Poker is not only just a game of cards but also a game of people. Each player’s skill and strategy is often a more significant factor than the hand they are dealt. There are many different styles of playing poker, and understanding them is key to not only figuring out your opponents but also improving your own gameplay. This poker guide will break down the different poker playing styles in a way that is easy for beginners to understand.
Tight vs. Loose
These words help describe a facet of your poker strategy: How many starting hands are you playing? Tight players choose only the best starting hands and often fold when they get weak ones. In contrast, loose players play a wider variety of opening hands, rarely folding even if their hand is weak.
Passive vs. Aggressive
These words describe a poker player’s risk tolerance. A passive player is afraid to lose, often checking and calling instead to avoid confrontation. An aggressive player takes many risks, betting and raising more than calling.
The four different poker playing styles
Knowing these descriptive words, we can separate poker players into four main playstyles:
These players often limp into pots, meaning they enter the pot through calling instead of raising. They play lots of hands and make many mistakes. They refrain from taking risks and play similarly to a spectator, just watching others and calling to them. They sometimes get nicknamed “calling stations” thanks to their severe overuse of calling and stubborn refusal to fold post-flop when they have any sort of good hand. Many inexperienced poker players play like this. While it’s not a good idea to bluff them, take note of them to value bet and use them to build the pot when you have a good hand.
Sometimes known as “rocks,” these players have a severe fear of losing, often calling pre-flop with a good hand. They fold almost every hand they consider bad and rarely bluff, making it easy to tell when their hand is strong. Because of that, they rarely make money against more experienced players who fold as soon as they see a tight passive player play with any sort of confidence. They fold very frequently to aggression, making it easy to bluff through them.
These players generally do not play a lot of hands but play them well when they do. Unlike tight passive players, they use their cards to the fullest and are not afraid to bet and raise. Despite this, they remain patient and do not blindly bet without reason. They are often referred to as “sharks” as their playstyles are largely effective in most scenarios.
These players raise a variety of hands pre-flop and are likely to bet on most flops. They play a high-risk, high-reward poker game, constantly applying pressure on their opponents. Many top players worldwide use this style, which can be the most profitable. However, this style is tough to play correctly since you put yourself at risk a lot.
How to read your opponents
It is a good idea not just to know which style you fall under but also to know what styles your opponents fall under. By paying attention to how they play, you can use the four styles to understand what you must do to win against them. Do they often call and play a lot of hands? Mark them as loose passive and use them to value bet when your hand is strong. Do they usually fold and rarely bluff? Mark them as tight loose and bluff them into submission. Do they raise a lot seemingly for no reason? Understand they are loose aggressive and try to call out a bluff.
While most players do not entirely fall under one playstyle, observing your opponents and understanding how they play is still a good idea. Unlike reading physical tells, which does not work online, analyzing others playstyles works better online. You can take notes digitally and even use poker tracking software, which helps you quickly view information about other players, like their percent of hands played.
Which poker playstyle is best?
Generally, it is better to be aggressive in poker than passive. A common saying is that playing passively in poker is playing half the game. You limit yourself to one way of winning: having a better hand at the showdown. Being aggressive and understanding how to raise and bet will give you a second way of winning regardless of hand strength, which is getting your opponents to fold. Of the two aggressive playstyles, loose aggressive is seen as slightly more profitable and harder to play against, while in turn being harder to play. In general, you do not want to limit yourself to a single archetype completely. You want to be tricky, so other players cannot easily predict your moves according to the different playstyles.
These are the four main playstyles of poker, along with various information about them and which playstyle is the best. We hope these poker tips helped you understand and learn how to play poker. To practice observing your opponents, it is a great idea to sign up for GGPoker, the world’s largest poker room. Online poker is great for beginners since it’s easy to access, and it lets you play many games at once and use the aforementioned poker tracking software to understand your opponents.
