Online poker can be divided into 4 styles of play as follows:
Loose-Aggressive
Tight-Aggressive
Loose-Passive
Tight-Passive
Loose and Tight refer to the number of hands the gambler plays, while Aggressive and Passive refer to the gambler’s betting strategy. If you identify those players at your game it will assist you to beat them.
Loose-Aggressive
The loose-aggressive gambler is the common one at the poker table. He bets often and big, many times going all-in. This type of gambler can be quite hard to read. If he’s betting each hand then you know he’s not always got the best cards but how can you tell when he’s bluffing?
Tight-Aggressive
This is a gambler who only bets when he has a very good hand. A tight gambler is the opposite of a loose gambler who bluffs frequently, the tight player hardly ever bluffs. When the tight-aggressive player has a good hand then he bets large.
Loose-Passive
The loose-passive gambler usually wants to see each hand before he bets but almost always isn’t willing to get into the bet. He’ll check or call all small and medium bets in order to see the cards but won’t raise.
Tight-Passive
This gambler takes so little part in the game you’d wonder why he’s there from the beginning! This guy will fold each and every time except for the very best hands, and when he has a good hand he will only call instead of betting big.
For most internet tournament tables tight-aggressive is the elite strategy, this style of gaming requires patience but the pay off in prize money is totally worth it. After that the loose players have gone, you’ll be left with 4 or 5 gamblers at the table who really want to be in the top three in order to win some cash.
Your aggressive play will win big here, as by now all the others will have noticed that you only play if you’ve got a great hand so they will back down and let you have the pot the minute you bet big, unless you’re not that lucky and they have the better hand.
