Your Most Frustrating Opponent?

[Lancer]

Last night I ran into one of the guys I really hate to play with -- the Calling Station who's getting lucky. Normally I like these guys, cause you can make money off of them, but when they are catching hands, it can get ugly.

This hand from a $1 Pokerstars MTT was typical:

PokerStars Game #1842201542: Tournament #8387581, Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2005/06/06 - 00:12:23 (ET)
Table '8387581 1' Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: rvbent (6155 in chips)
Seat 2: REDDOOR333 (7824 in chips)
Seat 3: seakelp (3000 in chips)
Seat 4: CBRebel (7005 in chips)
Seat 5: Disillusiond (3112 in chips) <-- Me
Seat 6: BigBallerDyl (6504 in chips)
Seat 7: Calling Station (3228 in chips) <-- Name Changed to Protect the Innocent ;)
Seat 8: edlowe77 (1194 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 9: Brinsley8 (790 in chips) is sitting out
rvbent: posts small blind 75
REDDOOR333: posts big blind 150

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to Disillusiond [ :3h: :3c: ]

Not bad. I don't have position, so I'll just call and hope to see the flop cheap.

seakelp: folds
CBRebel: folds
Disillusiond: calls 150
BigBallerDyl: folds
Calling Station: calls 150 What does he have? I have no clue. He calls with practically anything from 93 offsuit to AA.
edlowe77: folds
Brinsley8: folds
rvbent: calls 75
REDDOOR333: checks

*** FLOP *** [ :tc: :8d: :td: ]

rvbent: checks
REDDOOR333: checks
Disillusiond: bets 300 Let's see what's out there.
Calling Station: calls 300 No surprise here. I'm still clueless.
rvbent: folds
REDDOOR333: folds Both blinds fold. Good so far.

*** TURN *** [ :3s: ]

Full house. Sweet. He'll almost certainly call again regardless of what he has. I probably have the best hand, but I never know with this guy, so I'm reluctant to bet too much more.

Disillusiond: bets 900
Calling Station: calls 900 Looks like I'll be making some money off of this guy finally!

*** RIVER *** [ :th: ]

Ouch. The benefit of my pocket pair just got eliminated. I may have just gone from winner to loser. I'd better lay off.

Disillusiond: checks
Calling Station: checks

*** SHOW DOWN ***

Disillusiond: shows [ :3h: :3c: ] (a full house, Tens full of Threes)

Calling Station: shows [ :jd: :js: ] (a full house, Tens full of Jacks)

Calling Station collected 3000 from pot

He didn't raise preflop with JJ. I had no idea if he had 2 overcards, a pair, some kind of draw or what. I had no clue that he had me beat on the flop, or that I had only taken the lead on the turn. And this was only one hand. I saw him repeatedly draw out on the river against much better hands. His chip stack would dwindle down then he'd catch another hand and be the chip leader, calling all the way. By the second break some players were just checking their hands to the river when they ended up heads up with him. And (unheard of for me in a Pokerstars MTT) I was at the same table with this guy for 60+ hands. All the while he was 2 seats to the left of me. Blind stealing? Wasn't happening for the duration. All in all, it made for a frustrating tourney. ;)

So what are your more frustrating opponent types?

[adampad]

I most fear clueless maniacs. My nature is to be aggressive and these guys take that away from me. Me and a few buddies play a home game every once in a while and there is one guy who bets and or calls every hand. It takes patience and cards to defeat him, but it drives me insane.

[FergyFan315]

the most frustrating opponents to me are the majority of online players cause they mostly r amatuers. i once had :ad: :jc: and i the blinds where 10/20, the tournament had just started and i raised 100. i had one caller. the flop was :7c: :jd: :9c:. i bet 350. he raised all-in. I figured that i had the best hand and that he had a Jack too but i had the best kicker so i called. the guy turns over : :ts: :8d: . i went crazy. i mean i raised 100 preflop, what would posses him to call with FREAKIN 10-8 offsuit.

[zerOT]

Aggressive players... even scarier when they're actually catching. I attempt to play the best aggressive game that I can - but when I have to play against someone else who isn't afraid to go over the top it forces me to slow down somewhat. Worst is the "catching"psycho-players. Raising every hand and still riverin' the best of it, sickening. lol

[thecaptainjs]

Ive had a few players like that... I dont like those who play really tight when its 1v1 and everytime they play something off and i have a good hand they caught the cards. drove me nuts.

[Lancer]

As I have gotten more experience, I realize that the lucky loose-passive players are nothing compared to the lucky loose-aggressives. With calling stations the bad beats are common but not nearly as expensive as with the maniacs.

I had a guy sit down to my immediate left at a .25/.50 table at Party Poker the other night. I don't think we had ever played together because I had barely played any hands at that site previously. But he seemed to be picking on me specifically. Every time I raised pf, he reraised all in. Before he sat down, I'd been winning with a fairly tight and aggressive style. But he put the breaks on in a hurry by making it very expensive for me to play.

I hit KQ on the button and raised 3xBB. He RR all in. Since he was new to the table I folded. The very next hand I got KQ again in the cutoff. I raised 3xBB. He RR all in. This time I called. He had A6. But of couse, he caught both an A and a 6 to win. He caught several other hands like that before leaving with a pretty big stack. Frustration.

[card4]

I personally try to avoid maniacs and really agressive players when playing in ring games. Even if I'm stuck or had been winning at the table, I know that one or two really agressive players is going to make things difficult for my style of play. I personally don't like playing in capped multiway pots preflop every hand. You win a lot when your hand holds up but it gets too expensive when you aren't catching and just getting drawn out on once when the pots get that big can cause a huge variance in your chips for that session.

In tournaments, you aren't so lucky. In low buyin tourneys and especially freerolls, you will see a lot of gambling going go mostly up until the first break. You'll see KK raise all in and get called by ace rag and sure enough the ace will hit. I tend to play pretty tight in the early going if I'm at a table with agressive players. Its rarely worth gambling off all your chips even if you are sure you have the best hand at the moment. Its important to wait for a spot where you are a heavy favorite, not just a small favorite in a coin flip situation.

A key thing is to not take it personally if it seems like someone is picking on you by comming over the top all of the time. It is good strategy to take advantage of some one capable of folding once in a while. Eventually you have to make a stand but make sure you do it with great cards and not just base your decision to call or reraise the agressive player on a feeling. When you say I'm going to reraise all in with 10 9 from the big blind because someone has been stealing from you all night, you better hope he isn't raising on a legitimate hand that time.

Any time one player seems to be on a rush, especially when you are in a dry spell, it is frustrating, no doubt about it. It is just one of those spots where you have to be patient and wait for the cards to even out. Don't call a raise with a marginal hand just because Mr.Lucky at the table called with the same hand earlier and flopped a strait. Chances are you are going to lose money playing a weak holding and would have been better off to pass.

[jordofirst]

What kind of TELLS can you pick up when playing online?

[adampad]

What kind of TELLS can you pick up when playing online?

One of the biggest online tells is how long it takes for someone to make a decision. Someone who takes a long time to make a decision indicates strength. Also pay attention of people who use the check/fold buttons. If I catch someone using those I may make a very small bet at a large pot just because they may autofold it, when they wouldn't otherwise.

[jordofirst]

Thanks, any other tells?