How to Exploit Different Player Types: Maniacs, Calling Stations, and Loose Tables

I recently received an e-mail from a player that I thought was particularly poignant about dealing with “maniacs” at the table.

I’m certain that a lot of readers feel the same way so let me post a snippet of it here and give you some guidance.

There are frequently 3 or 4 players of this type at the tables I play on.

OK, some of the time they’ve got a premium hand, but a lot of the time they don’t, and it’s almost impossible to know what they might be holding unless you’re prepared to call them (and then again on each subsequent betting round).

Even a raise of 5 times the big blind is usually enough for me to fold all but the very best starting hands, and I’ve lost count of the number of hands I would have won if I’d stayed in against the idiots who raise with A6 offsuit and win with ace high!”

This is a great issue to bring up, and certainly can be a frustrating experience if you’re a naturally tight player. While it still is true that you want these types of players at your table, it doesn’t always feel that way when they suck out on you left and right or raise you out of the best hand.

Effective strategies when playing against maniacs

I’d like to recommend two main defensive strategies against overly aggressive players in no-limit ring games and tournaments, and they begin with one important piece of advice: continue to be selective with your starting hands.

When you see maniacs taking down big pots with trash hands, you might be tempted to sink to their level.

Hands like suited connectors and small pocket pairs play great in this situation if you’re getting the proper pot odds to call, but you often won’t be getting the right odds if the rest of the tables tightens up against the lone aggressive player.

When you start calling with garbage, you’ll inherently connect very little on the flop. The maniac will most likely continue to hammer you on the flop in which case you’ll probably fold and cost yourself money with a weak hand. A better choice is to:

1) Fight back against maniacs before the flop

Overly aggressive players thrive on taking control of the hand. Hence, they don’t like to be re-raised and lose control of the hand. You know that he can’t have Aces or Kings as often as he portrays, so most of the time you’ll catch him with a mediocre hand at best.

If you have position when playing against maniacs and pick up a better-than-average hand, consider throwing in a big re-raise.

Most of the time, you’ll pick up the pot right there. I was at a no-limit table last night against this type of player, and I’d raise him 4x his bet every time with any pocket pairs higher than 9-9 or with any two face cards. I never had to see a flop.

Maniacs aren’t looking for a fight

This type of player doesn’t want a fight – he wants to stay in control and quietly take down lots of pots. Aggressive players usually excel by sensing weakness and capitalizing on it. If you’re going to take on a seemingly wild player, don’t play weakly into his hands; dictate the terms, play your own game, and make him pay before the flop when you have a strong hand.

These players will often outplay you on the flop with their sheer aggression, so try to define your hand pre-flop if you have a tendency to fold to pressure.

2) Trap aggressive players with your strong hands

Slowplaying your big hands can be a great tool to extract great profit playing against maniacs.

Let’s say that you’re on the button with pocket Aces and the resident maniac makes his standard raise from early position of 5x the big blind. If there aren’t any other callers, I might just call in this situation.

Since this type of player usually continues his aggression on the flop, I’ll just call him again or if I’m out of position I might check-raise him. If you’re confident that you still have the best hand, just keep value betting or calling and build up a nice pot that will soon be yours.

Risk of getting outdrawn

Of course, you always risk being outdrawn here, but you should keep a close eye on the board for possible trouble. If you see an obvious straight or flush draw, you can throw in a raise.

However, if the board is seemingly benign, I’ll often save the raise until the river.

This allows me to take advantage of his blind aggression and extract more money from 3 additional betting rounds rather than chase him away before the flop.

Usually you should reserve this play for your premium pocket pairs, or if you hit a monster on the flop. Let him continue to make mistakes and show him what will happen if he continues to bully you around.

Bad beats are more likely to happen when you’re playing against maniacs

Even with your premium hands, bad beats are going to happen – especially against players willing to play anything. That’s simply a part of poker that you’ll have to be able to manage psychologically.

It happens to all of us, but what distinguishes winning poker players from losing ones is the ability to pick oneself up, play the best possible game, and mount a comeback.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to win it all back the same night. If you’re really going on tilt and you can recognize that you aren’t playing your best game, be strong enough to leave the table and come back tomorrow or the next day. The game will still be there waiting for you – especially online.

Passive play = poison

As I’ve tried to describe here, the worst thing you can do against overly aggressive opponents is play passively. As the player said in his message, you have to be prepared to call their bets on every subsequent betting round.

If you know that you’ll be facing another big bet on the flop, don’t make a weak call before the flop. Instead, throw in a big raise to take control of the hand.

Unless he is holding premium cards, you’ll at the very least take him out of his game. At the same time, consider slowplaying your Aces or Kings (less often with Kings because of the risk of him holding a weak Ace) and then raising him on the turn or river to get more value out of your hand.

Of course, if there are multiple maniacs willing to call big raises with anything pre-flop, you’re better off shoving in your chips and thinning the field. If you win a small pot, that’s okay…

You won the pot, didn’t you?

The following was submitted via our online poker forum (back when I actually hosted one in 2006. These days, just go ahead and leave me a comment):

“First, let me thank you for your site. You have some of the most honest poker site reviews on the Net.”

Thanks for the compliments. I try to be as honest to my experiences with each individual poker site as possible. The larger goal of this site is to help online poker players find a new site based on their priorities and then do well once they get there.

Extracting the maximum value

“Right now, I am trying to crush Bovada. If loose+agressive+stupid=gold mine, then I’m panning away. I mean, really, where does Calvin Ayre find these idiots, anyway?

I’m looking for a way to suck maximum value from these morons. My standard tactic has been to wait for AA, KK, or flopped sets and then push, but the winrate doesn’t impress me much.”

In regards to your basic strategy of waiting for those absolute nut hands, it’s a great way to win in theory but those premium hands don’t come around often enough to live by.

Simply waiting around for premium hands isn’t going to cut it

Of course, when you do draw pocket Aces or Kings I recommend raising 5-6x BB on a crazy site like Bovada. You should play tight at a loose table (which most are at most online poker sites), but you don’t have to play THAT tight.

Grinding out consistent profits in No-Limit Hold’em via premium pocket pairs and flopped sets is tough. Sometimes you can wait around for a couple of hours, double up with your pocket Aces, and sign off. This is especially true at loose sites where it seems like you get plenty of action on any given hand.

Unfortunately, more often you’ll win a small pot preflop, on the flop, or get those big hands cracked altogether. You need to play a balanced game, and fortunately these loose games can often give you the pot odds to take advantage of your position and knowledge of their loose nature.

Protecting against draws in loose games

“I can find no way to play TPTK or two pair because these guys draw on anything.”

Because of all the draws you’ll have to push your TPTK (top pair top kicker) more than usual. You can’t be afraid to continue with the hand because that hand will win a good chunk of your profit in No-Limit Hold’em.

Firstly, you’ll have to analyze the texture of the board. Are there any obvious draws out (two suited cards?) or a completed draw on the board already? If there is only a draw on the board, I would bet over the size of the pot, especially against multiple opponents.

If there is a completed draw on the board and you get raised, you’ll have to re-evaluate your hand.

Making it expensive to be drawn out on by loose players

You’re correct in that it seems as though players on this site draw out on anything so you’ll even have to bet out with your flopped sets and non-nut straights and flushes. Don’t you hate it when those seemingly fishy players make those higher straights and flushes using only one of their hole cards?

If you aren’t making it expensive for them to do so, you need to start! If you know that players are going to try to draw out on you make them pay to do it. Charge them at least the size of the pot if you see two suited and/or connected cards on the board.

Bet at least the size of the pot with a vulnerable hand

My main point is that you have to be prepared for tricky scenarios such as TPTK against known suck outs.

Personally, my main defense would be to bet at least the size of the pot and follow my gut. If, from my history with the player, I really felt that they were trying to draw out on me and they rarely gave up in the face of big bets, I would just set him (or myself) all-in.

If he calls that huge bet on a draw then you should only be so fortunate to be at the same table with such a truly untalented player. If he doesn’t, you did pick up the pot…

Adjusting your strategy against loose players

“1.) I could play more suited connectors and suited aces, but I hate paying 10bb to see the flop with my A7s.”

I would definitely recommend playing more suited connectors if you can get in cheaply from late position with 3 or 4 other callers. This would give you the proper pot odds to play this type of hand, which can be goldmines when they occasionally hit that straight or two pair on the flop in No-Limit.

However, if you’re going to play low suited connectors you also need to have the discipline to let them go when you don’t flop a monster. In regards to paying 10x the big blind with A7s, don’t do it!

This one is an unhealthy temptation

“2.) I could try to limp into the pot with anything and hope to hit. Both pot odds and implied odds seem to point that way, but those cards would have to hit the flop pretty hard.”

This would be falling into the same trap thinking that fuels the online poker fish. Most of the time when you play “anything” starting cards for the sake of playing them, you’ll be tossing your hand into the muck after the flop. That’s a small leak. The bigger leak is when you sort of hit the flop and continue on calling bets with a second-best hand.

Even if you do win a massive pot when you hit trips with your 7-4 offsuit, you shouldn’t just focus on the results. It was still a bad decision to play that hand and you’d be reinforcing bad poker play. It’s something that I talk about in my Beat the Fish tutorial: don’t sink to their level.

Ranting in the chat box is largely pointless

“3.) I have tried making a spectacle of myself in the chat box, but it seems to have no effect on how the donks play their hands.”

Of course, this would be your personal choice, but I mute the chat entirely when I play poker. I just don’t like it. Why mouth off (or listen to someone else mouth off) when you can easily ignore it and concentrate on your play?

Besides being potentially distracting, it can be harmful to the “donks”. It might make them feel embarrassed enough to leave the table or it could encourage them to play better. If they truly are donkeys, you don’t want them doing either.

I hope that these tips can help you a bit in the loose online games that can be both greatly rewarding and frustrating.

The basic definition of a calling station is a player who doesn’t like to take control of hands but is willing to call down those who do take control.

In other words, they’re both loose and passive. Calling stations leave the betting up to you and will probably just call if they hit anything on the flop.

What to expect from a calling station?

Typical reasons for a calling station to continue with a hand include making any pair or improving to a straight or flush draw. Calling stations usually also like to keep calling you down when they’re holding any pocket pair.

When you play at a poker room that has a lot of calling stations and not a whole lot of loose-aggressive (maniacs) or tight-aggressive players there are certain steps that you can take to ensure maximum profit.

Bet for value and protection

Keep in mind that calling stations are double-edged swords. On one hand, this type of player can be great to value bet and gain some extra profit. If you make a strong hand on the flop, you can continue betting a reasonable amount into them and they’ll keep calling you down to the river.

They’ll allow you to build the pot and win more bets if they don’t draw out on your hand.

However, you also need to keep in mind that calling stations will also be calling on straight and flush draws as well. The last thing you want to do is let them hit their draw cheaply. Adjust the pot odds to your favor by betting the correct amount.

Make your calling station opponent go against the odds

If you’re heads-up against a calling station and you have a strong hand but could also be outdrawn, you should consider betting at least the size of the pot. If your opponent calls this bet on a straight or flush draw, he’s statistically making a mistake and you’re making him pay to do it.

He’ll still draw out on you at times, but most of the time you’ll just be gaining extra bets.

Don’t bluff calling stations and let them try to bluff you

Keep in mind that most players aren’t completely clueless so if you think that your opponents missed his draw, you should check on the river and try to induce a bluff.

One of the key aspects to playing calling stations is to seldom bluff them yourself. This is the type of player that will call you down with bottom pair. That’s great in most situations, but if you can’t beat that and you’re on a total bluff you’re going to lose some money.

Be on the lookout for a calling station

Keep an eye on the players at your table and decide who to bluff and who you’ll need to show down strong cards to. Calling stations are usually one of the best types of opponents you can have because you’re usually going to the one taking control of the hand and dictating where the action leads.

As soon as you sit down at the table, start watching the players and classify them in your mind or using the built-in notes feature at most online poker rooms. It’ll allow for easier decision-making when you tangle with those players for a pot.

Remember, value bet the calling stations, show down good cards, and don’t bluff them.

Key Takeaways