How do you play against aggressive loose players

[foldalot101]

I am new to the 1 2 nl game I like the game a lot better than the 3 6 limit I use to play.My problem is playing against aggressive players who raise regular.I feel they just run over me.I do not play scared money and waiting around to play solid
hands against them can get frustrating.Any advise would be well noted.

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[EdmondDantes]

Whenever I play a LAG player like you describe, I try to pay close attention to the hands he's showing and the action pattern. If I see him 3-betting consistently with hands like KTo, A9, suited connectors and the like, I know that I can be more aggressive with hands like AJ-AQ or 99 than I might otherwise be.

You can also quit the table if someone's making you uncomfortable. Don't let your ego make you stay in a game in which you feel off-balance. If it doesn't look like a profitable game for your style and you're not sure how to adjust, move to another table. No shame it that, at all.

Well playing solid hands is definitely a good start. You can also slow play a bit and let them bet for you. Last, you can't only play good hands because you become too predictable. However, when you do mix in moderate hands try to play hands that are not easily dominated when they hit, like suited connectors and smaller pairs that you're playing for set value.

[chadster2001]

In this type of situation, provided that there appears to be only one aggressor (usually he has "control of the table") which is usually one of the goals of this type of aggressor - it is important to understand the dynamics of the table.

Usually at these tables, the aggressor will begin by continuously raising pre-flop, regardless of what cards he has or what position he is in. he hopes to hit his flop in which case his unpredictability for hands that he plays will build a nice pot for him as most other players will not believe him, or at very least be unsure about his hand.

If he is a skilled player, he is attentively watching the table and will be able to pick up rather quickly if the other players have flopped well or not. As an example, if he has pre-flopped raised, it is likely that he has knocked out about 30-50% of his competition at the table. When the flop is shown, and he bets out (as he would be expected to do by other players that have picked up a piece if the flop), then one of three things will occur. All or some of the other players will fold, realizing that seeing the river will be expensive, or all or some of the players will call - telling the aggressor that there are some possibly strong hands or strong drawing hands, in which case he has to determine how string his hand is to the possible draws or over cards that are showing on the board -- in which case if he has position he can see the river cheap as the other players will expect him to make a bet in which they will want to try to check raise if they hit a good hand. Or the third possibility is that the aggressor will be raised, in which case he now has enough information to make a decision based on the value of his hand and/or his odds of drawing over top a strong hand at the flop and/or turn.

Eventually, it is very likely that the table over all will become a very loose table and eventually the aggressor will begin to lose control of the table as he is called and raised more often, depleting his chips. At some point he is likely to become overly aggressive by pushing ALL IN often to deter the table from becoming too loose. This will cause him to make some very costly mistakes, however if he does not change his game strategy quickly enough.

So in regards to you, and how you should play in this situation is this:

You must be patient and play position hands only while this is occurring. Playing only high hands will not work in this situation because the aggressor can and will be holding almost any hole cards in his possession, including unlikely hands such as 7 2 , or 9 3 off suit.

You want to play his game, but more patiently and only in position so that you avoid depleting your chip stack. Keep in mind that one of the aggressors ultimate goal is to tire the players out, and to get them to make mistakes out f desperation of playing a hand. This is how he makes his money.

The biggest mistake is the believe that the aggressor is a loose player and/or does not know how to play the game. The reality is that this type of player in many (not all) cases is a very very skilled player that should not be underestimated, and if he eventually does lose all of his chips, it is not necessarily because his "luck" has run out,though it just may have. It is more likely to be because he did not change his game strategy quick enough to compensate for the change in the table dynamics that he was initially responsible for creating.