I need help against a LAG

[Navers]

I play my friend headsup winner-take-all for small amounts of money. The problem I have playing is that he's very aggressive and bluffs very often. I have slowplayed him and won before but when I'm not catching good cards it can be a while before taking a big pot.

My major problem comes when I have something like medium pair medium kicker and he bets large, something around 4x or 5x the big blind on the turn and river. He bluffs so often its hard to call him down on the turn and river. I'm only comfortable playing my top pairs against him, but I don't get top pair very often heads up.

Whenever I get a good hand (for heads up) like K10 or better, I raise the pot, but if the flop is rags he'll bet enough out on me to force me to fold much of the time.

What adjustments do I need to win more against this type of player? Calling and raising seems fine only in limit hold em, but in NL I tried this and it hurt quite a few times. What kinds of hands do I need to play? What strategic betting adjustments need to be made? Any input would be appreciated.

[MBTIGUY]

Al Schoonmaker's 2+2 book, "The Psychology of Poker" has 50 pages devoted to dealing with this type of player and this type of game. He covers the other styles extensively, too: loose-passive, tight-passive and tight-aggressive.
This is an excellent book and it's recovered its cost to me many times over.
Al is also a regular poster in the Psychology section of this forum.

[Navers]

what other strategic adjustments need to be made (besides psychological)

[MBTIGUY]

Actually, a lot of each section deals with strategic issues against each style. Here are a few on LAGs:
sit after them so they act first
tighten up on early streets
slow play more often
check-raise more often (they won't check-behind)
minimize bluffing and deception
consider what the other players betting into the LAG must have
Call on the river unless you are SURE you are beaten

I should add that I'm a stud player and not a HE player, although I'm not sure that Al makes much (if any) distinction in terms of the books concepts.

I can't stress strongly enough how much this book has helped me adjust to specific players and types of games.

[fireman664]

if he bluffs alot it should be easy to call him down with 2nd or 3rd pair. If you can show you are willing to call him down with such hands (or better, to reraise) he will have to back off his bluffs. This is where you really need to trust your gut on whether he is weak or strong. Dont play the cards, play him.

[Louie Landale]

The real problem is that you are investing too much money early ..err.. I mean investing money on too many hands, that you have almost no chance to show-down. If you cannot or willnot call a big turn bet with your weak 2nd pair then you should NOT call a reasonable flop bet with that hand: that money is almost always gone.

If you cannot get to the river with a pair of Ts, don't play JT.

The above should reduce your losses.

Waiting until you make something good then let him bet himself silly is a good idea; but even this guy will notice you won't fold later once you've called. So, contrary to the advise above, you DO want to make a flop call once in a while that you intend to fold later for a bet. That will be enough to intice him into continuing to bet.

The other poster is correct: be tempted to go to the felt with your 2nd pair against THIS sort of player. Another option is for YOU to move all in with this type of hand.

You need to decide how often he is really bluffing. If he bets big on even half the hands that means he bluffs far too often. 2nd pair is pretty good in that spot.

The other thing you want to do is to try to pick up a tell on him; he probably bets without hesitation when bluffing but puts on a LITTLE act before betting the good hand.

- Louie