Reading And Exploiting Your Opponents’ Emotions: Very Loose-Aggressive Players

The first column of this series said there are two types of emotions:

• Long-term ones such as love of action and fear of losing
• Short-term ones such as anger

It’s easier and more important to read long-term emotions. You can see how people generally play which helps you to predict how they will usually play in the future.
It’s harder to read short-term emotions because you have much less information, and you usually can’t tell whether a few plays are caused by emotions or other factors. They may not make those plays again.

We’ll analyze the most important long-term emotions, and the most obviously emotional players: the very loose-aggressive action-lovers. They’re often called, “Maniacs,” a very apt nickname.

They are – by a huge margin – the most recognizable and important emotional opponents. They play far more hands than most people, and they play them much more aggressively.
You will play more pots against them, and those pots will be bigger. Unfortunately, the same characteristics that make them easy to identify, make them very hard to read. When most players three-bet, they almost always have premium cards, but a Maniac could have almost anything, and they love to bluff on every street.

The pots will be bigger, bad beats will occur more often, and they will be much more painful. Your aces and kings will lose huge pots to their garbage, and, because the pots are so big, and their range is so wide, it’s very hard to fold.

Why Do They Play That Way?

Their motives are easy to understand if you accept the critical difference between you and them. You play to win; they don’t.

Of course, they would like to win, and they may rationalize that they play so wildly to maximize their profits, but virtually all maniacs are heavy losers. Their emotions overwhelm their thinking. They are like crapshooters: They know they can’t beat the game, but they need the rush they get from gambling wildly.

They’ve been called “Adrenaline Junkies.” The biochemistry isn’t exact, but it’s close enough. They need the “kick” of wild action almost as much as a cocaine addict needs his “fix.” “Drug addicts … don’t … consider long-term consequences. They desperately want immediate pleasure or relief.” (Alan Schoonmaker, “How Could I Be Such An Idiot?” Card Player, 3/29/2017)

How Can You Identify Them Quickly?

Although it’s easy to identify them after they’ve played several hands, it’s critically important to identify them very quickly. If you wait too long, you may fold a winner or be unable to change seats.

If a maniac is on your left, immediately change seats or request a seat change button, even if you’ll post blinds much sooner than you’d like. Those blinds are a trivial price to pay to improve your position.

As soon as they identify a maniac, smart players will move to his left. If you don’t change seats or get a seat change button very quickly, the maniac and the smart players will have position on you.

To avoid costly delays and mistakes, start studying players as soon as you or they sit down. Here are a few Quick Recognition Signals (QRS) from my book, The Psychology of Poker. They aren’t completely reliable; they just suggest that someone is loose and aggressive. The more signals you see, the more confident you can become.

Make a preliminary judgment, but keep your eyes, ears, and mind open: Don’t label someone, assume you know how he plays, and stop studying him. Whenever, you get contradictory information rethink your assessment.

Age and Gender: It’s politically incorrect to say it, but young people are much looser and more aggressive than older ones. Nearly all maniacs are males, especially young ones. Of course, they are just generalizations. Many young men are conservative, and a few older women are Maniacs.

All Signs of Aggression, Impatience, and Poor Self-Control: Maniacs’ clothes, voice, poor manners, loud voice, and general behavior may express these personal traits, and these traits cause their playing style.

Excessively Large Buy-in: If a new player buys many more chips than necessary, he’s probably loose-aggressive. That point is particularly true in limit games. In big bet games a large stack is a valuable weapon. In limit games a large stack doesn’t change the way you can play any hand. The only reasons for buying so many chips are psychological.

Oversize Chips: If they have chips that are much larger than your game uses, they play table games. Since those games are generally negative EV, they probably like action.
High Level Players’ Club Cards: They are rarely given to poker players. They go to people who gamble heavily on slots, tables games, or sports.

Rudeness: Rude people are generally aggressive and have poor impulse-control.

Reversed Chair: It’s a subtle, but surprisingly good signal of aggression. It’s rude because it takes some of their neighbors’ space, indirectly saying, “I don’t care about your comfort.”

Posting Unnecessarily: Refusing to wait briefly clearly says that someone is impatient, lacks self-control, and is more interested in action than profits. You can be confident that they are loose (or stupid), but not that they are aggressive. Some loose-aggressive players make this signal clearer by slamming their chips on the table or saying, “I’m here to gamble.”

Sloppy Stacks And Forceful Bets: The sloppier the stacks, and the more forceful the bets, the more confident you can be that someone is loose and aggressive.

Nervous Tension: Their impatience and hunger for action can affect their entire body. They may express that tension by jiggling their legs, wringing their hands, blinking frequently, nervous gestures, and talking too much or too loudly.

Other Players’ Reactions: When a stranger sits down, study these reactions. Some players may know him. Base your inferences on both the reactions and the reactor. Weak players may react very differently than strong ones, and these differences can help you to read strangers.

If the better players welcome him, and the weak-tight players seem uncomfortable, you can be fairly confident that he’s loose and aggressive. The weak-tight players don’t want to gamble, and the better players expect their profits to increase.

If several players seem delighted, he’s probably loose-aggressive or at least very loose. They expect him to lose money and liven up the game.

If anyone – especially a good player – immediately changes seats to his left or requests a seat change button, he’s probably loose-aggressive.

Occasionally, you’ll hear very direct remarks. For example, in one $10-20 game, when a Maniac sat down, somebody might say, “Now we’re playing $20-$40.” Others might say, “He’ll liven up the game.” These remarks are obvious when you see them written down, but – if you don’t listen – they’ll go right over your head.

The Bottom Line

Maniacs and other loose-aggressive players will increase both your profits and your frustrations. The faster and better you recognize and adjust to them, the less frustrated you’ll be and the more money you will win.

After publishing five expensive poker books, Dr. Al, [email protected], now writes inexpensive eBooks. How to Beat Small Poker Games, Stay Young; Play Poker, How to Beat Killed Hold’em Games, and Business is a Poker Game cost only $2.99 at Amazon.com. Please visit my website, Dr-Al-Schoonmaker.net, and get a free book.