Baby No Limit:
Using Your Opponents' Type to Your Advantage

BY: Ashley Adams
Contact at: (Asha34@aol.com)
Author of Winning 7-Card Stud

Once you've "typed" your opponent, you need to adjust your play against them based on their designation. This is really the heart of good no limit play - it becomes one additional key ingredient when you are deciding how to play your hand. Position, hand strength, prior betting action, your table image, and their general type all need to be considered when deciding what the ideal action is in any situation. Even so, there are some general ideas that should help you when you decide how to play against each type of player.

Let's review the type of player we're talking about:

SCARED
CLUELESS
WILD
SOLID

SCARED: Scared players are, generally, pretty easy to play against. They bet weakly, for the most part, unless they are ultra-loaded. So you can draw against them with many hands you might not normally play against a player who raises. Let's say you have Q-T in late position. They raise to $5 in front of you. If you don't much fear a raise behind you and believe for whatever reason that it will just be you and this weak player, go ahead and see the flop. Generally, unless the flop hit them well, they will check and fold to your bet.

Similarly, you can knock them out of the hand, often, with over-the-top raises. They raise to $5.00? Go ahead and re-pop them to $15 and expect to win the pot. You can carry this over to the Flop as well. Generally bet the flop against them and expect them to fold. If they call you, generally slow down on the Turn and the River - as they're likely to have something (but may be too afraid to bet after you check). And if they raise your bet on the Flop, generally toss your hand unless you have a monster.

If they are in front of you and bet very aggressively, however, respect their bet. They are likely to have a monster - since they don't have the stones to make that kind of bet with anything less than the nuts.

One important caveat. Remember that you are not playing only against them. If there are other types of players still remaining in the hand you must take them into consideration when you are making your moves. You'd hate to make the perfect move with garbage against these scared players only to have some guy still remaining in the hand chase you down or run you over with a legitimate hand.

CLUELESS: A clueless player is also easy to play against - though you have to be careful not to get yourself into trouble by expecting him to respond to your moves in a logical or otherwise rationale fashion. In general, stick to your solid style of play. Raise with your strong hands, call with good drawing hands and respect their large bets. You'll also be able to take advantage of them in many marginal or toss up situations because you'll have a very good idea of whether they're strong or weak - since they'll often give away their hand with their expression and talk. But don't make the easy mistake of believing that because you are the better and more experienced player that your hands are preordained to win. Some guys at the Baby No Limit table bet and raise with poor hands against the clueless as if they have some divine right to the pot - and then they're furious to find out that their clueless opponent actually had a pretty strong hand that held up or improved as the hand progressed. Don't get tricky or fancy. Bet your hand for value, take advantage of the inexpensive draws they'll allow you, respect their large bets, and use their transparency to guide your play in close situations and you'll be fine.

WILD: The key to beating the wild player is to recognize that the value of his hand may not match his betting action. A strong bet is often meant to bully, not because his hand is especially strong.

Playing against him is much like the advice we give to kids who are bullied. The best general response to a raise from a wildman is an over-the-top raise. By showing you are not afraid, you are telling the wild player that you really do have a hand. By fighting back you convince him, often, to fold his hand.

Here's an example of this. Suppose that the wild player is to your right. Three players have called the $2.00 Big Blind. The wildman raises to $15.00. You look down and see AhTd. Now normally, in late position, with a few callers and then a raiser, this wouldn't be a strong enough hand to play. But in this case, because the raiser is particularly wild, you should raise to $45 or so and expect him to fold. You're essentially using turning the tables on the wild guy - who will probably fold to your uncharacteristic re-raise of his action. He's used to setting the pace and determining the action of the hand. When someone comes back at him he knows enough, generally, to play it safe - and to wait for another situation when he can bully the table into submission.

This works if you are viewed as a tight aggressive player yourself. So you can't make this move all the time - as if you were the table policeman. But from time to time, when you have a decent hand if not a super strong hand, you can make this move with a strong chance of success.

SOLID: Solid players can be tough to play against because they'll know, generally, what you know. If they're in the hand then they have something worthwhile. If they're raising then they're usually making it expensive for you to call. And they usually have a good hand. If they have nothing they won't give you their money. They can also, from time to time, put moves on you if they suspect from your betting action you're weak. And they are tough to bully with wild or otherwise desperate raises if they have a hand.

That being said, in some respects they're easy to play against because more than the other players they tend to be predictable. Typically, they play big cards pre-flop. They don't call with nothing if there's been a raise. So, for the most part, if the flop is a bunch of unsuited low and medium cards, you can be fairly sure that it didn't hit them. If you bet the pot they will probably fold. Similarly, if the flop contains a high card and they do bet aggressively after the flop you can be pretty certain that the pot did hit them.

In general, you can play more aggressively against them when they show weakness by checking or when the flop doesn't contain a high card. You should also be less inclined to play against them when they bet since they usually don't do so without a strong hand. And, significantly, if the game contains more than a couple of solid players, your best strategy may be to find another game.

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