How to Beat LAG (Loose-Aggressive) Players in Live Poker
A loose-aggressive player, or LAG, plays a wide range and bets and raises far more than average. Good LAGs are tough. But most live LAGs overdo it: they bluff too often, barrel too many rivers, and cannot stand to check. That over-aggression is the leak you attack.
Do not try to out-aggress them
The instinct is to fight back with more bluffs and bigger bets. Against someone who does not fold and loves action, that just builds huge pots where you are guessing. Let them be the aggressor. Your edge comes from having the stronger range when the money goes in.
Call down wider
Because a LAG bluffs too much, hands that are only bluff-catchers, like middle pair or ace-high, go up in value. Where you would fold to a normal player's triple barrel, you can call a LAG's, because a big chunk of their betting range is air. Let them keep firing into a hand that beats a bluff.
Trap instead of raising
When you flop something strong, slow down and let them bet for you. Raising folds out the bluffs you want to keep in. Check-calling, or even check-raising only on later streets, keeps their air in the pot and maximizes what you win.
Tighten up out of position
LAGs punish players who take too many marginal hands into tough spots without position. Play a tighter, stronger range when they are on your left, and look to get involved in position where you can control the pot and realize your equity.
Value 3-bet more, bluff 3-bet less
Their wide opening range means your value 3-bets get called by worse. Widen the hands you 3-bet for value, and cut the pure-bluff 3-bets, since they rarely fold anyway.
In short: stop dueling, start trapping. A LAG's aggression is a gift as long as you are the one holding the stronger hand when the chips fly in.
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