How to act against very aggressive players?

Erik moraes · Nov 3, 2019

I am a tight player!

pentazepam · Nov 3, 2019

It can be stressful, especially if they have position on you.

But since you write that you are a tight player you do have one advantage: Better Starting hands! At least against LAGs and maniacs.

Pre-flop you can raise smaller if they often attack you with 3-bets and you like to see a flop.

Post-flop you have to decide if they bluff or over-value their range too often - in that case you can check call most of your range that you want to take to showdown.

If they are totally crazy and also call with a lot of draws and marginal hands you start to value-bet and value-raise more with your best hands.

Like most things in poker you have to exploit the thing the villain does that is not balanced.

If they are almost totally balanced and have position on you it is almost impossible to win money against them. Therefore you should also try to be balanced until the opponents give you a reason to exploit their mistakes.

Risto234 · Nov 3, 2019

Surely best thing would be to become aggressive by yourself

eetenor · Nov 3, 2019

Erik moraes said:
I am a tight player!

Thank U 4 Posting.

In what type of game are U playing. If it is a freeroll then what to do is very different from mid stakes?

These are the questions you need to ask about your villains.

Are they bluffing aggressively? Are they semi-bluffing aggressively?

Are they over betting? What hands are they over betting?

Are they check raising? Are they aggressive in all positions?

Are they floating? Then attacking any weakness?

Are they 3 betting or 4 betting preflop?

Are they leading into the preflop raiser? Are they only attacking you?

Are they only attacking certain board textures? Are they using the board texture to attack U on the turn and river?

If you see them showdown hands what is the hand strength relative to the board? Can you see why they would be aggressive? Where they being aggressive based on the other player's skill level or hand ranges?

Once you answer some of these questions for yourself post again with some details of the situations it will help you grow faster than such a general question as AGG players what do I do.

Also there are many posts already about this on this forum, you may wish to check those out.

Hope this helps

ventrolloquist · Nov 3, 2019

Depends on how loose or tight they are. 3 bet or call the loose aggressive ones more often with hands you know dominate their loose range. But only if you both end up heads up, wouldn't wanna 3bet a 3rd tight player with a better range who's also in the pot

dompoker · Nov 3, 2019

Expect good hands, and let them win small pots when you have a very good hand, let's take the initiative, being aggressive players, you give away all your chips.

Dailon Arroyo Blandon · Nov 4, 2019

Being a patient is the key .... let him play his aggressive game ... and when you have a good hand play it very aggressive too ... with a couple of times you do it ... I guarantee that that aggressive player will think twice times to press you next time ...!

vox1er · Nov 4, 2019

- Play passively when you have a strong hand (provoke him to bluff)
- Play more aggressively when you don't have strong hand or you have a draw (raise, check raise)
- Play a tight range on pre-flop to always be ahead of his range.

FoxMS · Nov 4, 2019

I think you need to wait patiently for strong cards. And no doubt, there will be a situation where you will have the edge over your aggressive opponent.

dorynel7 · Nov 4, 2019

Make your own game, being patient is the key.

MattRyder · Nov 4, 2019

Kick them in the shins?

lontrus · Nov 4, 2019

I usually tighten up and let them blow up. It happens eventually.

As mentioned above, having position on them makes it easier to deal with.

theRaven68 · Nov 4, 2019

patience is the key, play your game and let him play his game, he is going to crash by himself

Katie Dozier · Nov 4, 2019

To me, this is a very similar question to asking how we should play against good players [emoji4] Every good poker player is aggressive—not in literally every hand they play but very much so would be described as aggressive overall.

As others have pointed out, we should be playing aggressively ourselves and OP being tight (as you self-described in your post) doesn’t conflict with being aggressive. In fact being tight aggressive is a pretty ideal general strategy for beating low stakes tournaments [emoji4]

When facing another aggressive opponent, assuming that they are a “thinking” good player, we want to make sure that we maintain a level of unpredictability with them. The more often you play against that particular opponent, the more important it is to balance your range against them. 3-bet them strong still of course, but also sometimes when you’re weak. Play your draws similarly to how you play your big made hands. Float more. Take advantage of their tendencies (such as the likelihood of a fairly high c-bet %) by planning on more check-raises.

Hope this helps and best of luck [emoji4]

mtmigmike · Nov 4, 2019

You also need to play aggressively

Gaviria8 · Nov 4, 2019

Play positional poker and bet like crazy when you hit.

Zvezda kz · Nov 4, 2019

If he plays only with Allin. I'm waiting for the card and send it to Allin. If he plays with raises and reraises, I usually play my game.

xy23 · Nov 4, 2019

Risto234 said:
Surely best thing would be to become aggressive by yourself

I agree with this. If you're aggressive back and challenge them, they're usually dumbfounded and the aggression is toned way down. Sometimes showing them that you're even crazier and not afraid to put your tournament stack on the line often works.

MrPokerVerse · Nov 4, 2019

If you think you have a good hand or position, can always come over the top. Be prepared to fire bullets on all streets. Most aggressive players are smart enough to fold when they think they are beat.

maxivega · Nov 4, 2019

I think patience is the key, in most cases the aggressive player sins by his fate, overstates every hand. And above all he wants to steal the blinds. The advantage of being a lightweight player is that when you want to enter the boat all aggressive players think you have strong hands, so make a bluff from time to time ..:burnout::burnout:

Deedgee · Nov 4, 2019

I think that the best approach against an aggressive player is to let them do the betting. If an opponent is aggressive to the point where you sense that they're holding any two cards, a random hand, you can do know better than get all of your money in against them with what is more than likely the best. However, losing these kinds of races can be particularly frustrating.

chilindrodolar · Nov 4, 2019

You must know when to go.!! Only you will know with your hands , make sure not to fade.!!

This Fish Chums · Nov 5, 2019

Wait for a good hand and then trap them. Yes, they may occasionally draw out on you, but if you have the better hand then you are in a better position to win and if they are very aggressive, then you raising probably is not going to get them out of a hand.

GARCIA PABLO DANIEL · Nov 5, 2019

with pasciencia, expect to have a good hand and there to strike firmly be sure our game.

ventrolloquist · Nov 6, 2019

Erik moraes said:
I am a tight player!

Trapping them with your good hands is a good start, but then they will steal blinds a lot and sometimes might just back off on the aggression when you call with your good hands, which will just cost you in the long run.

In that case you can try 3 betting them with a slightly looser 3 betting range (if you have position); to discourage them from blind stealing. If they are a maniac and don't tighten up after you show them you can 3 bet, then you can start playing ABC poker and trap them like everyone else has said (in that case re-tighten your 3 betting range and 3 bet your best hands for value).

You can also check raise if they continue bullying you postflop.

There's different kinds of aggressive players and you need to try different things, but all in all you should be sending them the same message with your table image, that you will fight back against their aggression and know how to exploit them. If you can tell us specifically how they are aggressive we can help you more. (ie: do they just go all in a lot, are they check raising a lot, are they simply open raising too loose, how big do they bet, are they c-betting too frequently, etc)

ps: if the LAG is to your left I would seriously consider changing tables.

How to act against very aggressive players?

Erik moraes

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