AJ Wolf

Professor Bray

GTD 89s

11/6/12

The Optimal Poker Strategy

Poker is one of the most mentally challenging and strategic games in the

world today. A poker player must be someone who is willing to take risks, but also

knows when to fold, and someone who can intimidate other players, but also look

intimidated at other times. Playing poker requires a lot of focus and mental

toughness, which not many common players have. With that being said, there are

many different types of players and playing styles. The first style is called “Tight

Passive”, which is the most conservative playing style. Another style called “Loose

Passive”, is a type of playing style that is conservative in some ways but aggressive

in other ways, because they take a frequent amount of low risks. A third type of

playing style is called “Tight Aggressive”. This style takes infrequent risks, but when

risks are taken, they are very high-risk high-reward. The last playing style is called

“Loose Aggressive”. This playing style takes many risks, even if they are high-risks,

making it the most aggressive playing style of all. All four types of playing styles are

suited for different types of people, but all four have pros and cons. To see which

style was most popular, and how the four styles are perceived among poker players

in general, a survey was conducted (which can be seen in Appendix A). The survey

had participants rank the playing styles in three different ways. First, which style

the participants thought they played most like. Second, which style they thought had

the best chance of winning a game of poker. And third, which style they thought was

the least effective or easiest to beat in a game of poker. The results were very

interesting and informative in showing how the participants viewed the

effectiveness of each style. Each style has pros and cons and each style can be beat

another in some way or another, but in the end, certain styles and certain

combinations of styles will always be the better way to play.

“Tight Passive” is a playing style that is the most conservative of the four

because it takes the least amount of risks. A “Tight Passive” player will only play

hands if the hand is very good, and the player thinks they have a high likelihood of

winning the hand and pot. Therefore any hand that is not considered winnable, the

player will fold and almost never bet any money. “Tight Passive” players are

considered very weak players at a table because they can be read so easily. If your

own hand is not great, and someone is usually a “Tight Passive” player is betting

significant amounts, then the obvious play is to fold. On the other side of things, if

someone with a decent hand bets, and the conservative player does not have a good

hand, they will fold right away. While these players will stick around the table for a

while because the frequency of risks taken is so small, this type of poker style is

more common with beginners who think the only way to win the pot is to have the

best hand at the table, which is why it is not considered to be one of the better

strategies when playing poker.

The second type of playing style, “Loose Passive”, is a style that takes many

low-risks, and will always try and get lucky by sticking in the hand. The strategy of

“Loose Passive” players is to play lots of hands for the cheapest amount of money

possible. A “Loose Passive” player also has the nickname “Calling Station” because

calling every bet is the cheapest way to stay in the hand. The mistake that these

players typically make is playing hands that are virtually impossible to win. If a

“Loose Passive” player gets dealt 8-2 off suit, they will most likely play that hand if it

is cheap enough. This is a mistake because this is the 2nd worst possible hand in the

game behind 7-2 off suit. “Loose Passive” players will typically try to get lucky and

hope for a pair, even though a pair with either of these cards is most likely still not

the best hand at the table. The “Loose Passive” playing style is not the most efficient

because of the amount of hands played is not proportional to the probability that

they will actually win in all of the hands played.

The third playing style is “Tight Aggressive”, which does not take many risks,

but when risks are taken, they are taken to extreme amounts. A “Tight Aggressive”

player is who will not play many hands that are not probable in winning. However,

when this player does get a good hand, the other players know it. This is because

this type of player will risk significant amounts of money on good hands. This

works because there is a possibility of winning a lot of money if you do win the

hand, or it will scare all of the other weak hands out. However, since a “Tight

Aggressive” does not play many hands, it also gives the option to bluff very heavily

on certain hands. This will work because other players will think you have a good

hand since your frequency of hands played is so low. This is one of the better

playing styles because of the non-frequent risks, high betting, and also the variety of

choices that come with playing few hands.

The fourth and final type of play style is “Loose Aggressive”, which is the

most aggressive and risk-taking style of all. It is the most aggressive style because

there is a very high frequency of hands played, accompanied by a high quantity of

money being bet every hand played. This type of style is very hard for other players

to play against. This is true because from another player’s perspective, if you do not

have a good hand, you either have to fold or essentially call the other players bluff.

And in the case that the player is not bluffing, you and everyone else at the table will

see that and be scared to call the bluff again. This gives this player lots of power in

the sense that other players have to play on the “Loose Aggressive” player’s terms.

But this style if also very risky, because if this player were to make a huge bluff, and

someone happens to have a great hand and call it, this player is down lots of money.

That is why although this playing style can be very effective, it is also very risky and

can lead to a huge loss quickly.

After learning about all the different playing styles of poker, a survey on the

actual use of the styles seemed very intriguing. However, before asking about the

particular styles involved in playing, I chose to ask about the experience level of the

nineteen Duke University students who took the survey. The question was posed as

“On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest), how

experienced are you in playing poker?” It turns out the average experience level for

all nineteen participants was 6.1, with a minimum of 4, which was very good for the

survey’s purposes. This allowed the survey to have reliable results from students

who have played a decent amount before.

The first question regarding the actual poker play styles asked about what

each participant’s personal poker playing style was on a ranking of 1-4. The results

were very surprising considering the participants were nineteen random Duke

University students (results can be seen in Appendix B). The most common playing

style of all nineteen participants were “Tight Aggressive”, and “Loose Aggressive”.

“Tight Aggressive” won preferential elections with methods of plurality, and IRV,

while “Loose Aggressive” won preferential ballot elections using methods of borda,

IR borda, least worst defeat, and ranked pairs. This was very surprising because

these two playing styles are the more advanced and effective styles out of the four.

Both of these styles, as explained earlier, have the ability to make lots of money and

possibly win poker games, while the other two styles were a bit more challenging to

win with. After calculating the results of the first survey question, I had assumed

that I had surveyed some very good poker players who were under-selling

themselves with an average of 6.1 experience, however, this did not end up being

the case.

The second question that was surveyed regarding poker playing styles asked

about which playing style the participants thought was the most successful or had

the best chance of winning. After calculating the results (which can be seen in

Appendix C), it appeared that the participants did not think that their way of playing

was very effective. This is because the winner of all preferential ballot election

methods except for plurality was the “Loose Passive” style (“Tight Aggressive” and

“Loose Passive” tied for the plurality election). This was very surprising for two

reasons. One, this means that most people did not believe their style of playing was

the best way to play. But more importantly, the “Loose Passive” style of play is not

one of the better styles of play. It is not one of the better styles of play because as

mentioned above, “Loose Passive” players will slowly lose their money by staying in

so many mediocre hands. This contradicted my assumption that I had surveyed

good poker players after calculating the results of question 1, and also aroused the

possibility that the people I had surveyed had gotten lucky in the way they have

been playing. The results of question 2 showed that the participants of the survey

were not as informed as I had thought, but did provide some insight on

misconceptions about playing styles among not so experienced poker players, as I

also learned after asking question 3.

The 3rd and final question of the survey asked the participants which of the

playing styles were the least effective, or the easiest to beat. The results of this

question (which can be seen in Appendix D), carried the same confusion as the 2nd

question. It turns out that “Loose Aggressive” won the preferential ballot election by

all six methods: plurality, IRV, borda, IR borda, least worst defeat, and ranked pairs.

These results were again confusing for two reasons. First, because this directly goes

against the winner of the first question, in which “Loose Aggressive” was the main

victor as what style of play the participants themselves used. So this means either

the participants think their style of play is the least effective, or they realized it was

the least effective after reading this survey. These results were also surprising

because a “Loose Aggressive” style player is typically hard to play against. Playing

against someone who is always betting very high can be frustrating. However, the

participants might have thought “Loose Aggressive” is the easiest to beat because

the frequent betting is a very unstable way to play, and “Loose Aggressive” players

would typically lose all of their money very quickly. In the end, the results to the 3rd

question were surprising, but understandable.

In conclusion, the best of the four styles of poker play, “Tight Passive”, “Loose

Passive”, “Tight Aggressive”, and “Loose Aggressive”, is actually a combination of all

four. The ideal situation is to play with all four styles so your opponents have no

idea which style you are playing with, and can never guess your next move. With

that being said, it is important to touch upon all four styles, but focus your strategy

on only one style. “Tight Aggressive” is essentially the most effective strategy

because it allows you to not lose much money on bad hands, but potentially gain lots

of money with good hands. It also gives you the ability to make huge bluffs that

could possibly scare your opponents out of huge pots. The second most effective,

but much less optimal strategy is “Loose Aggressive” because although it is very

risky, it allows you to gain lots of money while possibly controlling the pace of the

game. The much less optimal strategies are “Tight Passive” and “Loose Passive”.

“Tight Passive” is one of the worse strategies because there is never an opportunity

to make money off of good hands if there is only betting on good hands. The “Loose

Passive” strategy is just a recipe to slowly lose your money while possibly getting

luckily a few hands along the way. In the end, there are of course exceptions, but

“Tight Aggressive” is the most optimal strategy, because it is the best offensive

strategy versus the conservative styles and best defensive strategy versus the other

aggressive style. Mostly playing “Tight Aggressive”, while mixing in all of the others

at times, is the closest option to an optimal strategy available today.

Bibliography

Barry, Rick. "Types of Poker Players." Types of Poker Players. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.texas-holdem-net.com/types-of-poker-players.html>.

Appendix A

Poker Survey Questions

ONLY TAKE THIS SURVEY IF YOU KNOW HOW TO PLAY POKER

On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest), how experienced are you in playing poker? _____________

Based on the descriptions below, please rank 1-4 (1 being the highest, 4 being the lowest) on what kind of poker style would describe your play.

A. Tight Passive______________B. Loose Passive_____________C. Tight Aggressive__________D. Loose Aggressive_________

Tight Passive – A player that is very conservative and only bets or calls if they have a strong hand. A tight passive player will rarely bluff.

Loose Passive – Loose passive players are players that play a lot of hands, but do not bet very aggressively. They call lots of bets, and stay in hands more frequently than most.

Tight Aggressive – A tight aggressive player is one who will occasionally bluff, but most of the time will wait for good hands to bet or raise and risk lots of money.

Loose Aggressive – Loose aggressive players play lots of hands whether they are good or bad, and bet or raise very aggressively.

Of the previous playing styles, which style do you think has the best chance of winning (please rank 1-4 like above)?

A. Tight Passive_______________B. Loose Passive______________C. Tight Aggressive___________D. Loose Aggressive__________

Of the previous four playing styles, which do you think is the easiest to beat (Please rank 1-4 like above)?

A. Tight Passive_______________B. Loose Passive______________C. Tight Aggressive___________D. Loose Aggressive__________

Appendix B

Question 1

Based on the descriptions below, please rank 1-4 (1 being the highest, 4 being the lowest) on what kind of poker style would describe your play.

Plurality

Tight Passive – 1Loose Passive – 5Tight Aggressive – 8Loose Aggressive – 5

IRV

Tight Passive – 1Loose Passive – 5Tight Aggressive – 8Loose Aggressive – 5

Loose Passive - 6Tight Aggressive – 8Loose Aggressive – 5

Loose Passive – 7Tight Aggressive – 12

Borda and IRB Count (Margin of Victory Matrix)

TP LP TA LATP 0 -7 -13 -15 -35LP 7 0 -3 -5 -1 -8TA 13 3 0 -1 15 2 -1LA 15 5 1 0 21 6 1

Sorted Margin of Victory Matrix

LA TA LP TPLA 0 1 5 15 21TA -1 0 3 13 15LP -5 -3 0 7 -1TP -15 -13 -7 0 -35

Least Worst Defeat

Tight Passive – 15Loose Passive – 5Tight Aggressive – 1Loose Aggressive – 0

Ranked Pairs

15 – LA > TP13- TA > TP7- LP > TP5 – LA > LP3 – TA > LP1 – LA > TA

LA > TA > LP > TP

Winners

Plurality – Tight AggressiveIRV – Tight AggressiveBorda and IRB Borda – Loose AggressiveLeast Worst Defeat – Loose AggressiveRanked Pairs – Loose Aggressive

Appendix C

Question 2

Of the previous playing styles, which style do you think has the best chance of winning (please rank 1-4 like above)?

Plurality

Tight Passive – 1Loose Passive – 8Tight Aggressive – 8Loose Aggressive – 2

*In this case I would go to IRV and see who the Tight Passive voter chooses between the two.

IRV

Tight Passive – 1Loose Passive – 8Tight Aggressive – 8Loose Aggressive – 2

Loose Passive - 9Tight Aggressive – 8Loose Aggressive – 2

Loose Passive – 10Tight Aggressive – 9

Borda and IRB Count (Margin of Victory Matrix)

TP LP TA LATP 0 -11 -5 3 -13 -16LP 11 0 1 9 21 12 1TA 5 -1 0 3 7 4 -1LA -3 -9 -3 0 -15

Sorted Margin of Victory Matrix

LP TA TP LALP 0 1 11 9 21TA -1 0 5 3 7

TP -11 -5 0 3 -13LA -9 -3 -3 0 -15

Least Worst Defeat

Tight Passive – 11Loose Passive – 0Tight Aggressive – 1Loose Aggressive – 9

Ranked Pairs

11 – LP > TP9 – LP > LA5 – TA > TP3 – TA > LA3 – TP > LA1 – LP > TALP > TA > TP > LA

Winners

Plurality – Tie*IRV – Loose PassiveBorda and IRB Borda – Loose PassiveLeast Worst Defeat – Loose PassiveRanked Pairs – Loose Passive

Appendix D

Question #3

Of the previous four playing styles, which do you think is the easiest to beat (Please rank 1-4 like above)?

Plurality

Tight Passive – 7Loose Passive – 2Tight Aggressive – 2Loose Aggressive – 8

IRV

Tight Passive – 7Loose Passive – 2Tight Aggressive – 2Loose Aggressive – 8

Tight Passive - 8Loose Aggressive – 11

Borda and IRB Count (Margin of Victory Matrix)

TP LP TA LATP 0 5 7 -3 9 2 -3LP -5 0 3 -3 -5 -8TA -7 -3 0 -5 -15LA 3 3 5 0 11 6 3

Sorted Margin of Victory Matrix

LA TP LP TALA 0 3 3 5 11TP -3 0 5 7 9LP -3 -5 0 3 -5TA -5 -7 -3 0 -15

Least Worst Defeat

Tight Passive – 3Loose Passive – 5Tight Aggressive – 7Loose Aggressive – 0

Ranked Pairs

7 – TP > TA5 – TP > LP5 - LA > TA3 – LA > TP3 – LA > LP3 – LP > TA

LA > TP > LP > TA

Winners

Plurality – Loose AggressiveIRV – Loose AggressiveBorda and IRB Borda – Loose AggressiveLeast Worst Defeat – Loose AggressiveRanked Pairs – Loose Aggressive