Exploiting the TAGs

In the state the games are in today you need to be able to easily and quickly identify spots in which you can take pots away from your opposition.

You generally want to have a decent read on the type of player your opponent is before you try this and want them to be a competent player capable of throwing hands away (preferably on the nitty weak/tight side). Trying these things on unpredictable maniacs or calling stations is a recipe for disaster.

Here are some basic scenarios:

22/16 TAG opens UTG. You call OTB with 78s and the flop is HU. Flop comes K95 and he bets. This is a raise 90% of the time. His range is 22-AA, AJ-AK, some SCs maybe. He will fold basically everything except AA, KK, AK, 99, 55. A lot of the time he will simply call with these hands and check to you on the turn trying to 'trap' you. You now have the chance to hit your gut shot and stack him. Almost always check behind on the turn and take the free card if it ges this far.

TAG raises and you call in position. Flop is yyx where and he CBs, you raise. This will work most of the time.

TAG raises OTB and you call out of the BB with 44. Flop comes 33J. You check, he bets, you raise. He folds most of the time.

There are a million situations like this where you can just pick up pot after pot.

The important part here is that your opponent is not a good thinking opponent. I like to use this best on what I call 'good but not great' players. They realise that all they can beat is a bluff when they hold 66 on a J33 board, so they fold. What they don't realise is that your hand-range doesn't really include any hands that beat them, but they're not good enough at reading hands to figure this out (at least at the time).

If you can identify these types of players, you will probably make more money off them than off fish (largely due to the fact that there are an abundance of these players with less and less fish in the games). This will work incredibly well in games up to and including 200 NL for the most part. Go higher and your opponents will get better as well as catch on, but by that point you should already know these things and be able to adjust your game accordingly.

The perfect opposition is someone who is playing multiple tables. It will take them much longer to catch on to how often you are raising their bets and by the time they do, you can tighten up and only play the nuts against them.

Now if you're playing against thinking opponents similar to yourself you need to think more. The first thing you should do when you play a hand is look at all the information you have. Did someone limp UTG? What does that make their hand range? This is most likely a low pocket pair, suited connectors, and some times a suited ace. Did someone raise OTB? What is their range of hands? Ok you call out of the BB and a flop comes. How well does their hand do vs the flop? Can his range stand to take a raise?

You can take this miles further by thinking on deeper and deeper levels (ok so I called a BTN raise out of the BB, what does MY range look like to him? Can I represent a set here, knowing he will fold? Or: I can't represent a bluff because he knows my hand range and that I would never have/play a big hand the way I'm playing this hand). Then you can say "ok well he knows what my range should be, I'm going to call his raise with A2s and either hit a hand he will never put me on (ex: 22x flop), or take it away by representing a hand that I 'should' have. Hands like Axs can also hit big draws where you can get your money in with decent equity or make him fold a better hand, which is why they make great hands to do this with. Just make sure you don't stack off on an AT9r flop.

I hope this helps some of you make a bit more money out of the regular multi-tabling TAGs that are out there. A good way to think about what to do is put yourself in their shoes. Think of all the hands you would raise with OTB, how many of them you would CB, and what you would do when faced with a check-raise. Most people play very much the same postflop and on the flop today when it gets to decent TAGs. Real poker only starts to be played after that inevitable continuation bet and the great thing is, most people suck at this type of poker.

by GodlikeRoy