There are a lot of poker tips that can guide you to play poker online in a more advanced manner. Away from the common poker tips that describe to you the strategies and how to play poker online, this text takes you through the types of online poker players and how to identify them. When learning how to play poker online, it would be a better idea if you got at least an idea of the types of poker players you are going to meet so that you can know how to play against them. These players are identified with the style of play they use from two distinguishing features; starting hands and betting pattern.
The Rock
This style describes the players who hardly bet and raises, nit players also fall under this category. Their game is always tight-passive and you can be sure that most of the time they are holding a strong hand. This kind of players are patient enough to wait for the ultra-premium hands, they only play Queens, Kings, Aces, and AK at times. The good thing about this kind of play is that losses are reduced due to limitations on good starting hands. The downside is that you won’t be able to maximize your profits on the good hands when playing poker online.
In case you are playing poker online against a Rock player, you need to keep in mind a few tips. If the player is on the blinds, you can try stealing them from the late position using a 3BB raise. You should play the best starting hands and fold all the other hole cards when the rock raises a preflop or bets. Finally, you should always check whenever you get a drawing hand during the flop.
The Maniac
These are the types of players who play almost every hand, they also raise and re-raise with whichever two cards they have. They are mostly not serious or just creating too much action for fun. It sounds easy to play against such a player, but the downside is that they present your game with serious threats since they are over aggressive. For this reason, they put you on tests hence giving your bankroll a lot of swings. Most of the time, maniacs essentially put the whole table on tilt hence creating very profitable situations for players who employ the right strategies while being calm.
The Calling Station
This type of players also hardly bet or raise but play more starting hands and they are mostly associated with the beginners. When playing poker online, you might see such players hitting the flop and not betting fearing that their opponents are folding or in case they fail to reach the flop, they just call bets since their opponent could either be bluffing or they could hit on the turn. Ideally, there is no way you can make any profit by playing this type of poker online. The advantage it has is that when there a lot of aggressive players at the same table, they are the ones who bet against some of the passive and tight players. This type of poker also allows for high implied odds to bring more profit if the practical stacks are large enough.
If you want to play well against a calling station player then you only bet with good hands and never bluff them since they will still call your bluffs. If you have strong hands, try making unusually higher pre-flop raises considering the calling station is sitting in the blinds or already in the hand. If such a player bets, just fold the medium strength hands you have.
The Loose-Aggressive(LAG) and the Tight-Aggressive(TAG) Players
The tight-aggressive plays few hands and frequently raises or bets but hardly makes calls. This type of game is mostly played by multi-tabling regulars in MTT`s and SnG`s.
To play right against a TAG players, try to steal their blinds if you are in the late position. When they raise or bet pre-flop, fold everything except the best starting hands and always play the hands aggressively. Generally, the tight-aggressive play stands to be the most be the most profitable. When playing this strategy, limit or totally avoid the number of TAGs at your table.
The loose-aggressive, on the other hand, plays a lot of hands, frequently raises and bets, and hardly calls bets. This type of poker is highly risky and should, therefore, be avoided by inexperienced players.