If you want to be a successful online poker player you must learn how to “read” players and distribute them into categories. The easiest way to do it is according to their preflop and flop kind of play, so let’s split out each category.
According to the preflop play, a player may be:
Tight: Calls the flop from 5% to 8%. It is the recommended for every player, this kind of player calls the flop in a right way and it is a dangerous opponent. Less than 5% is too tight and you won’t even notice that guy in the table.
Loose: Calls the flop from 10% to 20%. Plays some crap hands or usually calls the flop because he was too much time without calling a flop and is bored, it is a profitable player as you can catch him easily. More than 20% is just a fool.
Then according to the way they play the cards we can basically split them into 2 categories.
Aggressive: It is the player that once he is in the flop, will play aggressively his cards, with frequent raises and reraises.
Passive: It is the kind of player that when the pot gets too hot and the money too high, will fold the hand. Usually checks if he is not sure if his hand.
So, making the mix we got 4 main playing styles:
Tight + Aggressive = Solid player: This is the kind of player you must fear. They play with good cards only and once they go to a flop they can bluff or hit a good combination because they for sure play with suited cards or nice pairs. Your objective as an online poker player is to become a Solid player.
Loose + Aggressive = Maniac: Maniac players call, bluff and raise a lot. Playing against them is pretty easy, just play as a solid player and when you hit a good hand, let him do the job of raising or reraising, you will make money from him for sure. Some maniac players play barely every hand until they got out of chips… they are really profitable players.
Tight + Passive = Rocky: This kind of player goes unnoticed in the table, he calls very little hands and once he has called them, he folds the most part of the times. Playing at them is easy, let them be. They are not annoying in the table and just bet them and they will flee, however, if this kind of player reraises he is likely to have a monster hand, fold immediately.
Loose + Passive = Sandstone: It is the kind of player which starts the hand very strong, but fades away when the action gets too hot. Making some reraises scares them away from the table and they don’t usually reraise themselves… they are very predictable players. The best way is to call the flop with good cards and then bet.
These guidelines are only scratching the surface, there are much more strategies to play every player in each situation.
