Opponent Profiles: The TAG Fish
Introduction
In this article
- How to put TAG fish under pressure
- Adapting pre-flop, post-flop and to the meta game
- Switching gears
Unlike calling stations, maniacs and rocks, there is one type of player that becomes increasingly abundant as you move up the limits, the regular.
Since this type of player can take on many forms, he can't be identified through his PokerTracker stats as easily as most other types. You will find both aggressive as well as passive regulars. Being able to beat them all is crucial as they will be your bread and butter when you move up the limits.
This article will closely examine the thought patterns and playing styles of these so-called TAG fish and show you how best to adapt against them.
What is a Regular/TAG Fish?
You can't talk about a specific playing style when it comes to TAG fish, since the term encompasses many different players with widely different styles. What nearly all TAG fish have in common is that they are regulars at a certain limit. This means they play regularly at their given limit, and that you will therefore keep bumping into them.
A regular always beats his limit and is, consequently, a winning player. Among the regulars is a special type of player, the TAG fish. They play very straight-forward ABC poker on a lot of tables simultaneously, which is quite profitable.
Sometimes, though, you will even meet TAG fish that aren't winning players, but who play so many hands in such a short amount of time that they can earn a respectable amount through rakeback alone. Often, they are satisfied with this and don't put much effort into bettering their game.
To sum it up, you can always spot a TAG fish by him consistently playing a large number of tables without ever changing or trying improving his style of play. He is satisfied with the way he is doing, and he just wants to grind it out on the limit where he feels comfortable.
Why does he play this way?
Such a player only has one thing on his mind. He doesn't play for the social contact nor in order to relax or have fun. For him it's all about winning money. Sometimes the TAG fish are even bored of poker and don't find any excitement in the game; for them it's only a means to an end.
TAG fish know that it's possible to play with long-run +EV by betting well and using various concepts. Normally they have read poker books or online strategy articles and reached a level of proficiency that enables them to beat the limit that lies within their comfort zone. However, after having gotten to this point, their growth as poker players begins to stagnate, since they have reached their goal. They are making money. Instead of increasing their winnings by getting better, they opt to play more tables and take advantage of rakeback and bonuses.
What are the weaknesses of this style?
The weaknesses of this style are more-or-less obvious. A TAG fish no longer works as hard to improve his knowledge of the game and his theory and often keeps playing the same transparent ABC style of poker.
In addition, he plays a lot of tables, which stretches his concentration and forces him to pay less attention to each individual table. Since a TAG fish is generally quite sure of himself and the strength of his game, he is likely to blame bad results on variance and therefore easily go on tilt. This tendency to tilt is obviously a huge weakness, but you should also be aware that it will, at times, make him very incalculable.
In general though, he will rarely stray from his standard playing style. Also, if a TAG fish thinks he has a read on a player, he will stick to this stubbornly for a very long time.
How best to play against TAG fish/regulars?
It can be tough to play against against good, ambitious regulars who work on their game and don't simply grind one limit. You shouldn't directly try avoiding them, but it's wise not to get involved in marginal hands against good regulars. In poker it's important to swallow your pride and admit when you don't have an edge against someone.
On the other hand, the worse regulars are good targets because they don't work on improving their game. You should have a good edge against them and be able to take some of their profits. You will, of course, have to adapt according to their playing style - the advice given in this articles is not necessarily applicable to every situation.
Adapting pre-flop
There are a number of different concepts that you can utilize against TAG fish before the flop. However, many of these concepts and strategies are somewhat advanced. In fact, part of their value and use lie in your opponent, the TAG fish, not even knowing that they exist. The opponent won't know what your are up to and will wrongly think that he is still doing well with his usual playing style, since he is making a profit overall. Most of the concepts and tools explained here are further expanded upon in other articles within the strategy sections.
You can start by making looser pre-flop 3-bets andeven throwing in an occasional bluff 4-bet against TAG fish. He usuallywon't know how to handle this increased aggression and will give up alot hands to your re-raises, making these very profitable. The ins andouts of light 3- and 4-betting are explained in these three articles:
Light Pre-Flop 3-bets (Platin)
Don’t fold, just ask: 4-betting light, part 2
You will often see an open raise from a TAG fish followed by a call from a calling station or another player. You can start taking advantage of this kind of situation. In such a situation, a TAG fish won't be able recognize a 3-bet for what it really is, a squeeze play. At the same time, the caller has already showed a relatively low level of commitment to his hand and is therefore very likely to throw it in the muck to a re-raise (we assume he would have raised with a strong hand).
1/2 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)
Stacks
Hero $200
SB $200
BU $200
Pre-flop: Hero is BB with T
8
3 folds, BU raises to $8, SB calls $7, Hero raises to $32
In this hand, the button is a regular winning player at NL200. At the moment he's playing at 7 tables. After the player from the SB, who is somewhat weaker, chooses to call, you immediately identify the situation and recognize that your hand strength is secondary. You squeeze and hope that the TAG fish will fail to analyze the situation correctly and fold, followed by the SB who has shown very little strength.
We strongly recommend that you become more familiar with squeeze plays by reading the article:
You will have to adapt your blind steal and blind defend frequencies according to the type of TAG fish you are facing. He might be an extremely tight TAG, or he may be on the looser side. Normally, a TAG fish will open-raise quite loosely from the CO and BU in order to attack the blinds, but will very rarely 4-bet bluff or cold call 3-bets with marginal hands. In order to capitalise on this, you have to defend your blind more aggressively.
However, if your opponent has a very small "attempt to steal" stat, you'll have to be more conservative in your approach to blind defending. When such an opponent raises from the CO or BU, he will often have a hand with which he feels comfortable calling your 3-bet in position, or perhaps even 4-betting.
Moreover, if you meet a TAG fish who plays a lot of tables, it's likely that he will have a very high "folds BB to steal" stat and won't defend his blind often. However, other looser TAG fish will defend their blind much more aggressively because they assume everyone has a BU open-raising range similar to theirs. They think their 3-bet defends have a high probability of success.
The key to success is adapting. Don't get into the habit of playing every blind steal/defense situation in the same standard manner - that would make you a TAG fish yourself!
You can find more detailed articles on defending your blind in our strategy section:
Blind Defense – How to Defend Your Blind (Gold)
In general, you want to avoid playing out of position against a TAG fish as much as possible. Even if you are better than your opponent, you won't have a big edge against him because of your positional disadvantage.
If you decide to start defending your blind more aggressively (as is often the case against a TAG fish with a high "attempt to steal" value), you will have to be prepared to play a lot of hands out of position. Therefore, it's crucial that you estimate your opponent's post-flop skills correctly, or you will find yourself out of position in too many marginal spots.
The opposite is obviously true if you are in position against a TAG fish: Here you will most often have an edge. Consequently, you can 3-bet lighter and start calling his standard open raises more loosely in order to use your positional advantage and out play him after the flop. Before doing this, though, you should have a good grasp of your opponents post-flop playing style and tendencies - how often he 2nd barrels, if he turns weak when he is out of position, etc. This is necessary for you to adapt correctly and make the right post-flop adjustments.
Adapting post-flop
There are some post-flop tactics that can, and should be, used more frequently when playing against a TAG fish. By incorporating these into your play, you can exploit the typical TAG fish's weaknesses.
If you are playing a hand against a TAG fish ip or oop without initiative, you need to know how often he fires a continuation bet. Since the opponent is a TAG fish, he will tend to do so very often (TAG fish normally have a high "cbets flop" value), which is something you can easily exploit with bluffs on the flop.
When doing this, you have to pay close attention to the board texture and your opponent's hand range. If your bluff is called on the flop, it's your task to read the board texture and decide whether continuing the bluff on the turn and/or the river is profitable.
It's important that you always take your opponents absolute position into account when making assumptions about his hand range. Your ability to bluff on a given board texture depends on your opponent's position.
1/2 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)
Stacks
Hero $200
UTG $200
Pre-flop: Hero is BU with Q K
UTG raises to $7, 2 folds, Hero calls $7, 2 folds.
Flop: ($17) 78
9
UTG bets $12, Hero raises to $40
UTG will rarely have a good hand on this type of flop texture. Moreover, he will probably be scared of two pairs, sets and straights. Your own hand has virtually no value, but you use the flop texture to bluff your opponent out of the hand and make him fold any underpairs or overcards that have you dominated.
1/2 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)
Stacks
Hero $200
BU $200
Pre-flop: Hero is BB with Q K
2 folds, BU raises to $7, SB folds, Hero calls $7.
Flop: ($15) 779
Hero checks, UTG bets $11, Hero raises to $37
The BU isn't likely to have hit the paired board after his steal attempt. He is also hoping you missed and will fold to a continuation bet. In that sense he is right - your hand isn't worth much. You can, however, use the board texture to try to take down the pot with a check/raise bluff, since you know that your opponent is very likely to have missed the flop.
Aside from bluff raising on the flop, you can also start using good river cards to bluff raise. Again, it's extremely crucial that you first interpret the opponent and board structure. As with all bluff raises, you have to be able to properly represent a hand; if you can't, you will get called too loosely.
A TAG fish will fold a good hand to a river raise fairly often, as long as he can put you on a hand that has him beat. River bluff raises aren't a part of his game and he won't think they are a part of yours.
1/2 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)
Stacks
Hero $200
BB $200
Pre-flop: Hero is BU with T 8
3 folds, Hero raises to $7, SB folds, BB calls $5.
Flop: ($17) 774
BB checks, Hero bets $13, BB calls $13.
Turn: ($43) 4
BB bets $28, Hero calls $28.
River: ($99) K
BB bets $35, Hero raises to $110
Your opponent's bet sequence is very weak. He probably donked the turn with a pocket pair in order to prevent giving away a free card. On the turn you have a decent flush draw against his pocket pair, and you also recognize that a highcard on the river will put you in a good spot to bluff. You therefore call the turn hoping that the river will either complete your flush, or enable you to bluff the TAG fish out of the hand.
The trick is that you would probably play a 7 or a 4 in the exact same manner. Consequently, your opponent will often fold all pocket pairs between 22 and JJ (of course excluding 44 and 77) to a river raise. He will fail to recognize the situation as a bluffing spot and will be certain that you have him beat.
Other than playing back at your opponent's cbets simply by bluff raising, you can also try floating. Floating a lot is good way of exploiting opponents who tend to be very passive on the turn and who rarely 2nd barrel bluff after cbetting.
Nonetheless, keep in mind that a lot of your opponents are quite familiar with the concept of 2nd barreling. You should only use this tool against specific opponents.
You can find more detailed information on floating and when to do it in this article:
When you are playing against a very aggressive TAG fish, it can sometimes be a good idea to mix up your game and stray from your standard lines by using all three streets to induce a bluff.
When doing this, it's important that ...
- ... your opponent is playing really aggressively.
- … you have an fairly good hand with showdown value.
- … your hand won't be hurt by giving away free cards.
- … cards can come on later streets that could make your opponent want to continue bluffing.
1/2 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)
Stacks
Hero $200
BU $200
Pre-flop: Hero is CO with K Q
2 folds, Hero raises to $7, BU calls $7, 2 folds
Flop: ($17) Q75
Hero checks, BU bets $12, Hero calls $12.
Turn: ($41) A
Hero checks, BU bets $30, Hero calls $30.
River ($101) 2
Hero checks, BU bets $50, Hero calls $50.
BU shows KJ
You know the BU likes to exploit weakness by playing aggressively. On the flop you are only really scared of the turn/river bringing either a 5 or a 7, so there's no reason not to try inducing a bluff from the TAG fish.
There's no reason to be scared of an ace after your opponent cold called your CO open raise. This is something he will rarely do with an ace, since a low-to-medium ace is often dominated by your range. He probably would have 3-bet with AQ or AK.
The ace on the turn is, in fact, a pretty good card as it convinces the opponent to try and represent that he either holds a set or an ace.
The river card is basically a blank. The only hands it helps beat you are freak two-pair hands or the 43 that now makes a straight. Moreover, the opponent's bet on the river is generally quite horrible since, at this point, the only hands he can represent are the 77 or 55. He can't bet for value with any of the hands that have you beat. Nonetheless, an aggressive TAG fish will often bluff with a hand that has no showdown value.
What the TAG fish fails to realize is that the river bet can only represent a very small range of hands that beat a Q.
In 3-bet pots, a TAG fish plays much like a normal fish. It's a situation that a lot of TAG fish have trouble dealing with. As the pre-flop aggressor he will normally contibet most flops, only to find himself lost on the turn. Against insecure players you can take advantage of this by forcing them to play a lot of 3-bet pots. You shouldn't, however, always try to outplay your opponent and pressure him out of the hand. Instead, make it your goal to put your opponents in situations where they feel uncomfortable so as to provoke mistakes.
Before you start involving your opponents in a lot of 3-bet pots though, you have to make sure you know how to play them well yourself. You have to know what you can/must act based on the board structure. If you aren't up to par, you should avoid making this adjustment - you can find yourself in a lot of unpleasant situations.
If you're playing in position as the pre-flop aggressor against a regular, you will face the problem of constantly being check/raised on the flop, sometimes for value sometimes as a bluff. You can avoid this by bringing some creativity into your post-flop game - you never want to reach a point where your opponent can consistently predict your first post-flop move. One possibility is to check behind on the flop, regardless of whether or not you hit, and then either call or raise the turn. For more indepth information on this refer to the platinum article Blind Battles - Playing from the Big Blind, specifically in the chapter "How do you play against small blinds who like to check/raise the flop?".
Meta game adjustments
Now that we have discussed some general adjustments you can make to your game, it's time to analyse certain meta aspects of the game. Paying attention to the meta game while trying to shape it in ways favouring you is a crucial element of playing profitable poker.
It's very important that you can describe your opponent's play as accurately as possible. There are some regulars/TAG fish whom you will face daily on the virtual felt, which simply makes it that much more important to have precise reads on them and their lines. In this case, Elephant or PokerTracker values collected from a large number of hands will be very helpful.
However, it is not only important for you to know how your opponents play, but also how your opponents think you play and in which ways they adapt. Does the opponent make a conscious effort to avoid you, or does he play extra aggressively against you?
If he's trying to avoid you, then you're in an optimal spot to apply even more pressure. Constantly 3-betting him pre-flop and making moves post-flop should bring him to his knees. Do this successfully, and he may start leaving the table every time you sit down, leaving spot open for a calling station, a maniac or another type of fish to join in and give you money. Make sure, though, that you don't go overboard with the "apply pressure" strategy to such a degree that the TAG fish throws away his passive strategy and starts playing back at you with new-found aggressiveness.
There's no doubt that you have leaks in your own game. You don't want your opponent to know and exploit them. Thus, it's imperative that you prevent a TAG fish from getting a read on you and exploiting your strategy. The best way of doing this is 'changing gears'. It sounds simple, but it's much easier said than done.
Your first attempts at 'changing gears' should always be at a limit that you beat comfortably. Furthermore, you need a bank roll that's sufficiently big for you to feel perfectly at ease; if you're afraid of loosing too many chips, you will be too afraid to switch gears completely. Beyond these first two requirements, you also need a lot of experience to take this step, since playing an unfamiliar style of poker forces you into relatively unfamiliar situations.
Your goal is to have the ability to change your playing style and mix up your game at will. To begin with, you can practice this by playing a session as a completely nitty rock instead of your normal TAG self.
It's important that you make your first gear change in the tighter direction as this will put you into a minimum of unfamiliar situations. Later when you're capable of switching between a very tight playing style and your normal TAG style, the next step is to abruptly change your style mid-session. When you've mastered this, you can take the even bigger step of going in the other direction: Becoming a LAG.
Being a good LAG means having a set of excellent post-flop skills. It is, therefore, a style that many wish they could master.
To start out with, you play a whole session from start to finish looser than you normally would. You combine the looseness with an increased amount of pre-flop 3-bets and cold calls from position. Your LAG style should show itself the most when you can act in position. Furthermore, you can develop your post-flop game in order to make your gear changes to LAG more profitable.
When you've managed to successfully play whole seasons as a LAG, you can begin to consciously switch between your three styles mid-session. By doing this, you will prevent your opponents from getting detailed reads on how you are playing at any specific time.
The result of you switching between all these styles is, hopefully, close-to total confusion amongst your opponents. When you choose to summon your inner rock, you will rarely be willing to go broke with a hand, whereas your LAG alter-ego is much more ready to take such chances. Ultimately, you opponents won't be able to assign you precise hand ranges and will therefore make mistakes based on their incorrect assumptions/reads time and time again.
Improving your skill in all the playing styles is long-term business, and it's not something that can be done in just a few sessions. It will take some time before you have enough experience in all the different approaches to comfortably and competently fill out every roll.
However, when you do become adept at switching between your different playing styles easily, you are only one step away from moving a little closer to becoming the perfect No Limit Hold'em player. You can now attempt to make the gear switches second nature while also making sure that you automatically adjust to the table conditions and your own table image.
When you have reached this stage, you should be capable of playing a range of different styles at multiple tables. If you happen to be playing the same TAG fish across several tables, he often won't realize that you are playing widely different styles and projecting very different images depending on the table and meta game. Consequently, the Elephant/PokerTracker values that he collects from you will be completely misleading.
Through this sort of meta-game play, your opponents will pick up false reads that will undoubtedly lead to many wrong decisions on their part. This will serve as yet another source of income for you.
Conclusion
The correct way to play against a regular is much harder to define and master than against a maniac, a calling station or a rock. When you're playing against a regular, you always have to adjust specifically to that player. Making your decisions based on generalizations against a regular is less profitable than against the other types of players. All in all, it's much harder to counter the playing style of a someone who has studied poker theory.
To summarize, these are the things to keep in mind with playing versus a TAG fish:
- Pre-flop 3-bets and 4-bets puts the opponent under pressure
- Adjust your blind steal/defend values to the the individual player.
- Squeeze spots are always profitable against TAG fish.
- Post-flop bluff raises are more often successful against TAG fish.
- Find the the TAG fish's leaks and exploit them.
- Change gears so you are less predictable.
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