General guidelines to a winning LAg/Maniac style? (NC)
 

Okay, so I've seen a couple how-to posts on how to succeed as a winning TAg-type player, however I've also seen a good number of new posts that point towards succeeding as a LAg player as being more profitable.

I've experimented with a LAg style, and have failed miserably. I'm pretty sure it's basically because I've no idea HOW to play one effectively. The extent of my knowledge on the subject is...Bet out the weak. Not too much to work with. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

So, if anyone would be so generous as to either link me to a good LAg how-to post, or...be so gracious as to write one here, it'd be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Re: General guidelines to a winning LAg/Maniac style? (NC)
 

Do we need a new forum for, "Help me make money online" needs?

Re: General guidelines to a winning LAg/Maniac style? (NC)
 

LAG style thrives on:

winning all the small pots when no one flops anything because you always have the initiative

getting tons of free turn cards to back into unlikely nut hands

people playing back at you randomly, allowing you to push all in with your decent draws with good fold equity

getting excess action with your nut hands

Re: General guidelines to a winning LAg/Maniac style? (NC)
 

LAG is only more profitable than TAG in a certain situation.

basically if you play well postflop and you feel your opponents will fold a decent amount of the time then LAG works.

but it puts you in lots of marginal situations with mediocre hands and forces you to pick very small edges hence why you need folding equity to make the style work. Lagging it up against calling stations does not work.

a detailed guideline is too deep to get in to and requires a lot of metagame issues which would vary from opponent to opponent thus its hard to come up with a guide.

Re: General guidelines to a winning LAg/Maniac style? (NC)
 

Winning LAGs play very good postflop. When you only play premium hands, postflop decisions are generally not too difficult, with exceptions obviously. Playing the non-premium hands can put you in difficult situations much more frequently.

It has been my personal experience being a LAG that you shouldn't play too many tables at once. I do 2 or 3, 4 can be doable. You need to observe your tables and figure out who are the calling stations and who can be run over. I'd recommend just playing 1 table at a time until you get comfortable with your new style.

Re: General guidelines to a winning LAg/Maniac style? (NC)
 

[ QUOTE ]
LAG style thrives on:

winning all the small pots when no one flops anything because you always have the initiative

getting tons of free turn cards to back into unlikely nut hands

people playing back at you randomly, allowing you to push all in with your decent draws with good fold equity

getting excess action with your nut hands

[/ QUOTE ]

If people think you bluff too much, they will sometimes stop betting against you at all. They will have the nuts and think "Well there's a good chance he has nothing; I'll just check to him again and hope he bluffs at it but there's no point in betting and having him fold eight high." They also may think "My hand is probably good, but I don't want to play a big pot. He might raise me with hands that I beat, so I'm better off just check/calling to keep the pot small." When your opponents let you dictate the pot size on each hand you play you have to try really hard not to win. (Unfortunately, getting them to let you do that may not be so easy.)

Re: General guidelines to a winning LAg/Maniac style? (NC)
 

CardRunners

The go-to site for all wannabe LAGs.

Re: General guidelines to a winning LAg/Maniac style? (NC)
 

First of all, the number one key is good post flop play. Loose play works very well when your oponents are easy to read and you are good at reading them. Push people off their hands when they are weak, value bet as thin as your LAG image lets you, get away cheaply when you are beat.

If you can't do the stuff above, you should not play very loose. Therefore, start out tight, while you are learning.

As for a how to: If people limp lightly and fold the flop unless they flop TP or better, raise a lot of crap with position and take down pots. If the pot hasn't been opened, and you are in LP, raise with a lot of crap and take down the blinds or play a pot with position. Call raises with lots of crap if you either think there are great implied odds, or if you think there is a good chance to take the pot down with a delayed bluff or a flop raise. (But stay away from the hands that are easilly dominated, and be careful of calling too many raises OOP.) Reraise aggressive raisers with a lot of crap and either take it down preflop or with a flop bet. (This is a very good play against players like me, if you are an unknown to me. I will call the raise because of implied odds against your "AA", and fold the vast majority of flops.)

Don't just play aggressive preflop and on flop. If you sense weakness on turn, fire. If you see something that you think is a blocking bet (say you hold JTo, board is Ts9s5c8d2s, tight, unimaginitave player who raised utg has bet all streets, and now he bets half pot with enough for a 2/3 pot raise left in your stacks. You push.)

And play your good hands aggressively to take advantage of the image.

And don't bluff calling stations.

Re: General guidelines to a winning LAg/Maniac style? (NC)
 

wtsvi provided a really good outline for becoming a good LAG. Just remember that you need to identify the people who became calling stations as a result of your aggro image; these ppl are really easy to beat. You will always make the most off of them when you have it and the least when you don't have it. The key to being a good LAG is not just being able to read your opponents well, but to always know how your opponents are reacting to you. The ones who become frustrated are the ones you destroy.

Re: General guidelines to a winning LAg/Maniac style? (NC)
 

for most games 200nl and under, i find that playing LAG only increases variance and not necessarily winrate. people confuse running well with playing a more profitable style. your opponents at these levels will generally just give you money. build big pots with hands that have a high equity edge over your opponent's range and value bet. if you want to play LAG do it selectively not exclusively. change gears just frequently enough to take advantage of fold equity in the proper spots.