Some thoughts I have whipped up about HUSNG player types. Please comment if you see any glaring mistakes.


HUSNG player types


People will tell you that there are an infinite number of player types. In one way this is true as no 2 players are exactly alike. However I really think that the majority of online HUSNG players can be broken down into 4 types. They are

01. Tight aggressive(TAG)
02. Tight passive(TIP)
03. Loose aggressive(LAG)
04. Loose Passive(LOOP)

TAG's and LAG's are commonly used aconyms in the poker community, but LOOP's and TIP's to my knowledge are not.( For the remainder of this post I will use the above acronyms to refer to the 4 player types). In this post I am going to try and give you some ideas on how you can identify each player type and more importantly what tactics you should use to play optimally against each of these opponents.

01.The TAG

Common traits of a HUSNG TAG
- Hardly ever calls your raises.
- Hardly ever calls your 3-bets.
- Doesn't attack your limps.
- Never turns up on the river with junk.
- 3-bets occasionally.

This is how you should be playing against a TAG
- open 2x or 3x most times in position.
- 3-bet a lot with a polarised range.
- c-bet a lot , especially on dry boards.

02.The TIP

Common traits of a HUSNG TIP
- Hardly ever calls your raises.
- Hardly ever calls your 3-bets.
- Doesn't attack your limps.
- Turns up on the river with junk.
- Never 3-bets.

This is how you should be playing against a TIP
- 2x all buttons.
- 3-bet a lot with a polarised range
- c-bet 100%(maybe half pot)
- attack his limps
- donk bet hi card flops

03.The LAG

Common traits of a HUSNG LAG
- Calls your raises - a lot
- Calls or raises your 3-bets a lot.
- Attacks your limps
- 4 bets / shoves over the top a lot.
- Donk bets a lot.

This is how you should be playing against a LAG
- 2x or limp your button.
- Only 3-bet your premium hands. (this is un-polarised 3 betting)
- 3/4 pot cbet on boards that you hit hard.

04.The LOOP

Common traits of a HUSNG LOOP
- Calls your raises a lot
- Calls your 3 bets a lot.
- Turns up with junk on the river.

This is how you should be playing against a LOOP
- Limp your bad hands on the button. Raise your good hands to 3x or 4x or whatever you can get away with.
- Only 3-bet your Premium hands.
- 3/4 pot cbet on boards that you hit hard.
- Don't bluff. Value bet a lot. This guy is a calling station.

Remember, the above is only a guide and you obviously need to use your own discretion in applying any of the aforementioned tactics when playing Heads Up Sit'n go Poker.

Hope this is informative, tell me what you think.

222

only glanced but why would you wanna cbet 100% and 3bet a lot vs a tight passive? his handrange to openraise or call a raise out of position will already be fairly strong

Maybe not 3-bet "a lot", but def 3-bet with a polarised range. ie: the nuts(QQ+,AK) or air as he will fold a lot cause he is passive. If he 4-bets you, you can shove over with your good hands and fold your air.

cbet a lot , again cause he will fold a lot. Only half-pot c-bet usually gets the job done imo.

I'm a bit confused spamz , this is what cog teached me too... or I did not understand his lesson which is also possible of course.

CB almost any board (small) except for the "high" boards as they will hit villains range very hard. Also be careful with double barrels because they won't continue without a hand.

Uhm, am I misunderstanding "tight passive"? I was under the impression a tight passive player only raises made hands and will fold to any aggression if they don't hit.

I thought a tight passive will still turn up at river with decent hands, and fold junk.

The tight aggressive will fold junk and play back at you with his good hands.

So I figure increased cbetting freqn vs both is profitable, and reduce the cbet size cos they will fold anyway to half or 3/4 pot. Unless I'm mistaken that is.

Yea passive means they are not very aggressive, therefore aren't playing aggressive with most holdings.

Passive means they use more of calls and checks with hands that might sometimes raise or bet.

So a tight passive doesn't play many hands, but when he does he doesn't bet or raise with them often, he checks and calls with them.

This means, while an initial bet is often good, multiple barrels, particularly with air and weak showdown value, are not often ideal vs this player.

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Spam's point was making sure that you don't take the words literal, since they would then be incorrectly applied. He's not saying don't cbet or 3bet bluff a tight player ever, he's saying be careful, because those players often just open fold or fold to a raise with hands they don't want to play and will play a much higher % of the hands they decide not to fold when facing aggression.

Basically, if a guy is open folding 65% of hands and opening 35% of hands, he would have to be one hell of a nit for you to 3bet him a lot and be correct (postflop advantages aside). And if the guy is calling 20% OOP, 3betting 10% and folding 70%, cbetting 100% of boards is not going to be good at all. You'll still use a high cbet % vs some players exhibiting those characteristics, but if you built a program to play a player like this, 100% cbet is not what you would do.

Spam isn't saying to not be aggressive though, I think he's just shaking his head at the absolutes given in that example.

Good useful stuff. I'm starting to appreciate that there are different kinds of LAGs and that you have to play the different styles somewhat differently. You've focussed on preflop play, whereas I would say a LAG is defined by how they display their postflop aggression. I wonder if you have any thoughts on this.

Some LAGs are overbetters and others lead out, but small with semibluff / draw and others are pure bluff runners (floaters, double/tripple barrelers, etc...) One LAG might check raise a flush draw on the flop, whereas a different one will donk the flop, check/call the turn and make a pure bluff on the river when they miss.

One thing I'm struggling with is how to pick up clues on what type of LAG I'm dealing with and tune a strategy to them. There are many more tactics for dealing with LAGs: trapping, check/calling with good hands so we use their aggression to hide our hand strength, playing back at them, and calling down light.

just get a feel for his aggression.
some bet/donk mutch but fold to raises. others dont.
some bet and donk but only raise for value.
just get a feel of his style and figure out how to addjust on each street.

its the best to look at every opponents aktions/mistakes on each street and figure out how to addjust.

Theres only one way to play HUsng, and thats to raise a lot, 3bet a lot, & cbet a lot.

LOL, this is exactly why there's no money heads up: everyone is solid. Adjustments are for those that don't know this simple formula.

why bluff a huge station with cbets and 3bets? Think you just plugged a pretty serious leak.

Sure I will stab some time, but most value comes from value betting not bluffing.

I was actually being somewhat facetious, but in reality you should be using at least 1 of the 3 vs pretty much all opponents. If they're loose and passive then raise a lot, if theyre tight and nitty, raise a lot. If they're loose and aggressive raising a lot like you, then 3bet a lot. General idea is to just play aggressively in opposite manner of their style. What not to do is sit there and check/fold all day, unless you're just bumhunting at NL50.

Uh...you should be more specific than that.

Betting light against nits is good. Betting real light against people who will call you to the river with Khigh hand after hand isn't.

Not disagreeing but consider the following.

You are a tight passive HUSNG player opening 35%.

From pokerstove you open......... 55+,A2s+,K3s+,Q5s+,J7s+,T7s+,97s+,87s,A4o+,K8o+,Q9 o+,J9o+,T9o

Someone 3bets you for the first time.

Happy calling with.....

88+,A9s+,KTs+,QTs+,AJo+,KQo (10%)

Happy 4 betting or shoving........

99+,AKs

Therefore you are folding 25/35 times = 71%





Again you are a Tight Passive and calling 20% oop with......

66+,A4s+,K8s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T9s,A9o+,KTo+,QTo+,JTo


From the random flop generator 4 possible flops are.....

(1) 5h8s9s

(2) 8c2s3s

(3) Td7dJd

(4) Kc8sKh

The button cbets half pot on each of these flops after you check.
What are you happy calling with? You won't raise cause you are passive.


So maybe the above should be changed to......

This is how you should be playing against a TIP
- 2x all buttons.
- 3-bet a lot with a polarised range
- c-bet a lot(maybe half pot) on certain boards and see how he responds.
- attack his limps
- donk bet hi card flops

Does anyone think anything in my initial post was completely wrong?

"Remember, the above is only a guide and you obviously need to use your own discretion in applying any of the aforementioned tactics when playing Heads Up Sit'n go Poker."


222

what rypac said obv
if anything you should have a merged 3betvaluerange against a tight opponent (not too wide though), def include KQ/KJ/AQ/AJ/AT and maybe KT even in that range, the thing is, nits usually have problems letting go off hands and suggesting that he only proceeds with 88+,A9s+,KTs+,QTs+,AJo+,KQo will be far from the truth really... they will see a flop for sure with their small pocket pair most of the time, or a suited ace or hand like 98s

also the fact that you pull up pokerstove to see what a 35% openingrange is is laughable, let alone 20% oop callingrange which includes JJ+ and others

Whenever I 3/4 pot value bet calling stations they always seem to hit something by the river and I'm crippled when I lose with TPTK Am I doing something wrong? I WANT them to be calling when they're on draws, don't I?

In the long run you will win a lot by value betting big vs stations, problem is we always seem to remember the times they hit.

Guess why there is a brags and beats thread and no suck out thread.

Winning a 20/80 feels good for one sec and then you continue, but loosing a 80/20 somehow stays in your memory so much longer.