How to deal with new table dynamics?

[ChrisEuph]

Last night I was playing in a 5 handed 1/2 NL game where I started with 300 and the other 4 players bought in for 100 each. Over the next 40 minutes I was being the aggressor and got up to 430. I was told a LAG who plays online for a living was going to be coming to the table. I moved my seat immediately to his left to have position. He bought in for 300 and proceeded to run the table. Raise, reraise, making it very expensive to play anything period. Two questions:

1. What do I do? Tighten up like I did? Pop him once or twice for respect? Get up with my profits and wait for another table to open up?

2. Should I strive to play like that? He was just running over the table, but I also know the 1/2 NL is a below his normal game.

[BrianBigNFun]

Going TAG against a LAG is a decent strategy, most of the time- even Tight passive is okay because you can let the LAG do the betting for you.

I wouldnt even try to bluff him as players who bluff alot tend to think that others bluff more than they do.


should you strive to play like that?

short answers (evil laugh)

a) depends
b) sometimes
c) when the situation calls for it

[Grasshopp3r]

Keep reading and go TAG. It is important to be aggro when you need to be, otherwise you will slip into passivity.

The LAG wins when he can steal pots and then freeroll into big draws that you do not charge bad odds for him to draw. The LAG wins when he gets implied odds, so don't pay him off.

[pfapfap]

There used to be a hyper-LAG at my game that intimidated the hell out of me. He was willing to go deeper into his pockets than anybody, and when he grew a big stack, it seemed to stay that way. He was always either a big winner or a big loser. Me, I was just figuring out the game, and I wasn't comfortable dumping five buyins on the table, so I played TAG and made modest profits.

Don't try to out-LAG the LAG. Instead, observe him. See what he does when and why. Take these observations and use them in other games. Don't let your ego get in your way. There's no reason you have to go against this guy. In order to do so, you have to be willing to accept a lot of variance. Me, I waited until I had a good sense of hand range and what patterns meant bigger hands, and even still I mostly stay out of his way except when he's on crazy drunken monkey tilt. The good thing is that my play has improved and adapted so much, he stays out of my way now, too.

While sitting on the LAG's left is the obvious ABC way to avoid him, try every now and again sitting on his right. Exploit his tendencies. Tho' if he's any good, you'll have to be constantly adapting to exploit his adaptation to your exploitations. Or something like that.

[beano583]

I agree with the posts so far. Trying to out-LAG a LAG is like pissing into the wind. Stay in position and TAG the hell out of him.

Granted, if he's got half a brain, he'll be able figure out after a few showdowns that ur only showing him the nuts. So it wouldn't hurt to show a bluff or 2 in pots where he isn't involved. Value bets are crucial, and i would also think about an investment bluff, just to advertise. Dump a pot or 2 to him with the "i missed" line on the river. I play pot control quite often, and if I lose a couple $60 pots, i can usually get all the money in later and win a nice profit.

[PantsOnFire]

On his left, I would loosen up as I got a feel for his range. It is good to be in a pot with a guy who has probably marginal cards and you have position.

On his right, I would tighten up since you'd get raised a lot and be out of position. It is bad to be in a pot with marginal cards against a LAG out of position.

If he is a good LAG, I would avoid him. If he is a bad LAG, I would play a lot of pots with him and isolate him often.

Oh, and have some rebuys ready in your pocket.