Players's Characters in Texas hold'em

 

Poker players tend to fall into one of several recognised categories, displaying most or all of the tendencies you'd associate with that type of character. Your ability to recognise these characters and the attributes they posses will enhance both your game and profitability.

Different poker pundits and writers may give them their own names but the various types of characters will still fall into roughly the same categories:

FISH

The weakest of all known poker players, the Fish is poorly regarded by their opponents and with good reason. A Fish will usually play way too many hands, insist on calling most bets, even when they have very poor starting hands or long shots to an out and it is almost impossible to bluff them out of a hand. If a Fish has hit anything they will take that hand all the way to the river.

Your very best bet for playing against a Fish is to wait until you've got a hand and just string them along for as many chips as you can get off them. A Fish has no discipline and no patience, and they will lose their chips eventually.

From time to time a Fish is going to get very lucky against you but if bad players didn't get lucky from time to time they wouldn't play at all. Just take your loss when it comes and know that your superior play will almost certainly pay off in the long run.

 

WEAK-TIGHT

A player defined as weak-tight will usually have a pretty good grasp of the game and will possess a good starting hand selection. Their downfall comes though from the fact that they are too tight in their play, often doubting the strength of their own hand and being willing to give up too easily in the face of aggressive play.

A bet or a raise will usually show you where you are against a weak-tight player, as they tend to fold when they don't have a good hand. If they call and then re-raise you later you can be absolutely sure that they have the hand they were after.

Unlike a Fish, the weak-tight player has to be respected because they do know enough to trap somebody when they have a good hand. If a bet or a raise doesn't push them out of a pot then you need to proceed with caution against them.

 

ROCK

You will always be able tospot a Rock at a table. They will sit and wait for a top five starting hand before they get involved in a pot, playing so rarely that the moment they do get in on the action you can't help but notice it. Once a Rock does have a good hand they will bet strongly and you should only continue against them if you yourself have either a very strong hand or a draw to one.

A Rock will, from time to time, use their table image to steal a pot or the Blinds, because everyone will assume they must have a hand. If that happens then don't worry about it - let them have their prize. The best time to play against them is when you have a good hand!

MANIAC

A Maniac will also be known as a loose-aggressive or super-aggressive player. They will play as many hands as a Fish and their starting hand criteria will be extremely loose, but instead of passively calling and limping into pots they will always be raising and re-raising.

A maniac tends to be the hardest of all players to play against because if you want to take them on you're usually going to have to risk a large number of your chips. For that reason you are best trying to wait until you do have a good hand, or else try them at their own game with re-raises of your own. Maniacs don't like the taste of their own medicine. They also tend to bluff way too much and will be caught out when their aggression is bet with an equal response.

Whatever you do though, don't let pride be your undoing. From time to time a Maniac is, like everyone else, going to have a good hand and you don't want to be running into when you've got a very weak one.

In tournament play in particular you'll often see Maniacs building up an impressive pile of chips while most players have yet to get around to playing their first hand. However, such success tends to be fleeting and they usually lose their chips as quickly as they won them.

Such loose and aggressive play can only work so long before it runs into the brick wall of a monster hand from their opponents. The light that burns twice as bright burns only half as long. The Maniacs nearly always get caught out eventually.

 

TIGHT AGGRESSIVE

Sitting at the top of the poker food chain is the tight or strong-aggressive player. Such characters utilise superb starting hand selection, relative to their position at the table, and are able to shift between different gears with great success. One minute they'll be playing like a Rock and the next they'll be raising and check-raising, all the while reading their opponents, factoring their outs and pot odds into the equation. And before you know it they'll be sitting out several hands in a row before again getting back into the thick of the action.

Most tellingly though they'll always seem to be making the right bets at the right time - winning big and losing small. When they enter pots they usually do so by raising rather than calling, but do so in a controlled and calculating manner that separates them from a Maniac.

From time to time a Tight-Aggressive player may display all the attributes of a Maniac, but they will be picking their moments carefully and will have the discipline to switch to a different style if it's not working.

Tight-aggressive characters will prey heavily on the poorer players around them, but they will have the skills necessary to take down any player. Like everyone else, they'll get it wrong sometimes but overall they'll be successful because they make the right decisions most of the time.

 

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