The LAG
Pressure on every street; the checks are where the range narrows.
The LAG plays lots of hands and keeps the pressure on. They c-bet every flop, bet every draw, fire on scary cards whether they hit or not, and bet when you check to them. It feels like they always have it. They don't: their range stays wide, and the actions that narrow it are the quiet ones.
In short
- Call down lighter: their scare-card turn bets and river bets are full of air.
- Don't fold top pair to a flop raise: they raise every draw on a wet board.
- Value-bet thinner and bigger: they call any pair to the river, at any size.
- Bet when they check a blank turn: that check is weak pairs and air.
Before the flop
The LAG opens about 20% of hands from under the gun (266 combos), a third from the cutoff and half from the button.
Their 3-bet widens by seat too: about 4% of hands from under the gun and the hijack, 7% from the cutoff, and 11–12% from the button and the blinds, shown below.
The cutoff drops KQ and the offsuit small aces (94 combos); under the gun and the hijack it's JJ+ and AQ+ (56). The big blind keeps AQo+ rather than AJo+.
From the big blind they defend a lot against a button open: 25% of hands by calling and 11% more by 3-betting. Their calls, shown below, are the medium pairs, medium aces, suited kings and queens, connectors and offsuit broadways. TT+, AJs+ and AQ+ 3-bet instead.
If you 3-bet them, they 4-bet the first grid below, call with the second, and fold the rest: 74% of their button opens.
After the flop
As the raiser, they c-bet every flop with every hand, on any board.
On the turn it depends on the card. On a scare card (an overcard, a card that completes a flush or a straight, or a card that pairs the board), they bet every hand again. On any other turn, a blank or a card that only brings a new flush draw, they bet top pair or better, overpairs and every draw, gutshots included, and check everything else:
The 365 that check are every pair below top pair, and every air hand without a draw.
As the caller in position, they float a flop bet of up to 2/3 pot with any backdoor draw or two overcards, on top of calling with any pair and raising top pair and draws. When you check to them on the flop or turn, they bet every hand.
As the caller out of position, they check the flop and turn every time, then check-raise, call or fold.
Facing a bet, what they do depends on the hand and the street:
| Their hand | Flop | Turn | River |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two pair or better | Raise | Raise | Raise |
| Top pair, overpair | Raise | Call | Call |
| Nut flush draw, combo draw | Raise | Raise | – |
| Any other draw, wet board | Raise | Raise | – |
| Any other draw, other boards | Call | Call | – |
| Any other pair | Call | Call | Call |
| Air | Fold | Fold | Fold |
Their raises are three times your bet. Draws include gutshots. Their calls hold at any size, even against a raise. Air folds unless they're floating in position.
Say the LAG called your button open from the big blind and checks this wet flop:
Those 125 raises are 9 two pair or better, 51 top pair and 65 draws. 75 pairs call and 99 fold.
On the river they bet top pair or better and overpairs, every missed draw that didn't pair up (flush draws, open-enders and gutshots that bricked), and all their air when the river completes a flush or a straight. Weaker pairs check, and so does air that never had a draw, unless a flush or straight card lands.
Those 344 are 80 two pair or better, 96 aces, 32 missed draws and 136 of plain air, because the 6 completes a straight.
In a 3-bet or 4-bet pot they raise top pair and overpairs when bet into on the turn too, not just the flop, and on the river top pair with a good kicker or an overpair. With less than three pots behind (a 4-bet pot, or a 3-bet pot after a flop bet and call) a flush draw or an open-ender re-raises over your raise instead of calling, which with that little behind means all in. In a limped pot they bet top pair on the flop first to act instead of checking.
Say the LAG opened the cutoff, you 3-bet from the button and they called; the flop checked through.
Those 27 raises are a set, every top pair and the draws; 27 smaller pairs call and 51 fold. In a single-raised pot the 15 top pairs would call instead: 12 raises, 42 calls.
How to exploit them
- Call down lighter. Their scare-card turn bets and river bets are full of air. On 8-7-3-A-6 above, K8 has 47% equity against their river betting range, and a pot-size bet needs 33% to call.
- Don't fold top pair to a flop raise. They raise top pair and every draw on a wet board. On T-8-3 with two spades, AT has 62% equity against their raising range.
- Value-bet thinner and bigger. They call any pair to the river at any size. With a better pair, bet every street for a big size.
- Check to them when they called in position. They bet every time you check on the flop and turn, with everything. Raise with your strong hands, call with your medium ones.
- In a 3-bet pot, their turn raise is still top pair. It's the flop's loose raising range one street later: top pair, a set or a draw. Call it down with an overpair. And when the stacks are short next to the pot, their re-raise over your raise is as often a draw as a made hand.
- Bet when they check a blank turn. Their scare-card barrels teach you nothing, but a blank-turn check leaves weak pairs and air with no draw: on 8-7-3-2 above, 248 of the 365 checking combos are air that folds to a bet.
- Bluff a river check only after a scare-card turn. After a blank-turn bet their air already checked, so a river check is a pair, and pairs don't fold. After a scare-card barrel, a river check on a card that completes nothing still holds all the air that never had a draw.
- In your reads, their bets remove nothing; a call removes air (unless they can float) and two pair or better; the checks narrow. When they bet a river where draws missed or a straight card landed, every air hand you painted on the turn is still there.
What this leak is worth. Calling down lighter pays. On 9-6-2-Q-K, 180 of their 331 river bets are air or missed draws: more than half.
What their bet sizes tell you
Nothing about the hand. On the flop they bet half the pot on a dry board, three-quarters on a medium one and the full pot on a wet one; two-thirds, three-quarters and pot on the turn; three-quarters on a dry river and pot otherwise. The pot-size bet on a wet board holds as much air as the half-pot bet on a dry one. Raises are always three times your bet.