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Profiling opponents and then using standardized lines against them is a great way to simplify the decision-making process during a session. Basically, what you are trying to do is identify extreme tendencies or leaks in your opponents and then label them accordingly. In this video I will cover 3 really common player types and tell you how to identify and exploit them.

Everyone is trying to win
First off, let me state an obvious but not so obvious fact. Everyone that plays poker is trying to win. It's easy to lose sight of this when you observe some of the terrible things that we see opponents do at the tables. Just remember that their flawed strategy is not flawed in their eyes, the quicker we can recognize that and get inside the heads, the faster we can make targetted adjustments and exploit them to the fullest.

The extreme tendencies we are targetting
1. Folding too much- discuss
2. Calling too much- discuss
3. Being too aggressive- discuss

Countering those tendencies
Each extreme tendencies carries a different "type" of exploitable money
-Tight players who fold too lose a lot of non-showdown money when we steal or bluff them off the best hand
-Loose players who call too much lose a lot of showdown earnings when we value bet them and they showdown the worst hand too often
-Aggro players who overplay hands give up showdown earnings when we widen our continuing range and use passive lines to induce unwarranted aggression. Our bluff catching and the fact that they pay off our mid to stronger range too often, is their weakness

Labeling each extreme tendency
-tight players or nits tend to wait on strong hands and are focused too much on making the best hand to win. As a result, their red line tanks while they hopelessly wait on big hands. Look for players with a high fold to c-bet and generally nitty stats, like being 14/12 in 6-max or 10/8 in full ring. Agg% is surprisingly not a good indicator of a nitty player since they tend to aggressively play strong hands the few times they actually get them. I give them the blue tag or mouse icon.
-players who call too much, or calling stations, are eternal optimists and havent met a piece of the board they didn't like. They typically are in the 40/10 range and have a fold to c-bet of under 40%, along with a low agg% of 30 or less. I give them the yellow or phone icon.
-Overly aggressive players like testosterone wars and like to bully other players. They tend to have Laggy looking stats, sometimes even to the extreme. 40/35/40+ with a 3-bet of well over 10% is common. I give them the purple tag or the tornado icon.

Exploiting each player type
Nits- Try to sit to their right and expand your stealing range. The more they fold to steals, the wider you should open. C-bet nearly 100% against them on flops, but shut down if they show any signs of interest or aggression.
Stations- Avoid having them to your left and rearrange your pre-flop range against them, when you expect them to be involved. Gear your range toward more value hands or hands that have better flopability. Post-flop, forget about bluffing or even semi-bluffing and instead widen your value range to include just about any piece of the board. Increase your average bet size to take advantage of their sticky nature. Don't worry about balance, the better your hand, the bigger you should bet. With draws either use passive lines or bet small to build the pot a bit in case you make your hand. If you get there, bomb the hell out of it.
Maniacs- Try to play as many pots as possible against them, but try to see flops as cheaply as possible with a range that flops well and has good showdown value. The more extreme the stats, the more willing you should be to continue with more marginal made hands. Passive play rules against these players, even with your strongest hands.. the idea is to use their aggression against them and let them hang themselves... call call call for the win. If you have a reasonable draw, go for big turn raises.. most maniacs actually fear aggression and will give you credit, unless they are batshit insane. If thats the case, at least have a lot of equity when the money goes in.. draws serve that purpose well.

I hope this video has helped you better understand how to profile and attack different players at your table. For more detailed information, check out the article on my website, found in a link above as well as in the description.

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