Opponent Profiles: The Rock
Introduction
In this Article
- Rocks are harmless without a Hand. They often fold.
- Position is not very important against them.
- If they defend themselves, you should respect this.
In stark
contrast to the hectic playing style of maniacs, and the unrelenting calldowns
of calling stations, the rock stands firm just like his name indicates. He plays extremely tight poker and will
seldom be seen in a pot without a premium hand.
The rare times he does decide to enter a pot other players should to
take care. Weak kickers, low sets,
idiot-end-straights or second nut flushes would do well to get out of the way,
when a rock decides to start raising – since it next to always represents a
very strong hand.
Yet much
like the gray lump of stone which lends the rock its name, his style lacks
imagination and flexibility. Due to
rock’s rigid style of play he is easily exploitable. The tips and tricks elaborated on in the following
article will help you get the most out of these types of players.
What is a rock and how do you recognize one?
A rock is an extremely tight-aggressive player. A rock does not play
marginal hands preflop. His VP$IP score in SH-games will usually be
between 5% and 12%. Unlike Calling Stations, he will not play large
pots with 2nd pair, gutshot, etc. postflop.
Additionally, a
rock plays his usable hands oftentimes in a passive manner, i.e. he
checks and calls more often than an aggressive player and bets and
raises less frequently. His aggression factor is usually smaller than
1.5.He plays strong made hands like top pair, which you should bet for
value and for protection, passively and most of all he plays his draws
more passively than other players. You will hardly ever see a semibluff
or even a pure bluff from a rock.
He uses the same kind of
passivity preflop. His PFR score at SH-tables is usually between 0% and
7%. He hardly ever steal-raises. He will usually 3bet with QQ+, AK or
an ever tighter range. Some rocks even resign from a continuation bet
after a preflop raise while holding an A high or similar cards, but
there are certainly rocks who do continuation bets. It is highly
unlikely, however, to see a 2nd barrel from rocks.
On the other side, a rock usually plays his strong hands rather
aggressively. This makes him easier to read than other players.
Rocks play inconspicously on the whole and are hence difficult to
recognize compared to calling stations and maniacs, which you can
oftentimes pick out after a few hands or showdowns. At a large
sample size you can easily classify a player based on his
pokertracker-stats. As mentioned above, on SH-Tables a rock will have
scores of about:
- VP$IP: 5-12%
- PFR: 0-7%
- AF: 0-1.5
- WTS: 18-25%
On FR-tables you will find even lower VP$IP and PFR values. Here you should take into consideration that especially AF and WTS values need a large sample size in order to convey an accurate picture of his playing style.
It is therefore useful to identify rocks without PT-stats as well.
Hands, which you see on the showdown, are helpful here. Large draws
(Straight Draw + Flush Draw, Pair + Flush Draw, but also naked Flush
Draw or OESD) are especially distinctive. If you see an aggressively
played flush draw or OESD, it almost certainly is not a rock. If you
encounter a passively played combo draw, you can surely say that the
player is very passive. Hands containing Top Pair/Overpair are also
interesting.
A further
indicator for a rock could be a small buy-in.
Casual chatter and small talk on the other side speaks against the
player being a rock, since according to the Psychology of Poker, these types or
players are usually more quiet and reserved.
What are the weaknesses of this style?
Many rocks are winning players in the low, and maybe even middle, limit
games. Rocks play their hands better than their opponents by folding
preflop. He also usually has the best hand when playing for a large
pot. Most players in the low limits do not adapt to the passive play
and thus pay for a rock's strong hands.
A rock will lose
against a strong player, however (even if it isn't much e.g. in
FR-games). He does not protect enough, hands out too many free cards,
does not steal enough pots and blinds, and can be bluffed and read
easily. He also wastes a lot of value due to his passive game.
How to best play against a rock?
First off you should try to sit to the right of a rock. It is in fact
better to be in position to the rock, but the disadvantages of sitting
to his right aren't as big as if it were another opponent.
If you are sitting to the right of a rock, you should (especially in
SH-games) take advantage of his frequent blindsteals and the fact that
he folds more often after steal raises than a loose player would. You
can therefore attack his blinds more often and also play more loosely
on the cutoff. This happens because he will play much tighter than a
loose player or a good TAG.
About the general contact, especially in the chat room, it is to say
that you should not provoke a rock. They might feel distracted and
leave, or they might allow the provocation and play more aggressively,
which could result in a "coincidental" improvement of their game. If
they lose a large pot due to a suckout, for example, it is wiser to
comment nicely and sympathetic than being unfriendly.
You
should of course respect the bets and raises of a rock. He will not
make those with a mediocre hand. Since his range does not contain
bluffs or semibluffs, his equity usually looks very different from
another player's equity. You should not play your entire stack preflop
with an AK or QQ.
0.10/0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)
Stacks
Hero $25.00
BU $25.00
Preflop: Hero is UTG with K
K
Hero raises to $1.00, 2 folds, BU calls $1.00, 2 folds
Flop: Q
8 4 (2 players)
Hero raises to $2.00, BU raises to $5.00, Hero ?
You'd have equity of 82% against an absolute maniac who would play this way with every possible hand.
You'd have equity of 67% against a TAG who would play this way with AQ,
KQ, QJ, QTs, 88, 44, Asxs, KsJs, JsTs, 7s6s, 7s5s, 6s5s, 6s4s, 5s4s.
Against a rock you should assume a range that is more like AA, KK, QQ, AQ,
88, 44 (40%). Our equity would then only be at 43%. Assume that this
kind of range is even too loose against many rocks. If we look at a
range of AA, QQ, 88, 44, our equity would only be at 8%. You should
consider a direct fold when faced with an extreme rock in this case.
Since rocks are straightforward players, you can often read their hands
pretty well and you should follow this read. For instance, if a rock
calls a bet on a draw-heavy board, and then bets himself as soon as the
draw is completed, he will most likely have hit a flush/straight, and
you should fold in this situation even if you are holding a strong hand.
0.10/0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)
Stacks
Hero $25.00
BU $25.00
Preflop: Hero is UTG with Q Q
Hero raises to $1.00, 4 folds, BB calls $1.00
Flop: 8 5 3 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero raises to $2.00, BB calls $2.00.
Turn: J (2 players)
BB raises to $5.00, Hero ?
The range which you would assume for a rock is as follows: AA-JJ, AX, 76, 64, while he might have folded the last two hands preflop. He also might
not have bet AA-JJ since he would have completed the flush. We should
hence fold immediately.
In case a rock shows some strength, you should never reraise as a
semibluff if you have a draw. You can count on better implied odds,
however, since the opponent almost always really has a strong hand.
Preflop you can play pocket pairs on set value especially well, maybe
even if the rock 3betted, since many rocks would only do that with KK+
(but some would also play this way with AK, which would lessen the
implied odds).
If you happen to play for the pot with a rock,
and he has not shown any strength yet, then bluffs (most of all
continuation bets) and semibluffs are profitable as the opponent would
fold mediocre and weak hands. He will not re-bluff or re-semibluff. A
semibluff is particularly suitable when in position, since you can
often take a freecard on the turn when you are called and you will
hardly ever be checkraised.
A rock won't checkraise often since
he plays almost always in a straightforward manner. That is why you can
pass a check-behind for pot control on the turn in many situations. You
would use one against aggressive players but not rocks. You can also
protect against draws without being afraid of a checkraise.
You should also pay attention to the tight preflop range of a rock.
Don't value bet with a top pair/middle kicker and expect to be called
by a top pair/weak kicker. The rock would have already folded such a
hand preflop. If the rock invested into a pot postflop, he either has a
strong made hand or a draw. That is why many bluffs and thin value bets
are not profitable. Also note that the rock might be holding a
surprisingly strong hand despite a prior check.
0.10/0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)
Stacks
Hero $25.00
BU $25.00
Preflop: Hero is UTG with A Q
Hero raises to $1.00, 4 folds, BB calls $1.00
Flop: A 6 5
(2 players)
BB checks, Hero raises to $2.00, BB calls $2.00.
Turn: 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.
River: T (2 players)
BB checks, Hero ?
You would have an easy value bet against many players, since they would
call with Aces and a few 2nd pair hands. They would have probably
bet/raised earlier if they had a stronger hand. A rock on the other
hand would fold a 2nd pair on the flop already and an A8 or weaker
would have been folded on the river at the latest. You will only get
value from an AJ. Despite his prior passive range, he could also be
holding surprisingly strong hands like AK, 65, A5, A2 or maybe even A6
or AT.
You should pretty much avoid slowplaying against rocks. In order it to work, it requires the opponent to be aggressive.
A rock will not adapt to the fact that we adopted his style. It is
possible for him to tilt, however, which would change his passive game.
You should recognize this and adjust your game. The way of playing
against a rock would be very bad against a tilter.
From my own
experience I can say that rocks don't play good enough to recognize
that the strength of hands is shifting towards a multiway pot. If you
are playing a 5-way pot, for example, a rock will raise you with the
same range he used at a HU-pot. He does not notice that you are showing
more strength when betting against four opponents compared to a bet
against only one opponent.
Summary
In a game against a rock, the following applies:
- You can steal more blinds from the rock when you are out of position, you don't really need a position against his strong hands.
- You should play very strong hands aggressively, weak hands should be fold.
- Draws should also be played aggressively, since the rock would probably not bet himself.
- Pure and semibluffs create a lot of foldequity against a rock, but can also be simple donations when he is suddenly holding very strong hands.
- Slowplay is almost never an option, since the rock is too passive. When the rock bets, then you can slowplay the nuts. The rest should be fold.
- If the rock makes a huge bet, then you should carefully look, if his style has changed to TAG or Maniac.
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