There are many types of poker players. There are no 100% perfect definitions for any of these types, plus there is a good deal of overlap between and among the various poker player types.
So How Many Different Types of Poker Players ARE There?
Most people categorize poker players by their aggressiveness and their betting style. So, we've got passive and aggressive plus tight and loose. We can cross reference these types to get tight/passive; tight/aggressive; loose/passive; and loose/aggressive.
We will have more to say on these types a bit later.
There are Other Ways to Categorize Poker Players
The three most common types of poker players in this type of categorizing are fish! They are the fish, whale, and shark.
A fish is simply a poor player who loses all the time but small amounts. The whale loses large amounts. The shark wins. Sharks are very good at identifying player types and they hone in on every opportunity to win a pot with good cards or bad!
Under the Heading of “Fish Who are Poker Players” We Have a Long List
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Jellyfish
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Whale-shark
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Cod
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Bass
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Tetra
Some players are called foxes because they are extra clever. Then there are the regular players who are simply called regs. A reg can be any of the above player types. Finally, we have players who are called a nit, calling station, or maniac.
With so many different ways to designate poker players, we would expect there to be a lot of overlap and there is!
Who Can You Bluff?
The two most important aspects of any player type are: How much money can you win from them and how easily can they be bluffed out of a hand?
Let’s Start with the Fish
A jellyfish comes into a room all weak and wimpy. The jellyfish is usually a man. He looks the part of the fish who the other players, who all fancy themselves as sharks, are licking their lips in anticipation of winning a lot of money from him.
The jellyfish will go all-in early on in the poker game. He usually wins a few pots with this tactic and then leaves the game with a small but substantial profit.
Why Do the Other Players Not Call or Raise the Jellyfish?
His play is so erratic that they don’t know who he is and where he comes from. His entrance into the game looking for all the world like a fish waiting to be fried makes his immediate aggressive play seem all the more aggressive!
All-in is too aggressive for players to call so early in a game. So, the jellyfish has the others completely bamboozled, wins a few pots, and leaves.
What is the Distinguishing Trait of Cods?
A cod is a player who always over-values his or her hand. There is a simple way to evaluate a hand but this requires the simplest form of poker math which a cod refuses to learn.
A cod is often considered a calling machine but there is a difference. A calling machine just calls most hands. He or she is not evaluating their hand so they can’t over-value the hand. A cod will try to evaluate their hand and will almost always come out on the side of thinking that their hand is better than it really is.
It is almost impossible to bluff a cod. They also give no indication what their hand might be since they don’t make a proper evaluation of the hand. A cod will bet almost as soon as it is his or her turn to play - never taking the time to "hem and haw".
What is a Tetra in Poker?
A tetra is a very passive player. It is rare for a tetra to be a loose player - they are almost always tight AND passive players. Since they are both tight and passive, they can easily be bluffed.
What Makes a Bass a Bass?
A bass is very aggressive but it is hard to pinpoint whether he or she is tight or loose. The key to a bass is that they will bet on a lot of borderline hands. The thing is that you as an opponent don’t know if the hand is a borderline hand or if it is a lot better or a lot weaker.
That makes a bass very hard to bluff.
What is a Maniac?
A maniac is all of the betting player types rolled into one player and then all of those characteristics are magnified many times over. It is absolutely impossible to bluff a maniac. It is, however, easy to win money from one if your hand is even moderately good since they hate to fold!
It’s Time to be a Bit Intellectual about Poker Player Types
That brings us to passive, aggressive, tight, and loose players and the combinations thereof.
These terms derive from psychology and they are as much psychological terms as they are behavioral terms. The poker player types we have already touched upon are mainly behavioral designations. Now we will get into who these players actually are!
In Poker, We Do Not Consider Passive-Aggressive Behavior
There is no such player type as passive-aggressive in poker. There is, however, passive-aggressive behavior in everyday life. In real life, passive-aggressive behavior is very dangerous to the person who exhibits that type of behavior and everyone he or she interacts with.
In poker, the aggressive player will bet strongly in situations where it is not generally expected such, as early position. A passive player will usually exhibit the opposite type of betting tendency: they will bet passively even in situations where you would have expected more aggressive betting.
How Do Aggressive Poker Players Bet?
A common bet from an aggressive player is a raise in early position. Since you know that the player is generally an aggressive bettor, you will not immediately think that they have a very powerful hand.
Here is where the aggressive player becomes either a tight or a loose player. If they are a lot less confident in their hand after the flop, they will suddenly become a lot less aggressive, almost to the point of becoming passive. Their essentially aggressive betting nature will make it hard for them to fold even after a poor flop but their betting style will become very tight.
This is a sure sign that they were betting aggressively with no real value before the flop.
This is the aggressive/tight paradigm. The aggressive/loose player will try to bluff opponents out of the pot.
A lot of players are better categorized as tight/aggressive or loose/aggressive. Here we see that the adjectives are reversed. A tight/aggressive player bets on very few hands and then bets hard. They cannot bluff good players since they are betting with good hands and a good player will simply fold.
A loose/aggressive player will be an easy mark for good players since they bet very aggressively with weak hands.
How Do Passive Players Play?
Passive players play to not lose! They often bet weakly even with very good hands. They exude a lack of confidence even in a hand that will win almost all of the time.
Passive/tight players rarely take any risk at all! It is usually very easy to bluff a passive/tight player because they believe that an opponent has a better hand. A passive/loose player will suddenly come alive during a hand. They will start passively and then, after the flop, the turn, or the river they will start to bet loosely. A passive player cannot become an aggressive player.
The kind of player who apparently starts out passively and then gets aggressive is better classified as a tight/aggressive player!
Observation Can Identify the Poker Player Types
It takes a lot of time to become skilled at identifying poker player types. Even if you have successfully identified an opponent under a designation, he or she may no longer fit that mold the next time you encounter them at the table.
It is as important to develop good observational skills as it is to learn any other aspect of poker.
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