Poker Tracker Auto-Rate Rules and Player Types--Part Four
Now that we're finished with the examination of VP$IP in terms of gaining a "PT read" on an opponent, let's focus on that which is THE most important factor in determining the appropriate line against a certain player--Post-Flop Aggression.
Regardless of a player's VP$IP, a player who is very aggressive--one who bets and raises far more often than they call--is extremely dangerous, with few exceptions. Some players are just maniacs, like a LHE player I found over at Full Tilt. His PT line was VP$IP: 93%, PFR: 75%, and AF-Total: 3.5, over 200 hands. I'm not sure how he lasted that long, but he was still hanging in there (until he ran into me). He was stealing small pots just by firing away, and losing the big pots when he had to show his 9-high on the river.
Keep in mind that just as aggression is selective, so it passivity. Sometimes with a player like that, it's better to just let him spew chips in every direction, while you just call or gently edge him down the path to hell with your monster hands.
Anyway, I'm off track. What I'm saying, though, is very important to your long-term success. In the vast majority of situations, aggression is better, and a purely passive strategy will not make you a long-term success in Holdem.
Playing the Passive Player:
Some of these players will be prioritized as calling stations, some will be prioritized as weak/tight, but all are generally losing players. The biggest thing to watch out for with a passive player is for that infrequent time that they actually show aggression and blast off. If a player has a VP$IP less than 1, and he raises your turn bet, you need to be extremely careful, since it's becoming increasingly likely that he has the goods.
Something was discussed in the PT forum a while back about the use of stats like "Won $ at Showdown when Raised Turn/River," which is a PAHud-derived stat from PokerTracker (and is available exclusively through the use of PokerAce HUD, available in the VPP store). When dealing with passive players, this stat (over time, since it can take a long time--hundreds of hands--to level out and become statistically significant) can be very valuable, and can differentiate the "Habitual Bluffer" type passive player from the "Oh S***, he has the nuts" type passive player.
Nothing is more frustrating than sitting in your $50 NL game on Party with KK and seeing a King-high flop. Yay! I flopped top set with a rainbow on board, but there are donkeys out there, so let me bet pot. One guy calls. The second diamond hits the turn, you bet pot, he calls. The third diamond hits the river. You, wanting to maintain the aggression, bet pot. Donkey-boy raises you, and you're stuck. Do you call? The above stat will help your decision.
The biggest hint in playing a passive player is to never attempt to bluff them. They will call you in a heartbeat, because that's what they do best. Call-call-call-call-call. "Look them up," by getting a read with your PokerTracker numbers on them. Make an assessment about a range of hands they could be playing, and realize that they can be calling with top pair, two pair, overcards, or some sort of draw. Sometimes, they'll even call with a draw to a draw. Be ready, and play your strong hands into them strongly. They'll pay you off, and usually nicely.
Playing the Neutral Player:
Just like any middle ground, this is a tough place to be. However, if you're using my PokerTracker auto-rate rules, these players are still on the more passive side, so a lot of what is written above still applies. A neutral player is more likely, though, to toss out things like value bets, semi-bluffs, and will even sometimes pull out things like the bluff-raise.
An aside: If you suspect weakness, a bluff raise can be just flat-out MONEY. A situation a few weeks ago: I was playing $100NL at Stars when I got dealt AJs on the button. I raised pre-flop to $5 (5BB), and got two callers, one from EP and another from MP. The flop came Q-high and uncoordinated, but with 2 hearts. The EP bets out $12 and the MP folds. I insta-raise to $35 and EP folds just as quickly as I raised his bet. I may or may not have had the best hand, but I collected $17 from EP and $12 from MP plus the blinds because of a bluff-raise. Like I said, if you suspect weakness (especially from a neutral or aggressive player), the bluff-raise CAN be money, in the right situation.
Back to the topic at hand. This player will be trickier than the passive player, and sometimes even trickier than the aggressive player. Be wary of his bets and raises. While they're not the telltale sign of trouble they are for the passive player, they can still mean you're behind, or that this player at least has something. The biggest difference in practice between the aggressive and passive players is that this player type (neutral) will tend to bet out or raise more with his draws, especially his nut draws. Keep that in mind as you see this player throughout the online ranks.
Playing the Aggressive Player:
This is real trouble. Other than the Ultra-Aggressor player type, these players (Tight, Semi-Loose, and Loose-Aggressives) are the biggest winners in the online game, and it isn't even close. In fact, there are only IIRC 4 player types that are long term winners--yep, they're all aggressives.
There are two schools of thought on how to play aggressive players. One is the "Contrarian" style, that says that the best defense against a particular player type is to play the contrary or opposite style. In this theory, you play a passive player extremely aggressively, and an aggressive player passively, letting them build pots for you then pouncing. This isn't a bad idea, because so many of these players (and ultra-aggressors in particular) will fire a bet for no other reason but the fact that you DIDN'T fire. The aggressive player is the ideal player to slow play a monster against in this theory, mainly because you KNOW they'll bet out for you and build a pot. You'll see me doing stuff like this:
$100 NL: Dealt 55 in MP, I limp in. Aggressive (AF-T 1.9) player in LP raises to $4, BB calls, I call the raise. Flop comes K-7-5 rainbow. BB checks, I ???
Of course I check, for two reasons--one, it's very possible this guy flopped top pair, and second, since he's aggressive and he just got checked to, you know he just has to fire a barrel. He bets the pot, $16. BB folds, I ???
Of course, I flat call here. Without a real redraw on the flop (or a coordinated flop), I'm willing to flop a set here and let this guy take the lead until...a T comes on the turn. Here, I'd probably send out a weak lead, like $20, and watch him go crazy. He pushes, and I gleefully call with the set and scoop a huge pot.
That's ideal. I don't recommend that often, since you can easily be burned, but that's an example of the Contrarian theory of playing poker.
My theory of playing the aggressive player is to play right back at them. These aren't your superstars--these aren't the guys who'll raise you all in because the waitress shot them a cute look. These guys are aggressive, but they're not the guys who bowl over tables. Like I mentioned above, bluff raising works more often against these players than any other, and bluffs in general come more into play when you're playing aggressive (read: solid) players than others.
Don't be afraid when an aggressive player raises just because they raise. Be afraid when conditions tell you to be afraid. Be afraid when they hit a flop (by your read on their range of hands). Be afraid when they get you pot-committed (an article for another day), but don't just be afraid of them because they're aggressive. Maybe they're bluffing...or are they?
Regardless of a player's VP$IP, a player who is very aggressive--one who bets and raises far more often than they call--is extremely dangerous, with few exceptions. Some players are just maniacs, like a LHE player I found over at Full Tilt. His PT line was VP$IP: 93%, PFR: 75%, and AF-Total: 3.5, over 200 hands. I'm not sure how he lasted that long, but he was still hanging in there (until he ran into me). He was stealing small pots just by firing away, and losing the big pots when he had to show his 9-high on the river.
Keep in mind that just as aggression is selective, so it passivity. Sometimes with a player like that, it's better to just let him spew chips in every direction, while you just call or gently edge him down the path to hell with your monster hands.
Anyway, I'm off track. What I'm saying, though, is very important to your long-term success. In the vast majority of situations, aggression is better, and a purely passive strategy will not make you a long-term success in Holdem.
Playing the Passive Player:
Some of these players will be prioritized as calling stations, some will be prioritized as weak/tight, but all are generally losing players. The biggest thing to watch out for with a passive player is for that infrequent time that they actually show aggression and blast off. If a player has a VP$IP less than 1, and he raises your turn bet, you need to be extremely careful, since it's becoming increasingly likely that he has the goods.
Something was discussed in the PT forum a while back about the use of stats like "Won $ at Showdown when Raised Turn/River," which is a PAHud-derived stat from PokerTracker (and is available exclusively through the use of PokerAce HUD, available in the VPP store). When dealing with passive players, this stat (over time, since it can take a long time--hundreds of hands--to level out and become statistically significant) can be very valuable, and can differentiate the "Habitual Bluffer" type passive player from the "Oh S***, he has the nuts" type passive player.
Nothing is more frustrating than sitting in your $50 NL game on Party with KK and seeing a King-high flop. Yay! I flopped top set with a rainbow on board, but there are donkeys out there, so let me bet pot. One guy calls. The second diamond hits the turn, you bet pot, he calls. The third diamond hits the river. You, wanting to maintain the aggression, bet pot. Donkey-boy raises you, and you're stuck. Do you call? The above stat will help your decision.
The biggest hint in playing a passive player is to never attempt to bluff them. They will call you in a heartbeat, because that's what they do best. Call-call-call-call-call. "Look them up," by getting a read with your PokerTracker numbers on them. Make an assessment about a range of hands they could be playing, and realize that they can be calling with top pair, two pair, overcards, or some sort of draw. Sometimes, they'll even call with a draw to a draw. Be ready, and play your strong hands into them strongly. They'll pay you off, and usually nicely.
Playing the Neutral Player:
Just like any middle ground, this is a tough place to be. However, if you're using my PokerTracker auto-rate rules, these players are still on the more passive side, so a lot of what is written above still applies. A neutral player is more likely, though, to toss out things like value bets, semi-bluffs, and will even sometimes pull out things like the bluff-raise.
An aside: If you suspect weakness, a bluff raise can be just flat-out MONEY. A situation a few weeks ago: I was playing $100NL at Stars when I got dealt AJs on the button. I raised pre-flop to $5 (5BB), and got two callers, one from EP and another from MP. The flop came Q-high and uncoordinated, but with 2 hearts. The EP bets out $12 and the MP folds. I insta-raise to $35 and EP folds just as quickly as I raised his bet. I may or may not have had the best hand, but I collected $17 from EP and $12 from MP plus the blinds because of a bluff-raise. Like I said, if you suspect weakness (especially from a neutral or aggressive player), the bluff-raise CAN be money, in the right situation.
Back to the topic at hand. This player will be trickier than the passive player, and sometimes even trickier than the aggressive player. Be wary of his bets and raises. While they're not the telltale sign of trouble they are for the passive player, they can still mean you're behind, or that this player at least has something. The biggest difference in practice between the aggressive and passive players is that this player type (neutral) will tend to bet out or raise more with his draws, especially his nut draws. Keep that in mind as you see this player throughout the online ranks.
Playing the Aggressive Player:
This is real trouble. Other than the Ultra-Aggressor player type, these players (Tight, Semi-Loose, and Loose-Aggressives) are the biggest winners in the online game, and it isn't even close. In fact, there are only IIRC 4 player types that are long term winners--yep, they're all aggressives.
There are two schools of thought on how to play aggressive players. One is the "Contrarian" style, that says that the best defense against a particular player type is to play the contrary or opposite style. In this theory, you play a passive player extremely aggressively, and an aggressive player passively, letting them build pots for you then pouncing. This isn't a bad idea, because so many of these players (and ultra-aggressors in particular) will fire a bet for no other reason but the fact that you DIDN'T fire. The aggressive player is the ideal player to slow play a monster against in this theory, mainly because you KNOW they'll bet out for you and build a pot. You'll see me doing stuff like this:
$100 NL: Dealt 55 in MP, I limp in. Aggressive (AF-T 1.9) player in LP raises to $4, BB calls, I call the raise. Flop comes K-7-5 rainbow. BB checks, I ???
Of course I check, for two reasons--one, it's very possible this guy flopped top pair, and second, since he's aggressive and he just got checked to, you know he just has to fire a barrel. He bets the pot, $16. BB folds, I ???
Of course, I flat call here. Without a real redraw on the flop (or a coordinated flop), I'm willing to flop a set here and let this guy take the lead until...a T comes on the turn. Here, I'd probably send out a weak lead, like $20, and watch him go crazy. He pushes, and I gleefully call with the set and scoop a huge pot.
That's ideal. I don't recommend that often, since you can easily be burned, but that's an example of the Contrarian theory of playing poker.
My theory of playing the aggressive player is to play right back at them. These aren't your superstars--these aren't the guys who'll raise you all in because the waitress shot them a cute look. These guys are aggressive, but they're not the guys who bowl over tables. Like I mentioned above, bluff raising works more often against these players than any other, and bluffs in general come more into play when you're playing aggressive (read: solid) players than others.
Don't be afraid when an aggressive player raises just because they raise. Be afraid when conditions tell you to be afraid. Be afraid when they hit a flop (by your read on their range of hands). Be afraid when they get you pot-committed (an article for another day), but don't just be afraid of them because they're aggressive. Maybe they're bluffing...or are they?
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