $17.71 Street style poker print short sleeve T-shirt. $25.00 Poker color matching printed short sleeve shirt. $43.99 $82.99 Mens black and white gradient print suit. $18.75 Poker color matching T-shirt. Tight, aggressive, loose: discover the main poker styles Tactical thinking and hard-headed calculations are key to poker, however this does not mean that personality does not also influence the game. As you play more, you will come to identify different styles of play by the way people bet, raise and fold. Poker playing styles explained. The first word - tight and loose. The first word of each playing style describes how many hands a player is perceived to be playing, and they will either be describes as being 'tight' or 'loose'. A tight player will play very few hands, and only play premium hands that have a good chance of winning. Poker Playing Styles Definition. Before going deep into the analysis of common playing styles in poker, you need to be familiar with all the terms below: Tight: Playing only the best hands in a small fraction. Loose: Playing different hands. Poker is a fascinating game where players personalities often translate to the poker table. In this article, we’re going to look at seven common playing styles in 2021.

Poker is a fascinating game where players personalities often translate to the poker table. In other words, if you know how a person behaves at the table, you can often predict the style of poker player they are too. Naturally, it is not a universal truth that every player behaves how they are in life. Some people play just for the fun of it and don’t adopt specific playing styles. In this article, we’re going to look at seven common playing styles in 2021.

Contents

1. The Nit

A nit is a term reserved for players who play ultra-conservatively. You can find these types of players at low to mid stakes. They’re the type of player that might even be churning out a small win rate based on rakeback or careful game selection.

It’s a style that employs playing very few hands and taking very few chances. You won’t see them showing down junky or questionable starting hands. They are only interested in playing premium hands. Some nits try to slowplay or set traps too. This rarely works and often results in missing value though. Texas Hold’em Questions describe nit poker as losing poker due to the evolution of aggression in online poker so it’s not a style to aspire to. Most players avoid paying off a nit as their style is transparent even at the low stake’s games online.

2. Wannabe Professional

These are ten a penny at the casinos and mid stakes games. They’re the players who have watched the pros on TV or watched them on Twitch and do their utmost to replicate. They fail to realise that professionals are playing in higher stakes games where dynamics are totally different.

A wannabe professional is likely to have some technical ability and understand key concepts but often lack other skills like game selection, humility, table awareness or patience. Wannabe professionals could be professionals if they stopped trying to copy idols and found their own style.

3. Tight Aggressive (TAG)

These are solid, reliable players that are usually maintaining a good win-rate at poker. You can find them at any stakes as it’s one of the most profitable styles to implement. There are fewer TAG players at micro stakes as most of them would move up to low stakes.

It’s a style that uses calculated aggression and solid starting ranges to exploit opponents who are overplaying or playing too cautiously. The tight aggressive brand of poker has been the default way to play for most pros online. This is also the style that most poker training sites, poker forums and instructional videos suggest intermediate players to adopt.

4. Calling Stations

There are fewer stations around than years gone by but they still lurk at most games online. These are aptly named calling stations due to their inability to fold. No doubt they are almost all losing poker players. After all, you can’t win at poker if you don’t fold from time to time. These players will never throw away top pair or a solid pocket pair. It doesn’t matter what the betting is, they’re sticking around. The best way to beat these is to value bet thinly and go easy on the bluffing. Calling stations don’t care what you have and are only fixated on their own.

5. Robots

Bots are a fascinating area of discussion in online poker. Whilst there has been a reported rise in poker bots in the online poker community, very few of them are advanced enough to earn money. Most of them are used to claim bonuses or earn rakeback at low stakes. The robot style I am referring to is that of a predictable, ABC player that makes the same moves all the time. These players are break-even or possibly small winning players, taking advantage of rakeback and the smallest of edges. They play the same on any table and are probably 8 tabling the same stakes.

A robotic playing style is common among players who are bored of poker. They’ve hit a ceiling in their ability, played for years and don’t want to quit. They’re happy making a side income and lack the ambition or hard work to try new ways of playing. These players occupy full ring games and SNGs. They know their hand selection and push/fold charts and won’t deviate from it. This is not a fun style of poker.

6. Loose Aggressive (LAG)

The loose aggressive movement gained popularity several years ago and continues to be the style many winning players dream to use. It affords players to play more hands and make intricate and complex bluffs. This is all well and good for those that can pull it off but it’s not realistic for the majority.

The LAG style really falls into two groups, good LAGs and bad LAGs. I would estimate the ratio is 5:1 in favour of bad LAGs. Most players adopting this style don’t have the technical skills post flop to pull it off successfully.

The loose aggressive poker playing style should be reserved for those with many years’ experience. Only those who have played many hands can attempt to use it with any degree of success.

7. Professionals

Professionals are those that make money from poker. They aren’t one specific playing style. They are adapting to you and the table, finding the most profitable way to take opponents money. Professionals are easy to find at the table. They aren’t blowing up or making crazy sized bets often. They’re taking advantage of everyone else’s’ shortcomings.

These players making up a very small amount of the poker playing pool. So, you don’t have to worry about them. Very few of them play the low stakes games. Those that are play from a foreign country where fifty dollars goes far. For the most part, it’s in your interest to avoid these at the table. You want to win the most money you can and it’s going to come from the other players, not professionals.

Different Types of Poker Playing Styles & Poker Personality

Different Types of Poker Playing Styles & Poker Personality

A player is known by how he selects his hands, which cards he folds and which he/she calls or raises – that’s the primary difference between an amateur poker player and a professional. The starting hands and the betting patterns of a player usually define the type of playing style of a poker player.

Starting hands: Does the opponent play tight (few hands) or loose (many hands)?
Betting pattern: Does the opponent bet aggressive (frequently) or passive (rarely)?

So, there are two factors that define the general playing styles –
i) Tight vs.Loose
ii) Passive vs. Aggressive.

Starting Hands

• Tight poker players usually play a small number of only the best hands (AA, KK, AK).
  Also, a tight poker player generally plays less than 15% of the starting hands (55 + A7S + , A5s, A9o +, K9s +, KJo +, QJs)
• Loose poker players usually play a wide variety of hands (A3, T9, 75o).
  Also, a loose poker player generally plays the top 40% of the starting hands (33 +, A2 +, K2S +, K5o +, Q5s +, Q8o +, J7s +, J9o +, T8s)

As someone rightly put it, “Being tight or loose doesn’t necessarily refer to how somebody plays their hand, but merely the selection of hands that they play.”

Betting Patterns

The betting pattern is the relationship between betting and raising to calling. Also, you have to take into consideration the risk tolerance factor, as well.

• If any opponent bets or raises twice as often as he calls, he is known to be playing aggressively.
  Aggressive poker players raise more than call and are not afraid to put chips at risk.
• If an opponent calls more often then he bets or raises, he is known to be playing passively.
  Passive poker players tend to avoid confrontation and play with a fear of losing.

So, a player can play in four different possible combinations. Here are the 4 basic types of playing styles in poker, which can be displayed in a 2×2 matrix-

• Tight-Passive: The Rock
• Tight-Aggressive: The TAG
• Loose-Passive: The Calling Station
• Loose-Aggressive: The LAG

Loose-Passive

• • • Play passively (makes few bets, but more calls)
    • Plays a lot of hands (greater than 25-40%)
    • Minimal share of winning players

Strategy: Playing against a Calling Station (Loose-Passive Players)-

• Bet with good hands only.
• Do not try to bluff a Calling Station as they will end up calling/raising you anyway
• Make higher than usual pre-flop raises from a late position if they are sitting in the blinds
• Don’t play medium strength hands, fold and live to win another day

Even though not totally impossible, it is highly impractical to play in a loose-passive style and make a profit in online poker. The end result is almost always the same – the calling station gets bust.

Tight-Passive

• • • Play passively (makes few bets, but more calls)
    • Plays a few hands (less than 15-20%)
    • Minimal share of winning players

Strategy: Playing against a Rock (Tight-Passive Players)-

• Go for the player’s blinds with a 3BB raise from late position
• Play the very best starting hands, don’t raise with weak hole cards
• Since such players rarely bet, check instead of calling on the flop to see the next board card without staking more money.

Poker Chip Styles

A tight-passive player can significantly reduce his/her losses as they refrain from calling often. But, by playing this way, a player cannot get maximum profits on his/her good hands.

Loose-Aggressive

• • • Plays aggressively (makes many bets, but few calls)
    • Plays a lot of hands (greater than 25-40%)
    • Average share of winning players – high winnings, high losses

Strategy: Playing against a LAG (Loose-Aggressive Players)-

• Play more hands than usual against a LAG
• Raise with strong hands on the flop against a LAG, if he/she bets before the flop
• Wait for the LAG to raise his bets when he/she is sitting in a later position than you

The LAG style of play is most used by professionals while playing tournaments. It is important to note that LAG is a high-risk strategy play and should not be played by just about anyone.

Tight-Aggressive

• • Plays aggressively (makes many bets, but few calls)
  • Plays a few hands (less than 15-20%)
  • High share of winning players

Strategy: Playing against a TAG (Tight-Aggressive Players)-

Poker Styles Quiz

• You can steal a TAG player’s blinds if you are sitting in late position
• On pre-flop raises, play only with the very best of hands
• Re-raise only with the strongest cards (AA, KK, QQ etc.)

Since TAG players bet with only the best hands, they have the highest chance to win the pot when they do play a hand. Most poker pundits agree that the tight-aggressive strategy (TAG) in poker in the most profitable one.

Free Spin Poker No Download

There are also two other types of poker players who have the following playing styles-

The Nit: almost always folds the very few (<15%) starting hands he/she plays. Many Rocks and some TAGs are Nits. Nits only call or bet if they have a very strong hand
The Maniac: plays very loosely and very aggressive player. Don’t go on tilt if the maniac wins with weak cards. But, in the end, the maniac will always go bust.

It’s only by knowing how to master the basics do you become a poker player who is taken very seriously by his/her opponents. Learn more about the basics of poker-

Learn Texas Holdem Poker
Poker Diaries: Online Poker vs Offline Poker – The Similarities, The Differences
Poker Diaries: Best Starting Hands in Texas Holdem Poker