Playing styles and low-limit hold'em

by Michael Allen Engel

We’ll assume that you’ve already seen a game of hold’em in action (for many, they see the WPT of World Series), so you know the rules. Also, there’s no need to cover the hand rankings. So deal ‘em up, right?

Not so fast.

This article will examine the different types of styles players utilize in their hold’em games. This will include the benefits and drawbacks of certain styles.

Tight-Aggressive

If you’re new to poker, remember this term - you’ll hear it often. The tight-aggressive style advocates patience and hand selection. You’ll benefit using this style because, since you’re playing tightly, you’ll only be entering pots with cards that lie in the upper levels of starting hand rankings. If you play properly after the flop, you stand a good chance to win a high percentage of the time, due to the value of your starting cards. The drawbacks to the tight-aggressive style are that you may be bored since good hands only come around so often. It requires great focus and patience to maintain this style through most of a session, and some players don’t have that mental stamina earlier in their poker careers. Two hours of solid play can be erased by one bad river card or lucky catch. That’s very disappointing and frustrating. Still, this is the most recommended style for beginning players.

Super-Aggressive

The super-aggressive player raises. A lot. There are very few pots he isn’t involved in, and again, he’s usually raising to start them off. Super-aggressive players win a lot of hands uncontested and can push a lot of tight-aggressive players of hands that are actually winning. Thus, one of the benefits of this style is intimidation. Many players will stay out of your way, and let you accumulate a lot of small pots. You also don’t have to show a lot of hands, so there isn’t much regard for what you start with in the hole - you can just raise and take it. And if you happen to hit the nuts, you might get someone sick and tired of your tricks pushing their whole stack in your direction. The drawbacks to this style are that it is very difficult to play correctly. You have to identify which players are going to fold and in what situations. In the low limits, most players are dying for a chance to call. Or they want to call just to keep you honest. So you can lose a lot simply trying to push somebody off of their hand. Additionally, a super-aggressive player stands out, and good players adjust to sit back and wait, and when you get out of line, you’d better have a hand or you just wasted money. Most super-aggressive players either win big or lose big, there isn’t a lot of breaking even. This creates high volatility, which can be unsettling for a starting player.

Most players will have certain percentages of both styles. They’ll make moves now and then when it seems right to do so, but usually hang around and wait. Or they’ll raise a lot, but they may also be ready to bow out if they get strong resistance. The right style is somewhere in between, because you have to continuously change gears. In cash games, people will come and go all night, so you have to change your style to fit the table. In tournaments, you must change gears depending on numerous factors like your position in the rankings, blind size, stack size of your opponents, and your position compared to the big/small stacks. Experience is the most effective way to decide which style suits you best and how to enhance your edge over the table.