Just as no two people in the world are alike, no two poker players are alike either. No matter how much strategy they learn, everyone has their own unique way of doing things on the poker table. But it can definitely be agreed that all players can be classified into a few different broad playing styles. Here is a look at some of the different players you’ll come across as well as how to win money off of them.
Fish
Fish are great because they are always the easiest to win money off of, yet frustrating at the same time because they’re most likely to deliver a bad beat. Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be as many fish out there in today’s game due to endless amounts of poker strategy, but there are no doubt still some left. The best way to beat a fish is by utilizing as much poker strategy as you know, and letting bad beats slide when they happen.
Tight Players
Those who are tight players normally only play one out of every eight or nine hands. These people are almost as easy to beat as fish because they only play great hands where they think they can win the pot. When you see a tight player raising and re-raising then it’s definitely best to get out of the way. On the other hand, you can push these players out of the pot at will when weak flops hit the board or when everyone is limping in.
Aggressive Players
The aggressive players are a little more difficult to figure out since they throw out frequent raises, and may even go all-in to scare others away. They’re very good at stealing blinds, and forcing others to fold when the board is less than favorable. However, you can easily combat overly aggressive players by only playing strong hands and draws while keeping in mind that big raises don’t always mean something.
Sharks
It’s often been said that you win your money by playing against weaker players so you’ll want to avoid sharks as much as possible. Sharks play poker almost every day, and have honed their skills by playing for hours and may use top-notch software programs. If a shark starts taking lots of money off of you never make it into a personal thing. Leave the room if you need to, but don’t get into raising wars with them just to recoup your chips.
ive tried everywhich way to play poker ive tried playing like a fish didnt work for me i lost my money over 50% of the time,ive tried playing tight..didnt get me anywhere besides trailing behind big time, i have to admit i cannot play like a shark,peroid.i havent been playing long enough for that. i can play aggressive.all i can say is that from playing online poker..i learned that you have to have alot of patience and concentration..sit back and your hands will come..wait for the donkeys to pass..dont go on tilt it only makes it worse..thats my opinion anyway.
Hi,
I would just like to add a few things to the types of poker players. First of all it is not that easy to divide players in to the four groups. I have to agree that a fish is basically just a bad player, which often plays way to many hands.
But whene it comes to tight and agressive players they might not be as easy to beat as the article makes it sound. If i tight player knows his image at the table he has no problem bluffing wining pots by bluffing, with nothing, since anyone belives he only bets when he`s got the nuts. And agressive players can aslo be real good if they ar not plain stupid. Small ball poker has become a well known style of playing poker, and many of the best MMT players use it. By making a lot of bets they get great implied odds to the times they realy make a hand, and if their bets are at the right time they also win a lot of small pots by betting the other players out.
At Last the shark: The characteristics of a shark is that i is in full controll of all the other types of players, and knows which type each player at the table is. And he is able to take advantage of it. He plays farily tight but is not afraid to put his money in when he knows he is ahead. Nough said, A Shark is a winning player!