While you are Studying and watching your opponents, you’ll see that they fall in to typical styles depending on their overall play. The four general styles are loose-passive, loose-aggressive , tight-passive, tight-aggressive. But how do you beat them?

Knowing what “type” of players you are up against and how you can adapt your play to beat them is yet another skill to develop. But once you are able to spot what style of players your opponents are you can figure out a plan for each one.

Loose-passive players tend to enter many, many pots calling with just about any two cards and hoping to hit something later. Bet in to them aggressively if you have a decent hand. Loose-passive players don’t usually respond well to pressure and fold if they have nothing. Beware if one bits back though.

Tight-passive players typical action is to play very few hands and wait for the premium starting hands. Then they tend to bet big. It’s a clear signal that they’ve got a great hand when they come out of their shell. When they do emerge from under their rock, get out. Otherwise, give them an excuse to fold and bully them.

Loose-aggressive players (as you’ve probably guessed by now) spray huge amount of chips all over the table all the time. They enter almost every hand with extreme aggression like they’ve been dealt AA every time. Nobody has the number of great cards a loose-aggressive player would have you believe. So how do you play them? Just stay out of their way and let them take out a few of your opponents. Even though it means the “maniac” may have a huge chip stack it doesn’t matter because each one they take out means one step closer to the money for you. Stay patient while the “maniac” is at large. Wait for a great hand of your own then take it to the “maniac” and strip their chips away from them with your monster.

Tight-aggressive players play few hands but when they do, they do so with gusto. This type of player is selective about when he plays. I hope you fall in to the tight-aggressive category. When you come up against a tight-aggressive player pick your moments to go up against them. Concentrate on the weaker players first.

But a final note on the tight-aggressive style. Your opponents may well be seeking to label your style of play as you are looking to label yours. If they tag you as tight-aggressive they might clear the decks when you bet and fold

thinking you’ve got a great hand. You may not always get enough action. To counter this and confuse your opponents, consider occasionally playing hands you would not normally play and show your cards. It might just throw them off balance and make it more difficult for them to categorise your style.

Towards the later stages (and certainly heads-up) you’ll have to move to a looser style of play mostly as waiting for premium hands won’t be an option. Fewer players means fewer cards dealt means less likely to get a great starting hand.