Every opponent has a type. Learn to read them.
The foundation of exploitative poker is recognizing what type of player you're facing and making one adjustment. That single adjustment can be worth 10+ big blinds per 100 hands.
Practice reading opponents6 opponent types. 12 levels. Free to play.
Two axes. Six types. One exploit per type.
Every poker player can be plotted on two axes: looseness (how many hands they play) and aggression (how often they bet vs. call). This framework tells you how to adjust before you even see a showdown.
Loose Aggressive
Wide + bets hard
Tight Aggressive
Selective + bets hard
Loose Passive
Wide + calls
Tight Passive
Selective + calls
The six opponent types
Loose Passive
The Calling StationEnters too many pots by limping and calling. Rarely raises. Calls bets on every street with marginal hands hoping to get lucky.
Hand Example
You raise to 3x with A-Qo from the cutoff. Loose Passive calls from the big blind with T-7 suited. Flop comes A-8-3 rainbow. You bet 2/3 pot. They call with nothing but a backdoor flush draw. Turn is a 2. You bet again. They call again with ten-high. River bricks. You bet a third time. They finally fold — but only because they have literally nothing. Against this player, you should have bet all three streets with confidence. They'll call the first two with any pair or draw.
Key Tendency
Calls too much, folds too little
Core Adjustment
Bet for value on every street. Drop your bluffs entirely.
Loose Aggressive
The ManiacPlays wide and attacks constantly. 3-bets and 4-bet bluffs at 3-4x the baseline rate. Barrels multiple streets with air.
Hand Example
You open K-Jo from middle position. LAG 3-bets from the button — for the fourth time in the last orbit. You call. Flop comes K-9-4 with two clubs. You check. They bet 75% pot. You call with top pair. Turn is a 6. They fire again, full pot. You call. River is a brick. They shove all-in. You call — they show 5-3 offsuit, a pure bluff. Their aggression created a huge pot where your top pair was always good.
Key Tendency
Bets and raises with too many weak hands
Core Adjustment
Widen your calling range. Let them build pots with your strong hands.
Tight Passive
The NitPlays very few hands and rarely bets. When they enter a pot, they usually have a strong hand. When they raise, they almost always have a monster.
Hand Example
You open A-5s from the button. The Nit 3-bets from the big blind — something they've done once in the last 45 minutes. You fold immediately. They show pocket aces. This is the key lesson: when a nit raises, believe them. But notice how rarely they enter pots. You should be stealing their blinds almost every orbit.
Key Tendency
Folds too much preflop and to aggression
Core Adjustment
Steal their blinds constantly. Fold when they show aggression.
Tight Aggressive
The RegularSelective hand selection with strong postflop aggression. C-bets at a formulaic frequency. The toughest of the four basic types — fewer obvious leaks to exploit.
Hand Example
TAG opens from the cutoff, you call on the button with 9-8 suited. Flop comes 7-6-2 with one of your suit. They c-bet 1/3 pot — a sizing they use with their entire range on dry boards. You call with your open-ended straight draw. Turn is a 3, completing nothing. They check. This is where the pattern appears: they c-bet flop, then give up when called. You bet and they fold. The exploit was recognizing their formulaic c-bet-then-check pattern.
Key Tendency
Formulaic patterns that become predictable over time
Core Adjustment
Use position. Find their c-bet-and-fold pattern. Pick spots carefully.
Lemming
The Course GrinderFollows a structured decision tree. Range bets or overbets based on board texture. Crushes passive opponents but breaks down when the script doesn't cover the situation.
Hand Example
Lemming opens from the button, you call from the big blind with Q-J suited. Flop comes Q-7-3 rainbow — a dry board. They bet 1/3 pot (a range bet, sizing tells you it's automatic). You check-raise to 3x. They fold instantly. The range bet was texture-based and scripted. Your check-raise wasn't in their decision tree, so they defaulted to folding. Against this player, check-raising dry boards consistently prints money.
Key Tendency
Predictable sizing based on board texture, folds when the script breaks
Core Adjustment
Check-raise their range bets. Take control before they overbet the turn.
Darrett
The Adaptive ExploiterBalanced and relentless. Applies calculated pressure across every street. Adjusts to your tendencies and targets your specific leaks. The hardest opponent to play against.
Hand Example
You've been folding to river bets for the last 20 hands. Darrett notices. They open from the cutoff, you call on the button with A-T. Flop comes K-8-3. They bet, you call. Turn is a 5. They bet again, you call. River is a 2. They overbet the pot. You know their sizing tends to correlate with hand strength — big bets usually mean big hands. But they've been watching you fold rivers. Is this an adjustment? You have to decide whether their read on you has changed their strategy.
Key Tendency
Adjusts to your leaks and targets them specifically
Core Adjustment
Vary your play. Don't let patterns form. Their bet sizing reveals their hand strength — use that.
Questions about opponent types
What are the main poker player types?
Six archetypes built on two axes: looseness (how many hands they play) and aggression (how often they bet vs. call). The four core types are loose passive, loose aggressive, tight passive, and tight aggressive. Two advanced types — the Lemming and Darrett — represent course-trained and adaptive players.
How do I identify player types at the table?
Two questions tell you most of what you need: how many hands are they playing, and when they enter pots, are they betting or calling? Frequent limping means loose passive. Constant 3-betting means loose aggressive. Only entering with raises means tight aggressive. Folding everything means tight passive. After 20-30 hands you have enough to classify.
What do VPIP, PFR, and AF mean?
VPIP (Voluntarily Put In Pot) measures how many hands a player enters. PFR (Preflop Raise) measures how often they raise vs limp. AF (Aggression Factor) measures how often they bet or raise vs call postflop. Together these three numbers classify almost any player into a type.
Reading opponents is a skill. Skills need reps.
Face each type across dedicated levels until the reads become instinct.