What is your Poker playing style?

There are four main concepts that can be used to define playing style in poker.

These concepts can be combined to create four different playing styles.

Aggressively Strict: This type of player is known for their strict adherence to playing only the best hands, prioritizing betting and raising over checking and calling. They possess a remarkable ability to withstand pressure and maintain a relentless approach to the game.

Loose-aggressive: A loose-aggressive player engages in both weak and strong hands and prefers to bet and raise rather than check and call. He resists pressure.

Conservative Passive: A conservative passive player only plays the strongest hands and prefers to check and call rather than bet and raise. He folds under pressure.

Passive Loose: A passive loose player engages in both weak and strong hands and prefers to check and call rather than bet and raise. They fold under pressure.

The strongest player is the strictly aggressive one. Next comes the loose aggressive player. Then the strictly passive player, and finally the loose passive player. A passive playing style is never profitable in the long run. A loose playing style is very risky and often backfires. The strictly aggressive style is the clear winner when comparing the four playing styles.

However, it is the case that players, in general, do not adhere to a single playing style. They have the ability to vary their playing style, either for amusement or as part of a planned strategy. Professional players always adjust their playing style according to the terrain to extract the maximum value from each hand they play. The terrain consists of the betting structure, the type of poker game, the type of table, and the opponents. However, professional players are always strictly aggressive at their core. The other playing styles they employ are fine-tuning and playing to the gallery - a disguise to keep opponents uncertain and guessing. If one always utilizes a single unchanging playing style, they will not be able to extract the maximum amount of money from other players.

Anyway, to aid your comprehension of why a tight-aggressive approach should constitute the foundation of your playing style, we have compiled an assessment of the four playing styles below.

Aggressive-Strict: This mathematical playing style prioritizes your cards over the other players' playing styles and intentions. It is an incredibly simple and effective strategy, making it ideal for beginners and highly valuable for professionals. The only downside is that if you play too strictly, you become very predictable, and opponents may hesitate to bet against you when you do bet. However, you can exploit this by occasionally incorporating a loose-aggressive playing style at select moments.

Aggressive Loose: This psychological gameplay style revolves around prioritizing the playing styles and intentions of other players over your own cards. It is a highly challenging and risky approach that even professionals struggle to handle. It is highly unsuitable for beginners.

Passive style: This ineffective gameplay involves giving cards a mathematical evaluation but failing to increase the bets enough to win substantial pots with your strong hands. This playing style holds no merit and is simply unprofitable.

Loose-Passive: This style of amateur play is characterized by a complete lack of attention given to both the cards and other players. Luck is the only thing a loose-passive player relies on, and misfortune is all they receive in return. This playing style is utterly futile and devoid of any potential for success.

As you observe, an aggressive playing style is crucial while adhering strictly to a tight strategy. Passive play can be employed sparingly when requiring a stronger hand to win and when the odds (more on that later in the article) are in your favor, but it should primarily be avoided. Passive play can occasionally be used to deceive opponents into thinking you possess a weak hand when, in fact, your hand is strong. The purpose of this tactic is to entice opponents to bet money they may not have otherwise if you had placed a bet or made a raise before it was their turn. However, this trick primarily works in tournaments and on tables with very few players. If you are going to bluff opponents in this manner, it is also much better to do so on the flop than before the flop. Never give opponents the opportunity to see the flop cheaply if you already have a strong hand pre-flop. It can backfire severely since the flop may very well give the opponent a better hand than it gives you, despite your strong pocket cards.

Similarly, it is considerably more effective to employ an aggressive strategy with a weak hand before the flop than it is to do so in a later betting round. The more a player has invested in the pot, the lower the likelihood of them folding, making the opportunity to pressure opponents into folding greatest in the initial betting round before they have placed any bets. And most importantly: if you're going to bluff, you should know your opponents well. If you hold a weak hand and intend to bluff, you should ONLY have one opponent left in the hand who is also known to be passive. Conversely, if you're going to bluff while holding a strong hand, you'll want to have AT LEAST one slightly more daring opponent remaining in the hand. However, it's safest not to bluff at all.

Play Style Summary:

With the guidance of these uncomplicated rules, you will go a long way in Texas Holdem. Next, we will progress into more specific poker strategy, namely the ranking of starting hands.