There are many types of players you will find in real world, paid and free online poker. I will write about the main ones, how to recognise them and adjust your poker game to play against them.

Rocks – players who play very few pots and like to fold.
These players only play very strong hands and if they don’t fold to a bet on the flop then you should give up the pot because most of the time they have a strong hand. However they are very good opponents to steal the blinds from

TAGs – tight before the flop and aggressive after the flop.
This is considered by many the most profitable style of play. I agree and these kind of players are best avoided but you wont find many of them on free online poker or low stakes games because it takes quite a lot of discipline and practice.

Maniacs – crazy players who play very aggressively.
These players will rarely check but bet very often and raise a lot too. Against these players you should check when you have a strong hand if the maniac has to act after you. This is because he will bet very often with trash hands that he wouldn’t call a bet with.

Calling Stations playing poker
A style of play that is usually not profitable.
It has been proven by pros that it’s better to bet and raise then check and fold.
Against these players you should not try to bluff them because they will often call with poor hands. However you should bet when you have a good hand because they will call with trash hands pretty often. If they bet then you should very often fold because they rarely bet so they must have something strong.

To identify in which category the players you play against are in you should look for signs that match the short description on each type. It will usually take a bit of time before you can tell but once you can you will get a lot more success against them. These are not the only types of player you will find, look out for more articles covering the other types and styles of poker player you may find playing free online poker.

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