Poker player types: Rock, Calling Station and more

Play a few evenings of poker and you start to recognize people. One friend folds for an hour and then bets big. Another can't let a hand go. A third raises everything. Poker players have had names for these habits for a long time, and they're worth learning, because the right play against one kind of player is the wrong play against another.

The bots on KARDX come in the same four kinds, so you can practice on each. This post goes through them: how to spot one, what to do about it, and how to find a bot of that kind to practice on.

The advice here is standard poker advice. We haven't tested it against our bots, or anyone else's.

Two questions

Nearly everything about how someone plays comes down to two questions.

How many hands do they play? A player who folds most hands before the flop is tight. One who plays most of them is loose.

When they play, who does the betting? A player who mostly checks and calls is passive. One who mostly bets and raises is aggressive.

Two answers to each make four kinds:

The Rock

Tight and passive. The Rock waits for good cards and plays them quietly. When a Rock finally bets or raises, the hand is strong.

How to spot one. Long runs of folding. Rarely the first to raise. Shows down big pairs and big aces, and almost never a bluff.

How to play against one.

• Believe their bets. If a Rock raises you, fold everything but your best hands.
• Take the small pots. A Rock gives up the blinds and the pots nobody wants without a fight, so bet when they check.
• Don't pay them off: don't call their big bets with a medium hand. The Rock's whole plan is that someone will call when they finally have it.

You have a pair of queens with an ace beside it, a good hand. You bet, and the Rock raises. Against most players you'd keep going. Against a Rock, a raise here usually means a hand that beats yours: a bigger pair they were dealt, or three of a kind. Fold, and be glad it was cheap.

The Calling Station

Loose and passive. The Calling Station plays a lot of hands and hates folding any of them. They call with any pair and any draw, and sometimes just to see what you have. They rarely raise.

How to spot one. In most pots. Calls before the flop, calls on the flop, calls on the river. Turns over hands you can't believe they stayed in with.

How to play against one.

• Don't bluff. A bluff works by making someone fold, and this player doesn't.
• Bet your good hands, and keep betting them. Hands you'd check against a careful player are worth a bet here, because worse hands will call.
• When they raise, take it seriously. It's rare, so it means something.

A pair of queens with a king beside it. Against a careful player you might bet once or twice and then check. Against a Calling Station, bet the flop, the turn and the river, at a size they'll call. They'll pay you with a weaker queen, a nine, even a four.

And if you'd missed a draw instead? Check and give up. You won't bluff this player off a pair.

The Maniac

Loose and aggressive. The Maniac plays most hands and raises with most of them, and many of those bets are bluffs. A Maniac wins a lot of small pots because people get tired of folding, and loses big ones when someone finally has a hand.

How to spot one. Raises before the flop again and again. Bets every time it's checked to them. Their stack swings up and down more than anyone's.

How to play against one.

• Tighten up, then don't back down. Play fewer hands than usual, and when you have a good one, be ready to call bets all the way.
• Let them do the betting. With a strong hand, checking and calling keeps the bluffs coming. A raise might scare them off.
• Don't try to out-bluff them. They don't fold often enough.
• Accept the swings. Sometimes the Maniac does have it.

A pair of kings with an ace beside it. The Maniac bets. Just call. On the turn they bet again, and you call again. Against a Rock, two bets in a row would worry you. Against a Maniac, this is the hand you were waiting for.

The Shark

Tight and aggressive. The Shark folds most hands, and bets and raises with the ones they play. Because they bet their strong hands and their occasional bluffs the same way, you can't tell which one you're facing. It's how good players play, and it's the style to aim for yourself.

How to spot one. Folds a lot, but once in a hand is usually the one betting. Plays more hands from the late seats. Rarely calls three times and loses.

How to play against one.

• Don't go looking for a fight. There's no habit to lean on, so play your own good hands and let the Shark have the pots you don't care about.
• Mind your position. A Shark who acts after you is much harder to play against than one who acts before you.
• Get your chips from the other three kinds. That's what the Shark is doing.

Reading a table in 10 hands

You don't need notes. For each player, watch two things over 10 hands:

1. How many of the 10 did they put chips into by choice, not counting their blinds? One or two is tight. Five or more is loose.
2. When they played, did they raise or call? Mostly raising is aggressive. Mostly calling is passive.

Then keep watching, because people aren't fixed. Most players are a mix, and they drift: a Rock who loses a big pot can turn into a Maniac for half an hour. The four kinds are a first guess to be corrected, not a verdict.

Bots to practice on

Every bot on KARDX has one of these four styles, given at random when it sits down, and a small icon after its name shows which. The style is separate from the level (Good, Great or Pro), which is how well the bot plays: a Maniac at Good and a Maniac at Pro share the name, not the skill. Practice Texas Hold'em against bots has the icons, the levels and the setup.

A style is a setting, not a measurement: we haven't counted thousands of hands to see how tight the Rock really plays. Our Shark is the middle setting, the bot with no habit added. A Good bot shows its style mostly before the flop, while Great and Pro bots carry it through the whole hand. And no bot is a pushover when you bet at it after the flop: with one or two other players left, each will call with some middling hands, the Rock least and the Calling Station most.

Finding the one you want

You can't pick a bot's style, only its level. To get a mix, press Fill with bots, or Play with bots at a new table: the bots they seat usually cover at least three of the four styles. To hunt for a particular one, open Manage players in your phone's settings, Remove a bot, and Add bot between hands until the icon you want turns up.

A drill for each

• Rock. Bet whenever the Rock checks to you, and fold whenever it raises. Keep count of how often each was right.
• Calling Station. Play a whole session without one bluff. Bet your pairs on every round and see what calls.
• Maniac. Play only the first two groups in the starting hands guide, and when you hit, call the Maniac's bets all the way to the showdown.
• Shark. There's no habit to practice against, so use it as a yardstick. The Shark shows how its level plays with nothing added: compare a Good one with a Pro one.

With a bot at the table you can turn on Show odds to check yourself, and poker odds for beginners explains why its chance to win runs hopeful against a player who only bets strong hands.

What the bots can't show you

A bot's style never changes. People's do: they get tired, they get annoyed, they get short of chips. And a bot doesn't sigh before it bluffs. Use the bots to learn the four patterns and the plays against them, then host a poker night and find out which of your friends is which.

Try it

At your next table with bots, don't look at their style icons. Watch each bot for 10 hands, answer the two questions for it, and name its kind. Then check the icons and see how many you got.