Steps 1-5 provided you with some simple, basic rules of thumb for good no-limit play. Steps 6 and 7 are slightly different. They demand a little more interpretation from you, the reader, but once mastered, you’ll be able to use them for the remainder of your no-limits career.
This section discusses adjusting to your opponents. Every player has a weakness. In your local $1-$2 game, you’ll see that the majority of your opponents have massive, obvious flaws. Winning poker is about playing tight, keeping in position, and pulling the trigger, but it’s also about exploiting your opponents’ weaknesses.
Every dollar you win comes from your opponent. Every opponent performs well in some instances but poorly in others. If you want to win the greatest money, you must identify and recreate scenarios in which your opponents throw their money away. That is exactly what adapting is about.
Player Classification
You’re undoubtedly familiar with the “standard” player classifications: loose-aggressive, weak-tight, loose-passive/calling station, tight-aggressive, and so on. Although I frequently use these groupings, they sometimes be extremely broad. Three players may all play a lot of hands and raise a lot, therefore coming under the loose-aggressive category, but they play extremely differently and have very different vulnerabilities. Players are not defined solely by the number of hands they play and how frequently they raise.
You should also consider the types of hands they play, how frequently they slowplay or checkraise, how often and in what situations they like to bluff, which hands they bring to showdown, how deeply they think when reading hands, and much more.
Nonetheless, I plan to use the umbrellas indicated above for this essay. Don’t take them too literally; flaws might appear enormous and little, and you want to exploit them all. But, as you’re presumably most familiar with those categories, we’ll discuss how to adapt to take advantage of them.
Exploiting Weak-Tight Players
Weak-tight players fold excellent cards too frequently after the flop, and they don’t raise enough, either as a bluff or with well-made hands. They also play tight pre-flop.
If someone does not raise frequently enough, you can wager more hands. Betting puts pressure on your opponents, and if you often play in position (as you should), constant betting is difficult to defend against. The greatest defensive is a checkraise, although weak-tight players rarely utilize it. As a result, they become passive participants.
Their strong suit is playing large pots. Because they fold all but their best hands, it’s difficult to win a large pot from them because they always have a fantastic hand in the big ones. So don’t attempt to win a large pot. Instead, win a large number of modest and medium-sized pots.
Here is the basic strategy. When the weak-tight player enters the pot and you have position (ideally on the button or in the cutoff to avoid intervention from other players), raise. The ability to isolate the weak-tight player is more crucial than having a great hand. However, avoid extremely terrible hands until you feel comfortable changing gears.
This is an exception to the Play Tight guideline from Step 1. If you can rely on your opponent to fold without an outstanding hand after the flop, it doesn’t matter what you have. However, try to guarantee that you only play against the weakest player. If others enter the pot, you’re simply playing a bad hand.
The purpose of the preflop raise is twofold:
- Isolate the weak-tight
- Get more money into the pot
You want to put more money into the pot so you can win more if your opponent folds. Simply ensure that you have left enough money behind to launch effective bluffs on the flop and turn. After your opponent calls and checks the flop, place a modest wager. If your opponent calls, look at the flip to see what hands he may have called with and whether he would fold to a turn bet. When you believe you have a good probability of success, follow up with a turn bluff.
If you’re new to adjusting to opponents, don’t go crazy right away. Simply lift an extra button whenever a weak-tight player enters. Follow up on the flip and turn, and see what happens. Then try it several times. Learn what works and what doesn’t, then do more of what works. Learning poker is essentially a trial-and-error process, so expect to make plenty of mistakes.
Beating Loose-Passive Players
Pre-flop, you should normally play tight. You can relax a little when you have position, and you can isolate the loose-passive player with a raise. Raising preflop is frequently for isolation rather than pot building, as loose-passive players will build the pot after the flop by calling with inferior hands.
Postflop, you wager on your strong hands. When you flip excellent hands such as two pair or a set, go for the large pot. You may also play for large pots with top pair and a good kicker. Solid players rarely call off their stack with a hand that cannot beat top pair/good kicker, whereas loose-passive players frequently do. Because their calling requirements are lower, you can work certain marginal hands harder. If you flop top pair with ace-king, you should frequently look to go all-in versus a loose-passive opponent.
You can even wager on worse hands. Hands like K♠ 4♠ on a K ♥9♦6♦ flop and Q ♥T♠ on a K♠ T♣ 2♦ flop can be valuable against a loose-passive player. You don’t want to go all-in (unless the stacks are short), but you’ll have an advantage if your loose-passive opponent doesn’t raise you.
Don’t make large bluffs. You can try some tiny bluffs when the loose-passive player appears to have nothing. However, the primary strategy is to play in position, flop a solid hand, and bet it.
Beating Loose-Aggressive Players
Loose-aggressive players frustrate many people. They play “crap,” yet they are aggressive and can exert pressure on you. Their underlying flaw is that they put too much money into the pot with a bad hand. You use it in this way:
- Step 1: Play Tight
- Step 2: Don’t Play Out of Position
- Step 3: Don’t Overcommit in Small Pots Step
- 4: Big Pots for Big Hands
- Step 5: Pull the Trigger
It may sound flippant, but what you’ve learned in the first five phases is the key to defeating loose-aggressive opponents. They put too much money in with weak hands, leaving them vulnerable to losing large pots to powerful hands and being bluffed out. You want to avoid having major conflicts with them while you are vulnerable. And if you play close and in position, you will have an advantage over them. The same strategy works against tight-aggressive players; you just have a smaller advantage because they are also playing tight and in position.
Wrapping It Up
Adjusting to your opponent is an important component of no-limit. If you play the same way against everyone, you’ll pass up some of the most profitable opportunities. Look for holes in your opponents’ play and then create opportunities to exploit them.
Aggression is the major no-limit weapon, and passive players don’t employ it effectively. You can exploit this weakness by betting more hands. You bluff more versus weak-tight players, while you bet more on value against loose-passive ones.
Loose-aggressive players utilize aggression, but they can be careless about it. They risked too much money without the goods to back it up. You take use of this reality by keeping the pot small when you’re vulnerable and making large bluffs and value bets when you’re in a solid position. That way, you’ll lose smaller pots while winning larger ones.
Most of your opponents will not fall neatly into any group or pigeonhole. Don’t try to cram them in where they don’t belong. Examine how each of your opponents plays, consider all of the mistakes they make, and modify your strategy to generate and exploit those opportunities.
