Beating the LAGs...

Last night I did a first as I reviewed some PT numbers on recent play. Rather than looking at hands that leaked, I looked at who I was losing money to. I sorted by largest losses and almost without exception it was the dice symbol an a couple of tasmanian devils. Basically, the LAGs. I completely squish the passive players.

This wasn't entirely unexpected, but it did make me stop and think that I'm approaching leaks the wrong way. My biggest leaks at this point aren't what hands I play, but how I'm playing them against different competition. Yea, Captain Obvious was a little late in getting to me apparently.

However, I'm not entirely sure what to do against LAGs. Should I more quickly enter call down mode? Do I push marginal hands harder? How much does this change with passives also in the hand? Should I be trying to use LAGs to 2-bet for me?

Against passives the general philosphy seems to be to value bet/raise. Against LAGs I'm not sure what approach to take to win the most/lose the least on any given hand. They're killing me on things like scary boards where I fold TPTK facing 2 bets cold on the turn, only to see them show mid pockets.

I'll start posting specific hands as well, but if anyone has some general concepts on dealing with LAGs, that'd help focus my thinking as I go into hands.

[New001]

You've probably taken this into account, but you'll lose more to individual LAGs and gamblor types because of the variance involved and the thinner value plays you'll have to make. I think you should also find that some of your biggest wins off of players are the LAG types too, right? At least, that's how it's always been for me.

Playing those guys can have tons of variance. Of course, that's not to say you might not be doing something wrong against them too.

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I think you should also find that some of your biggest wins off of players are the LAG types too, right?

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Biggest individual pots, yea. Total amount won, no.

I value bet religiously and against passive calldown types I earn major money. LAGs f*** me up good though. They will do a much better job of raising me on the turn/river when they're ahead, causing me to lose more. They'll raise scary boards, pushing me out of a hand.

I probably win just as much off a LAG when I win, maybe a little more. I think the problem is I lose much more against them than I should on hands I lose. I also lose entire pots as I figure I must be beat and fold to things like a turn 3-bet. LAGs are tough to read since their raise could mean anything from a draw to the nuts.

I'm not talking about maniacs, but your typical 45/25/3 LAG. Plays too many hands, but his post flop play doesn't suck.