Reading an unknown player
The first tells, and narrowing a new player down to a type.
At a real table, nobody tells you who's a Nit and who's a Maniac. A new player sits down at your local game, or you join an online table full of names you've never seen, and you work it out by watching. This guide covers what to do until you know them, which tells show up first, and how to narrow a player down to a type.
In short
- Until you know them, play them like the TAG: solid poker, no big exploits.
- Watch two things first: how often they play a hand, and how often they raise.
- Showdowns are the best clue; bet sizes tell you who, never what.
- Cross off types one hand at a time, then adjust once you're fairly sure.
Start from a sensible default
Until they show you otherwise, treat an unknown player as a typical low-stakes regular: a few too many hands, too many calls, too few bluffs. Against that player, solid poker is the whole plan: raise good hands, bet them for value, and don't bluff someone who's happy to call. No big exploits yet; every exploit is a bet on a read, and you don't have one.
In the app, that default is the TAG: a sensible range from every seat, and the chart to assume until an action says otherwise.
Two numbers: how often they play, how often they raise
The two most useful things to know about anyone are:
- How often do they play a hand? That is, put money in on purpose before the flop, by calling or raising. Players call this VPIP.
- How often do they raise? Raising first or re-raising, not just calling. This is PFR.
You don't need exact numbers. Rough counts over a dozen or so hands already sort players into types:
| What you see | Likely type |
|---|---|
| Plays few hands, raises when they do | Nit or TAG |
| Plays lots of hands, raises a lot | LAG or Maniac |
| Plays lots of hands, rarely raises | Calling Station |
The gap between the two numbers matters as much as the numbers. A player who plays a lot but almost never raises is calling with a wide range of weak hands. That's the Station: they open only about 9% of hands, but defend their big blind against a button open with about 45%.
Same seat, same situation, very different ranges. Once you know which one you're facing, you know where to start.
The first tells, in the order they show up
Before the flop. The first hands tell you how they enter a pot:
- A limp. Only one of the six built-in villains ever limps: the Calling Station. One limp settles it. (A real limper might be any passive player, but the Station is the first guess.)
- How often they raise, and from where. Good players open far more hands from late seats than early ones. Weaker players often ignore position: the Station opens almost the same hands from every seat. One raise tells you little; ten hands tell you a lot.
- 3-bets. The Nit, the TAG and the Station 3-bet 3–5% of hands from the button; the LAG 12% and the Maniac 15%. The Short Stacker's 3-bet is always all in.
| Villain | Raises from UTG | From the button | 3-bets from the button |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Nit | 11% of hands | 23% | 3% |
| The TAG | 14% | 37% | 5% |
| The Calling Station | 8% (and limps 42%) | 9% (limps 56%) | 3% |
| The LAG | 20% | 50% | 12% |
| The Maniac | 38% | 63% | 15% |
| The Short Stacker | 9% | 31% | 6%, all in |
So when someone opens from the button, ask: is this a player who widens up there, or one who plays the same few hands everywhere? Their button range could be twice as wide, or no wider at all.
Stack size. The Short Stacker buys in for 40bb, where everyone else sits with the table stack. The app shows every stack, as a real table does, so this one is on view before a card is dealt.
The first flop. As the raiser, do they bet every flop or only when they hit? As the caller, do they check to you, or bet into you? Do they raise your bets, and with what?
Showdowns. The strongest evidence by far: now you know exactly which hand they played that way. Go back through the hand: what did they do before the flop, and on each street, with that holding?
A player who calls every street with bottom pair isn't folding pairs. Next time they call your river bet, expect plenty of weak pairs, and bet your good hands for value. One surprising showdown (a junk open from an early seat, a raise with bottom pair) can rule out half the field at once.
In the app, the end-of-hand summary shows the villain's cards every time, so every hand gives you this clue.
Tells that separate the six types
Take a dry flop after they've raised from the cutoff and you've called:
| Villain | Bets with | Share of their range | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Nit | Top pair or better, AK and AQ | 50% | half pot |
| The TAG | Everything | 100% | a third of the pot |
| The Calling Station | Top pair or better | 41% | a third |
| The LAG | Everything | 100% | half pot |
| The Maniac | Everything | 100% | the pot |
| The Short Stacker | Top pair or better, two overcards | 50% | three-quarters |
The Nit and the TAG look alike before the flop, and a dry flop splits them: the TAG bets every time, the Nit only with a real hand plus AK or AQ. A check here rules out the TAG, the LAG and the Maniac in one go.
Bet sizes tell you who, not what. In this app, a villain's bet size follows the board, never the hand: on the same board, their top set and their bluff bet the same amount. But each type has its own sizes:
| Villain | Dry flop | Medium flop | Wet flop |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Nit | 50% of the pot | 66% | 75% |
| The TAG | 33% | 66% | 75% |
| The Calling Station | 33% | 50% | 50% |
| The LAG | 50% | 75% | 100% |
| The Maniac | 100% | 150% | 150% |
| The Short Stacker | 75% | 100% | 100% |
A bet over the pot is the Maniac. A one-third bet on a dry flop is the TAG or the Station. A raise is three times the bet for everyone, with two exceptions: the Short Stacker's raises are all in, and so is the Maniac's re-raise when you raise them.
(At real tables, many low-stakes players do size by hand strength: bigger with strong hands and smaller with weak ones, or the other way around. If you see the same pattern twice, start using it.)
Other tells that split the field:
- A bet into the raiser. The TAG and the LAG never lead the flop or turn as the caller; they check to you. The Maniac leads with any pair, any draw or ace-high: 83% of their range on Q♥ 9♥ 5♣ after calling in the big blind. The Station leads top pair or better (16% there), the Nit two pair or better (6%).
- What they do when you bet. Facing a two-thirds-pot bet on A♠ 9♦ 4♣ after calling in the big blind: the Nit folds 72% of their range and the Short Stacker 75% (and jams the rest). The Station calls 47% (any pair, any draw). The LAG raises 25% (top pair or better) and calls any other pair. The Maniac raises 59% (any pair, two overcards or a backdoor flush draw) and folds the rest.
- The turn after a c-bet. On a blank turn, the TAG and the LAG bet only top pair or better and draws (32% and 37% of the hands that c-bet J♦ 6♠ 2♣); the Maniac bets 84%, checking only a hand with nothing.
Real players are messier than these six: a real tight player bluffs a little, and a real aggressive one has quiet stretches. But the questions are the same: how wide do they enter, do they bet when they miss, do they fold a pair, do they raise light. Watch for the same tells and the method carries over.
Narrow it down, then keep updating
Don't jump to a guess. Rule types out one at a time, the way you narrow a range street by street:
- Hand 1: they open from the cutoff and bet a third of the pot on a dry flop. Not the Nit, the LAG, the Short Stacker or the Maniac: wrong size. TAG or Station.
- Hand 2: they limp. Not the TAG. The Station is all that's left.
Your first guess comes from a few hands, so hold it loosely. Each new hand either fits it or doesn't:
- It fits: your read gets firmer, and you can lean on it harder.
- It doesn't: ask if it's a one-off or a pattern. One strange hand is noise. The same surprise twice is a new read.
Once you're fairly sure, adjust; you don't need certainty. If it's the Station or the Maniac, stop bluffing; if it's the Nit, start. Their own guide has the specific plays, and the After the flop tab on their Ranges screen lists every habit in plain words. Most players at low stakes don't change how they play, so once the read settles, it tends to stay right.
Green is the Station's raise, which the TAG also opens. Everything in orange is the rest of the TAG's range, which that read leaves out.
Try it: Guess who
When you pick who to play, choose Random villain and turn on Guess who. Each hand you face a different villain, and the screen shows "?" instead of their name. You read their range as usual, and at the end of the hand you're asked "Who was it?" before anything else. After a preflop fold there's nothing to go on, so there's no guess.
After every hand the app works out which of the six would have played it the same way, sizes included. Your score compares the hand you guessed on with the earliest hand where only one type still fit. A wrong guess counts as "too early" rather than wrong while the type you named still fits every hand.
Your guesses are counted in Stats under Guess who: how often you named the villain right, overall and for each villain. The one you miss most is the type to study next. While you're there, look at your own VPIP and PFR under Preflop decisions, next to what your chart would do. Those are the same two numbers you judge opponents by, and a tough opponent is watching yours.
Play it the way you'd sit down at a new table: solid poker first, eyes open, cross off a type whenever a hand rules it out, and name them when one is left.