Loose Aggressive Home Player

[deano]

I've been playing in a weekly NL tourney for about 10 weeks. Buy-in $10
Usually 6-7 players each week. P1 is very tight passive, P2 is tight passive aggressive when he has the nuts or close(an easy dodge), P3&P4 are loose passive, Hero is tight passive aggressive, Villain very loose very aggressive. (Ex. raises PF out of position with 46os)

In theory the villain's style of play should lose in the long run however he has won 6 weeks straight.

Villain consistently builds pots PF and flop and then blows the passive players out of the pot with weak to marginal hands on the turn and river. He takes pot after pot from them and quickly becomes chip leader.

I play passive-aggressive against villain so he will trap himself and always go to showdown with middle pair and sometimes A-high with much success. I've tried playing very aggressive against the villain but he just folds. The number of pots i take from him doesn't keep up with the number of pots he takes from the passive players.

I have tried a LAG style against the passive players so my stack can keep up with the villain's but the passive players don't fear me nearly as much as they do the villain and usually call me down causing me to be more selective. Which in turn gives the villain more opportunities to steal more pots.

I think i'm a better player than the villain but his 6week win streak is causing doubts.

Any advice on how to crush the villain would be appreciated.

[eggzz]

My advice for you would be to continue to be sharp early on and pick your spots against the entire table. I think a good position for you to be in is 2nd chip leader during the mid stages of the tournament. Let the villain do what he does and wait in the wings for him.

Seriously, sounds like he does respect your play. If you can make it to heads up with him only being outchipped by a 60/40 margin or slightly worse, I think you are a better than 60/40 to beat him. Don't try to play his style, that only works to his advantage.

Play your style and be patient. Practice your heads up play. With only 6-7 in the tournament, heck practice your shorthanded and heads up play.

[MAxx]

i play much more limit, and not so much NL. i think eggz strategy sounds pretty good.

i would be real temped to stage more fights preflop. especially if you feel like it you must approach the game differently to start booking some wins, you say he "builds" the pot preflop and on the flop by raising with many marginal hands and then proceeds to blow people off pots later on. i'd try and change the way he plays, and basically put an end to that. i do not know how you choose seats before the tournaments, but i would like to be sitting to villain's immediate left so that you are acting immediately after him. Having position on him will help you isolate him. I would basically start making it too expensive for him to raise with garbage. I would reraise him religously preflop and put a lot of pressure on him. Switch it up, blow him off the pot preflop. I would tell myself F-it, i don't care if I bust-out early. I would try and jump on him straight off the bat. Let's try taking him out early. All you have to lose here is ten bucks, I think it would be worth it to try and beat this dude into submission preflop.

[rusellmj]

[ QUOTE ]
but i would like to be sitting to villain's immediate left so that you are acting immediately after him. Having position on him will help you isolate him. I would basically start making it too expensive for him to raise with garbage. I would reraise him religously preflop and put a lot of pressure on him.

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe this is the recommended strategy for maniacs. Make him pay for playing crap.

Russ

[smoore]

I use one simple strategy to beat these guys pretty consistently:

Never, EVER call his preflop raise. Either reraise or fold.

Sometimes I really want to just call but I stick to my guns. He will start to stay out of your way if you can outplay him postflop. Believe it or not, this guy will make it easier for you to place/win with passives at the table.

Of course, all of this may only apply if you have the image of being the "best player at the table", I don't know.

[lebowski58]

You'll be surprised how well trumping these guys' aggression works. I had trouble with one of these guys in my game until he realized he wasn't going to get into a pot with me without a fight. Now he just avoids me and picks on everyone who hasn't figured this out.

Also, when I started playing back at him, I realized how unskillful he actually was. He had no idea how to respond to raises and reraises. If I had position on him, he was toast without a monster.

Hope this helps and good luck!