I don't know how to Beat LAA

[Maxinho]

Any one can explain to me how I beat LooseAgressive/Agressive?
Sometimes they have hands others don't, but I can't bet, they always raise =/ and I feel lost

someone?

[Befolder]

You have to go into passive mode a bit more and let them bluff off chips to you when you have even bottom pair. Basically, call them down more often. Go nuts when you have big hands.

[Maxinho]

man being passive is dificult to me, but I will try, they will stop bluff on the river? where I can value bet?
They never stop =P

[Aaron W.]

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man being passive is dificult to me, but I will try

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Do or do not, there is no try.



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they will stop bluff on the river?

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Play passively and find out.

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where I can value bet?

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When you have a good hand.

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They never stop [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

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FYP

[Nick D]

LO -mother f'n L!! Nice pic.

I have this same problem, good advice, but I hate turning into a calling station. Guess it just takes a little bit more experience as well as comfort with one's own ability.

[RemyXO]

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I hate turning into a calling station

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You have to adapt your style to the opponent you are facing. Calling down with decent but not great hands is the best against LAAs.

But it won't be exactly a calling station style. Again, you'd be 3-popping preflop a lot (hopefully). That's not ATM style. You'd be jamming like crazy with good hands on all streets. That's not being a calling station - that's being smart poker player.

[Befolder]

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LO -mother f'n L!! Nice pic.

I have this same problem, good advice, but I hate turning into a calling station.

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I never get it when people say this.

There is too much of this bet/raise is the only play crap. There are times against certain opponents when the value call is the perfect weapon. If you like money, you will call these guys. If you don't, go ahead and raise and watch them fold when you have them beaten. If you just call, they will likely bluff into your better hand time and time and time and time and time and time... again.

Every one of those 'times' is a BB you aren't getting when you raise them early and they fold.

Calling is a bluff stopper. It frustrates the hell out of maniacs when keep calling their bets with only bottom pair and they showdown K high. Plus, it feels pretty damn good to get the better of those monkeys.

[Bona]

You didn't really specify when this is a problem for you. I would say if it is one or two laggies in the game and the rest are pretty tight it may be time for a new table. If that isn't for you then check/raise them from their right (with good hands), iso-raise from their left (with good hands), and fold speculative hands early.

If it is several players at the table playing aggressively and loosely. STAY WHERE YOU ARE!! Play those suited hands and connectors. I stay away from high card hands like AJo, ATo, KQ0 at those tables. Make early decisions on your drawing hands. When you hit, punish them for their transgressions.

[RemyXO]

Maxinho, my 2 cents:

(1) You HAVE to tighten up. The most crucial and expensive mistake is trying to out-LAG the LAG. Quite frankly, he's probably better at it than you are.

(2) Get ready for big swings. While LAGs are a goldmine for your bankroll, short-term swings can be pretty large. Just a nature of playing a lot of big pots.

(3) You have to have position on the maniac. If he's on your left, you'll be playing OOP against aggressor most of the time. . It's more difficult and less profitable. Perfect position is on your immediate right or one seat off - you'll see more flops cheaper when he raises you on the button and you are in BB.
If I don't have good position on the maniac, I don't mind leaving the table.

(4) Your biggest weapon - isolation reraise with your good hands. You want to be heads-up against him with better cards. By definition - it's long-term +EV. It's almost three-bet or fold, if this guys is first in. This is why position is very important.

(5) Tighten up PREFLOP, but loosen up POSTFLOP. Don't be afraid to call him down with high pairs. Jam better hands.

(6) Try to decipher his tendencies. Although LAAs look like complete loose cannons, they usually have some kind of a strategy. How does he react to PF reraises? What does he cap with? How does he behave when facing aggression? On the flop or turn? If he ever goes into calldown mode, with what holdings? What's his river play like?

(7) Playing LAAs can be very frustrating at times. Don't let your emotions get in the way.

(8) Post hands.

Good luck!

[NIX]

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(1) You HAVE to tighten up. The most crucial and expensive mistake is trying to out-LAG the LAG. Quite frankly, he's probably better at it than you are.

(3) You have to have position on the maniac. If he's on your left, you'll be playing OOP against aggressor most of the time. . It's more difficult and less profitable. Perfect position is on your immediate right or one seat off - you'll see more flops cheaper when he raises you on the button and you are in BB.
If I don't have good position on the maniac, I don't mind leaving the table.

(4) Your biggest weapon - isolation reraise with your good hands. You want to be heads-up against him with better cards. By definition - it's long-term +EV. It's almost three-bet or fold, if this guys is first in. This is why position is very important.

(5) Tighten up PREFLOP, but loosen up POSTFLOP. Don't be afraid to call him down with high pairs. Jam better hands.

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To add to/counter some of these ideas, if you are in position on the LAA and think you can get it heads up with him after he raises (or perhaps threeway with another bad player), you should loosen up your three betting range. Because his cards are on average worse than say a good TAG, you can widen your range and still be ahead of his range. For example, if I'm in LP, I may 3-bet a TAG opening in MP with 88+/ATs+/AJ+/KQs, but if it's a LAA opening, my range will be closer to 55+/A9s+/AT+/KJs+/KQ.

A flip side to this is if you're OOP against the LAA. It's a little trickier to pull off, but if there are tighter players after him and you see he's 3-betting you a lot, you can tighten up a little bit or possibly even open with your normal raising range hoping he's going to try to isolate you, often times with a worse hand than yours. From here, you're in the same situation as before, being heads up against the LAA. The downside is you're OOP so you can't get the last raise in if you wanted to. The upside is he has the initiative since he got the last preflop raise in and is probably going to bluff on at least two streets if you let him.

Once you've gotten to the flop, if it's heads up, this is where you can sit back and let him bluff his stack to you. If you have a good hand like TPTK or something, go ahead and push back. If you're lucky, your LAA of choice will think that he knows you know he may not have a hand and are trying to get him to fold. To keep that from happening, he'll push back harder which is great when you have something big. If you don't have much of a hand, be it a small pocket pair or AJ high or something and he is determined to bet all three streets if you don't raise him, this may be a situation where it's profitable to just call him down and let him keep trying to get you to fold with his K9s.

Yes, playing this way can be awfully swingy and frustrating at times, but it's been pretty good to me. I try to get it one on one with the guy and not spew when it's a toss up, but get him to spew when I'm the favorite. I'm not sure if this is the proper way to think about these situations, but I run it through my head like this. If he opens in MP and I 3-bet and successfully isolate him with ATs, I may feel I'm a small favorite at the time of my raise, like say 58/42 if his range is any ace/pair/2 broadway/suited king/some suited connectors. I'm now pretty much ready to showdown at this point. He donks the flop (or check/raises or whatever. It doesn't matter because I know he does it all the time) and I whiffed. Well, I was a favorite before and if I know he's betting his entire range now, I'll just call all three streets UI unless the board gets really connected. I'll win my fair share (since I was ahead when my showdown decision was made) and it's slightly better than flipping coins (plus I can toss in another few bets if I hit).

Hope this helps.