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Ianmacca99
Visionary
Silver Level
Play a tighter range of hands pre flop and take note of position against said villain. When we make good hands we can always choose between trapping and letting them blast off or being aggressive ourselves. Pre flop I would be aggressive myself with the top of my range but if you play weak hands you will bleed money. You will also be needed to potentially call down lighter than you would against other players.
Natox
Rock Star
Platinum Level
Hey there,
to combat poker aggression, adopt a mixed strategy: call down with wider ranges to exploit their bluffing frequency, slow play strong hands to trap aggressive players, and use well-timed raises to punish excessive aggression or protect your hand. Use positional awareness, understanding that checking allows aggressive players to exploit you, so be prepared to fight back, and don't be afraid to bluff catch with hands that have showdown value.
Nest of luck,
Natox
to combat poker aggression, adopt a mixed strategy: call down with wider ranges to exploit their bluffing frequency, slow play strong hands to trap aggressive players, and use well-timed raises to punish excessive aggression or protect your hand. Use positional awareness, understanding that checking allows aggressive players to exploit you, so be prepared to fight back, and don't be afraid to bluff catch with hands that have showdown value.
Nest of luck,
Natox
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Alexandra Vik
Rising Star
Bronze Level
Nice discussion here. One thing that helps a lot vs aggressive players is not to overadjust emotionally — many players start calling too wide after being bluffed once.
A better approach is to think in terms of range coverage: make sure your check-call and check-raise ranges both protect key parts of your equity distribution.
I saw a detailed post explaining how GTO helps you keep emotional control and balanced frequencies when facing LAGs .
A better approach is to think in terms of range coverage: make sure your check-call and check-raise ranges both protect key parts of your equity distribution.
I saw a detailed post explaining how GTO helps you keep emotional control and balanced frequencies when facing LAGs .
Exploitative Poker vs. GTO Poker
C
Chunhong319
Enthusiast
Silver Level
Against hyper-aggressive players, I focus on patience and position.
I tighten my calling range out of position and let them build the pot for me when I have strong hands.
I’ll also float more in position with decent equity and punish them on later streets once their aggression slows down.
The key is to avoid ego wars — let their own aggression work against them.
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deckix
Rising Star
Bronze Level
My favorite strategy? Patience and popcorn. I just sit back, let them bet themselves into oblivion, and wait for the moment I can trap them with a real hand. It’s like watching an action movie — lots of explosions, but you already know the hero (me) wins in the end.
vectored
Rising Star
Bronze Level
Tighten up your opening ranges if they are 3 betting at a high frequency ,around 20%. You’ll also need to include more 4 bets for both value and as bluffs. Post flop you’ll want to set more traps and go for less thin value.
Prophet
Rock Star
Platinum Level
there are 2 types of aggressive players , loose and tight
Loose aggressive play a wide range of hands and also calling with marginal hands so it's hard to bluff them, steal BBs, or small pots from them and that's why you must always have a strong hand playing with them.
LAG players can double you up , can bluff you with A high
( you can win a small number of big pots)
Tight aggressive players play a narrow range and fold most of the time , so if you are in a good spot steal the blinds , value bet , and when he is 4-betting you can just fold cause he has you beat
TAG players will try to trap you, letting you build the pot for them, and might bluff you if they are tilted .
(you can win multiple small pots)
Just pay attention to the game and see what other players do.... That's why it's important to play one table at a time and adapt your game towards each opponent .
Against loose players be tight , and against tight players be loose but cautious
Loose aggressive play a wide range of hands and also calling with marginal hands so it's hard to bluff them, steal BBs, or small pots from them and that's why you must always have a strong hand playing with them.
LAG players can double you up , can bluff you with A high
( you can win a small number of big pots)
Tight aggressive players play a narrow range and fold most of the time , so if you are in a good spot steal the blinds , value bet , and when he is 4-betting you can just fold cause he has you beat
TAG players will try to trap you, letting you build the pot for them, and might bluff you if they are tilted .
(you can win multiple small pots)
Just pay attention to the game and see what other players do.... That's why it's important to play one table at a time and adapt your game towards each opponent .
Against loose players be tight , and against tight players be loose but cautious
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blueskies
Legend
Bronze Level
Distinguish between the good aggro players and bad ones. The good ones will fold if they feel like they are beat. The bad ones will have pedal to the metal.
The good ones are tougher to play against cuz they can tell if you are genuinely weak or if you are trapping. The bad ones you just have a make a good hand against and you will get paid.
Against the good ones, it's best to change your seat if they are on your left. It will be tough to win $.
For bad ones, it's ok to play calling station style.
Aballinamion
Dark Lord of the Sith
Bronze Level
My strategy when I'm up against super aggressive players is simple: I get up from the table and find one with more passive players. The problem is, just one loose-aggressive (LAG) player can mess up not only our winrate but also our mental state at the table—and that's often part of their strategy.
We have to start by assuming an aggressive player has a bankroll management style that fits how they play. An aggressive player should have at least, like, 200 buy-ins available, so they can burn through chips without sweating the results. This player can lose 20, 30, even 50 buy-ins in a single session and still be totally relaxed.
The issue with even thinking about a strategy for tables with aggressive players is that it implies we want to play against them. The goal of poker is to be profitable, not to battle it out with regs or aggressive maniacs. The real objective is to find players we can exploit and get an edge on, whether it's because they call way too much with hands they should fold, or because they're just too passive.
We don't have a lot of room to exploit an aggressive player ourselves—and here we're assuming the player is aggressively skilled, not just on tilt. Sometimes you just want to open a hand from the Cutoff to play against a rec fish in the BB, but the LAG in front of you keeps 3-betting every single time. Eventually, we lose our patience and end up calling when we should fold, or 4-betting when we should just let it go. The moment we do that, the aggressive player has already won, because that's exactly their strategy.
We gotta remember: we never, ever sit down at a poker table to get into ego battles or "level" our opponents. It's not a contest of who's the smartest. Our goal is to make the best possible plays against players we have an edge on—players whose weaknesses we can exploit and turn into long-term profit.
But if you're dead set on facing off against aggressive players, first you'd have to be as aggressive as they are. But to play super aggressive, you need a seriously robust bankroll. So you'd better make sure you have a roll of 200-300 buy-ins before you start playing more hands and raising every other second, which isn't for everyone. On top of that, the adrenaline rush is insane. The more aggressive we play, the more addicted we get, the more our heart pounds, and poker starts to feel like a drug.
If you don't plan on fighting fire with fire (or facing aggressive players by being equally or even more aggressive), the golden rule is to just look for a table with passive players. But if you still think you can have an edge over the aggro players, I'd recommend fighting fire with water: if your opponent is hyper-aggressive, play as passively as you can. Don't worry about putting money in the pot—he'll do that for you. Of course, you gotta wait for the right moment, and when you have solid equity, whether pre-flop or post-flop, just give him enough rope to hang himself.
Hope that makes sense mate, eh? Hugs
