Player classification
There is a large percentage of the poker community — I would comfortably venture to say a majority—to whom the term “player classification” is as foreign as Hungarian cuisine. Some have never heard of it, and the many that have don’t use it, for whatever reason. Before I gained any sort of insight into this invaluable tool of profit, my reason was simply that I felt it was a waste of time, that simply playing strong cards and being aggressive with top pairs and being wary of hidden straights and using my instincts were enough. All of those are part of the equation, naturally, but player classification may be the string that binds them all. And, for the purposes of brevity, I will keep all discussion based on Texas Hold ‘Em.Player classification, in the simplest of words, comes from knowing the poker strength of your opponents, and the quicker you can come to that classification at the table, the better off you are. Player classification includes, but is not limited to:
- Knowing what kinds of hole cards all of your opponents routinely play, and, more importantly, the positions in which they play them.
- Knowing how often each player bluffs, and in what circumstances.
- Knowing your opponents’ general “style” of play: tight/aggressive, tight/passive, loose/aggressive, unpredictable, etc.
- Knowing, although I consider this less important than the previous three aspects, the physical mannerisms, or tells, your opponents display when holding hands of various strengths.
Knowing the types of hole cards various players tend to play, and in what position, is probably the building block to knowing your opponent. You can’t very well classify someone as tight/aggressive if you don’t pay attention to what cards he/she is willing to keep to see the flop. Keeping a mental tally, or score, of what cards players show down and what position they were in, is one way to do this. Once you have a good picture of the tight/loose tendencies of each player at the table, this will help you to make decisions when tough situations arise. For example, if you have seen a particular player play cards like Q-5 off-suit, or 4-5 suited, or J-2 suited, and this player has often played them form early position, this is clearly a loose player, and obviously doesn’t have the odds against your A-Q suited. What makes this information so useful is after the flop. Let’s say the flop comes up 7-3-6, with no real flush potential, and there are three players, including yourself. One has played a very tight game, routinely showing down only very playable hole cards, and the other is very loose, staying to see the flop more often than not. You’re holding pocket Jacks, and did not raise pre-flop. The tight player was in early position and stayed to see the flop, the loose player in a similarly early position. In this case you have more to worry about from the loose player than you do the tight one. Even though you have Jacks, you have to proceed very cautiously here, because the loose player is in, and from what you’ve seen, it wouldn’t surprise you that he/she would see the flop with a 4-5, or 3’s, or similar. If I were just in it with the tight player, I would bet from the get-go, no question, and raise, no question, unless there is some obvious indication otherwise. Now, if you hadn’t been keeping track of the hole cards you’re opponents play, you wouldn’t have this obviously useful perspective on the hand.
Knowing how often players bluff, and in what circumstances, is very useful as well. The poker world is filled with players who love to bluff, for whatever reason. Some do it merely for the thrill, or to setup a bullying stance at the table, or to establish a loose/aggressive image at the table only to change it once it’s set in. Personally, the only way I will bluff is if the table is very tight and predictable, and I’m able to set up the bluff just right. The most common and transparent bluff is to try and steal a small pot, where the action has been small, and a flush possibility shows up on the board. Let’s say, for example, you’re holding 8-9 clubs, you were the small blind and everyone limped to you pre-flop, so you decided to see the flop, which you were able to do without a raise from Big Blind. The flop comes up Jc-2s-8h. It is checked all the way around. The turn is a 4c, with one bet from a player in late position, who happens to be a solid, tight player, so you call, your pair of 8’s figuring decently with the pot odds. The river brings a third club, giving you a very questionable flush, so you check. The wild man you’ve seen bluff time and time again, and who loves to bluff flush boards, bets aggressively, and the solid player who bet last round folds. Now what? You know it would be folding time if the solid player had called, but now it’s just you and the maniac. A call is doable against this guy, but if the initial bet had come from the solid player, you have to respect him, and it makes it all the harder. But if the solid player calls the bet from the maniac, folding is the only option.
Knowing an opponent’s style is essentially a fusion of the aforementioned aspects. Let’s look at the basic types of playing styles individually.
Loose/Aggressive:
This is the maniac at the table, bullying and stealing and bluffing his/her way to—hopefully—a winning position. This person likes to buy-in big and have a huge stack of chips, hoping to intimidate the rest of the table. This person likes the thrill of gambling, hoping for the big win to make it all worthwhile. If they really want control that bad, let them have it. Just sit back, keep tallying their mistakes, and put your ego on hold. Some players get offended by these animals, wish they would just leave so they can enjoy their game. Some of these steamrollers are angry to boot, with a look of outright rage the whole time they’re at the table, whether they win the pot or not, all the while grumbling at the dealer and the other players at the table. I welcome these players. Much more often than not, these players will walk away without a single chip, having donated every single one. If you exercise patience, you will stake your claim on some of it. What’s funniest about these players is that no matter how many times they lose, they will still walk away from that occasional big win patting themselves on the back, reinforcing the notion that they know this is the way to play.
Loose/Passive:
The loose/passive player is the ultimate loser. Even the maniac has his/her good nights. Loose/passive players lose consistently. These people never put you under any pressure, and you can read them like a book. They are what are known as “calling stations.” They love to draw out straights and flushes, and sometimes do. The only problem (for them, not for you) is that once they drag in a pot, they immediately commence putting it all back, little by little. They see almost every flop. When they end up drawing out against a top-two-pair they are often heard justifying themselves with lines like “What was I supposed to do, fold pocket twos?”, or “I had 3-4, but hey, they were suited.” These are your best friends at the table. Sure you’re going to get outdrawn by them on occasion, but just remain calm, let everyone else at the table get frustrated. And who’s going to get the most red-faced at the loose/passive players? Yep, you guessed it, the loose/aggressive player. Loose/passive players are unpredictable, but as long as you are playing a solid game, these players are the least of your concerns.
Tight/Passive:
These players can be frustrating. This player understands the concept of playing only premium hole cards, but pays little or no attention to what others are doing. These players often get scared by aggressive players, and many will often fold winning hands. I’ve seen these players hold the outright nut hand, and got scared into a defensive stance by a strong bet, thinking that somehow they must have the second-best hand. What’s frustrating about this is that they can look legitimately beat, at least by the way they are betting, and stay in, only for you to find out he had the nut straight the whole time. No, he’s not tricking you, he honestly thought that somehow you must have him beat, because you were aggressive. I once played a hand against an extremely tight, but extremely passive player. The flop came up 9-10-J. I had played Q-8 suited on the button. He, of course, held Q-K. It was checked to me, even he had checked, so naturally, being in last position, I bet. He called, everyone else folded. The turn and the river offered nothing indicating anything higher than a K high straight, which he gave no indication of having. The entire hand he checked while I bet and he turned around and timidly called. Now, any solid player would be raising all along, knowing that, in the worst-case scenario, the pot would be split. He, of course, won the hand, and when I questioned him about it, he quite sincerely answered that he thought, by the way I was betting that I might have had him beat. With what? This is a pretty extreme example of a tight/passive player, but they’re out there. The average player of this kind is not that bad. They are simply very cautious, as a rule.
Many play strong cards, look at the flop, and calculate the best possible hands and whether or not they have them or not. This is proper, of course, but they seldom look at what they have in terms of position, or what happened before the flop. If there was no raising before the flop, and you hold A-J off-suit (playable cards with no raising pre-flop), and the flop gives you top pair with a flush or straight draw showing on the board, as an aggressive player you’re going to bet. Hell, you have top pair and a pretty strong kicker. You want to drive out the players with drawing hands, and if you get raised, hell, at least you know where you stand. A tight/passive player will not do this. A tight/passive player fears the guy who might have Aces in the hole, even though no raising happened before the flop. Some of these players simply fear being seen taking control of a hand and losing to someone who had them beat all along. Overall they are very predictable. You know they are only going to see the flop with very strong cards. If the board shows low cards with no strong straight or flush possibilities, you should be able to get this guy to fold pretty easily, because if they have nothing paired or don’t have the straight or flush already wired, they’re looking for any excuse to get out.
Tight/Aggressive:
A tight/aggressive stance is the essential strategy of all strong players. Because of this, it is extremely important that you identify these players ASAP. Players who have mastered this style of play will put the pressure on you at just the right time. They won’t let you try and draw the flush without it costing you. They will calculate the odds quickly, play close attention to the action, and go for the kill. They will maneuver an unbeatable hand in such a way as to induce the biggest number of bets they can. However, tight/aggressive players can be predicted and beat, you just don’t want to go up against them unless the circumstances are just right. So, as odds go, this is not going to happen often. Just wait for the right opportunity. Don’t try and trick these players. If you feel you have them beat, raise them, they will respect your raise, especially if they have identified you as one of their own. When the rare opportunity presents itself of having the absolute unbeatable hand, and this player tries to put the screws to you, you have the golden opportunity to squash this person’s notions of being the best at the table. If they take control, they’re going to keep being relentless until there is some indication from the board that they are beat. And if they stay aggressive until the river, that’s when you check-raise. For the most part, however, this is not going to happen but in the rarest of occasions. If you are playing a solid game, you will most likely find yourself giving more money to weaker players, because the tight/aggressive player makes it easy for you to fold, and God bless them for that, just as long as the table is not filled with them.
Others:
Although players fall essentially into those four categories, you will occasionally run into the oddball player who is just so unpredictable it’s hard to classify him/her. That’s fine. Perhaps the best option is to treat these people as you would a tight/aggressive player. I am not a world-class player, but I have run into a few (there aren’t that many). It is always possible that a player you cannot quite pin down is one of these. Really outstanding players will change their stance to fit the table, to give off the impression of a poor player, or, for the most obvious reason, just to be unpredictable. I sat at a five-player game with a fellow once who was so good, he quite literally changed the way the whole table played. He sat and played extremely tight poker for about an hour. He may have seen perhaps three flops at the most, and only for very cheaply, and perhaps two of them he won, showing down absolutely monster hands, and made his point very well on each. Very soon the entire table had tightened up. About the time that happened he had loosened up for about a half-hour, stealing several pots, because no one was confident enough to challenge him. Then, when the table loosened up again, he tightened up again. The converse can also be true. I don’t normally mess with these kinds of concepts, but once or twice I’ve tried loosening up considerably when I’ve found myself sitting at an extremely tight table, the kind of table where the action is virtually non-existent. Becoming a loose/aggressive player for a short time in this situation can sometimes steal you a few pots and generally loosen the table up, get them to take a few more chances. Mainly, you should be aware that those players are out there. Once one gets into the habit of classifying players, one finds it is not very difficult. So when you run into that player that you just can’t quite pin down, there’s probably a reason for it, so proceed with caution, and just accept that you may be over-matched, and deal with it.
Finally, if you’ve become really good at classifying the general stance of every player at the table, you may want to start observing some of the finer points of a player’s table manner. Here we’re talking about physical gestures, appearances. Sometimes it is very simple. Your average players, even good ones, have certain habits they get into that they just can’t help. Most players treat their cards in a consistent manner every time they are waiting for the action to come to them, based on whether they intend to call, raise or fold. Some players come to the table with a book, or headphones, or a racing form. With these people it’s obvious, if they’re not reading, or they take off their headphone, they’re ready to play, they have cards. But, more subtlety, there are players that simply will have a relaxed, laying-back-in-their-chair kind of appearance, but will lean forward and watch the action when they intend to play. Some jokers will try tricks to make people afraid to bet, like grabbing chips while the action is coming to them, acting like they are going to bet or raise, and then just checking or calling when it gets to them. At the very least, treat these people like you would a cheap joke. If you have a top hand based on the board, play it, otherwise you shouldn’t be in the pot anyway. But you can test the waters when you suspect these kinds of tricks once in a while, but only if you are in the position to. If you have top pair, for example, and are waiting for the action, which has been checked so far, and the player sitting to your left has been doing this all night, grabbing checks and then checking, or folding, or just calling, then bet into him. He probably only has a small pair, or a drawing hand, and wants to chase for cheap. I won’t go into all the different kinds of tells and physical gestures there are out there, that is an article in and of itself. Besides, I’ll leave that to Mike Caro, he’s been reading tells a lot longer than I have. I only bring it up as a small, fine part of player classification, a factor not to replace a good, solid game, but to help sometimes in decisions where pot odds alone don’t seem to be good enough.
A final word. I am not, as I mentioned before, a world-class player. I aspire to be one, but I am only as good as my experience has made me. Which brings me to this point. Although experience will by far be your greatest teacher, good books on poker theory have merit. Books can give you a good foundation when it comes to things like techniques to use to classify players. Whatever methods you use, just make sure you stick to them, make them second nature. Player classification is one of the deciding factors between a mediocre player and one who wins consistently, who knows his/her opponents well enough to know when to check/raise, when to steamroll and when to slow-play.
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