Adjusting to Different Player Types

Poker is all about adaptation. Against tight players, I bluff more. Against loose players, I value bet more. Identifying player types quickly gives a big edge. What player type do you find hardest to play against?

Pros are the hardest to play against. Easiest ones, calling stations, pound them for value, if they can’t fold go big for value. Maniacs, pick a mediocre to good hand and just call against them, they will do all your value betting for you, don’t raise them generally, just give them rope and let them do their thing. Nits, just get out of their way when they start betting and raising, their transparent aggression always gives them away, attack when they are checking.

For me, it's harder to play against aggressive players.
They keep pressing you all the time and sometimes you end up giving up hands that you could continue playing. If you're not careful, you start playing just reacting to them.

Tight aggressive players they’re disciplined,hard to exploit ,and rarely make big mistakes.

@Houbi37 The hardest for me: Myself when I'm tilted lol.

Real answer: Maniacs in freerolls. They shove 72o first 5min and I can't adjust because I used to be them.

Kerasuss28's advice changed my game: "Double early vs maniacs, then play safe vs nits".

Tested it yesterday: WPD Freeroll, 2,094 players. Let the maniacs bust each other first 15min, doubled vs one with AK, then played TAG.

Result: 40/2094 for $0.71 after 2h 21m. First time I lasted past the shove-fest.

My current leak: I over-adjust vs calling stations. I go for thin value with 2nd pair and they call with bottom pair that hits river 😅

@dannystanks Agree on pounding stations for value. What sizing do you use vs them in micro stakes? Pot, overbet?

Still learning to identify types fast. Any tips for spotting a pro vs a thinking rec in 3-4 hands?

Choosing the right value size against Stations is a real good question. Everyone will be different so we have to really pay attention when they are in a hand and we are not. How big have they called in the past, how big did they fold, it takes a few hands to figure it out. Just keep sizing up each time. When you go too big and they finally fold at least you know how high to go if you feel like bluffing against them now. Yeah get out of hand against a true Station, you can go pot, they don’t even notice because they truly are just thinking of their own two cards.
Just look for 4 things when profiling players quickly, are they over folding, under folding, over bluffing, under bluffing. The pros and really good recs are in the middle of all that but exploit when they see mistakes. A good rec might miss the chance to exploit in certain spots, like against someone who over folds post flop, a pro knows that when he bluffs this player that he/ she might have to extend this bluff out several streets, a rec might also do this but they might also just give up on the river and miss the chance. Who knows, they are all good players but everyone, even pros, make mistakes. This is an imperfect game, so just constantly adjust, don’t be just one style of player otherwise you are just playing like most everyone else.
Good luck and have fun!