How To Navigate Tough Spots Against Loose Aggressive Opponents

Are you tired of constantly being pushed around by loose aggressive opponents at the poker table? In this video, we'll teach you how to navigate tough spots against loose aggressive opponents.
0:00 - Intro
3:15 - Preflop
4:48 - Flop
8:22 - Turn
11:06 - River
16:05 - Hero decision
16:11 - Reveal
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[@CrushlivePoker]

Who here has gotten a drink at "First call" at 6:00am at Commerce?

[@GWrench9]

Guilty. Those are either the most profitable or next day kicking yourself sessions.

[@lloydchristmas1086]

Hi Bart 💋

[@Stevenh677]

People drink at 6 AM?

[@milominderbinder8655]

@@Stevenh677 welcome to a casino, degen alley

[@danielmeuler2877]

You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning 😅.. but that's no for me

[@Glastoki]

I love how the caller says "doing crazy stuff like raising bottom pair" and 10 seconds later they both decide he could never have an 8 because he wouldnt check raise middle pair. As a much lower stakes player I see Bart sometimes miscalculating because he's used to playing against much more skilled "bad" players. Wow I just finished the video and the guy actually had the 8.....I originally posted this pre reveal I swear.

[@pot_kivach160]

no middle pair for the guy who does that all day

[@TheTree1]

Id like to know if the villain had been continuing with his bluffs and triple barreled off. Id have to see that a time or two before i call here with the Ks in my hand.

[@johnnyboychess]

Agreed. I play against these types and also sometimes play similar on an occasional Saturday night. The indicator is are they putting you on something strong and going for value or are they putting you on something weak and looking for a fold. Given that hero was the preflop raiser, villain bluffed the flop, caught the river and then knew he was good on the river and played his image

[@davidculhane4388]

For those of you saying if you'd seen villain barrel off multiple streets before, you'd call him. If villain is a solid LAG, he will exploit you and get you to call down deep for stacks. I blew 100bb yesterday making an absurd bluff and everybody called me down for stacks all night. Once TAG players see a LAG grt caught a couple times, if he only barrels with the goods later on, they will not fold top pair+

[@mattpitstick6884]

Callers logic is inconsistent. At start of the call he says Villian was raising with middle/bottom pair all night, but then states the 8 is a blank on the turn. If you include trips in his range I think he could find a fold, but would still be tough against this player type.

[@JLRRyan]

Thought the same thing. Villian can be sitting there with a 8 based on the description plenty

[@afwaller]

I immediately thought of trips, something like J8. Trips are pretty rare in general because people usually bet middle/low pairs preflop, but if this guy is a bit of a loose cannon then I could see the preflop action and then the 8 on the flop here.

[@castormann]

Nah he said he was doing it with top/bottom pair at the beginning, not middle. It was at the end that he said he had been raising middle pair

[@earl864]

I thought gto likes to raise with alotnof bottom pairs especially on boards where there isn't a ton of draws in his range.

[@Arrowstompin]

“He’s been raising bottom and middle pair all night” *Turn is an 8* “I perceived it as a blank.”

[@moneymikz]

Pay him…pay dat mannn his money 💰

[@iamawuss]

Very close river but I leaned toward call also. However, I noted another commenter mentioning we can wait for a better spot against this villain type, and I agree with that too. That’s something that is sometimes easy to forget given lives often slow pace.

[@JohnSmith-nx7zj]

Hero’s put in a third of his stack by the river. If his read on villain that he’s kind of a maniac is accurate then I don’t see how you can be profitable “waiting for a better spot”. KK is as good as AA here, so the only better hands you can have are the 4 combos of QQ and 88.

[@iamawuss]

@@JohnSmith-nx7zj You can be profitable here calling, but you can also be more profitable waiting for a clearer spot... both caller and Bart agree it's a marginal river call here, remember, and I agree as well. Perhaps you don't think it's that marginal?

[@MCFoultier]

​​@@iamawuss to give up equity just to be "waiting for a better spot" is not a good concept, especially live with the slow pace. He could lose his stack to another person. He could leave. You could lose your stack to another person. The world could end Etc

[@JohnSmith-nx7zj]

@@iamawuss If (big if) caller’s description of villain is correct then I think it’s a call. And I think the fact he had J8o and raised it on the flop suggests he is fairly maniacal. It’s definitely a “sigh call” at best. But being oop versus aggro players is tough. Sometimes you’re going to have to make those sigh calls or they’ll just run you over. You can’t keep “waiting for better spots” because you don’t get nutted hands often enough in poker to make a profit by only calling down when you do.

[@iamawuss]

@@JohnSmith-nx7zj "Being oop versus aggro players is tough." Agreed...by better spot, I mean it would be nice here if we didn't have Ks for example, or the river bet was smaller and we had a better price. But still it's a sigh call, yeah.

[@guybrushthreepwood8174]

I like all the additional flavor and information you're giving about the card room from this call.

[@mattgoodwin953]

Against that player short handed I can’t find a fold after the flush draw bricks.

[@Dynamice1337]

I suspected that Villain may have been betting Ad8d before the reveal. I had a hand Saturday in a low stakes game where I 3 bet a guy with AA (He was UTG+1, I was HJ) and ended up getting him all in on a flop of 864 rainbow. Sure enough he had 64s. Turn 7 river 5 so I sucked out a bit on that one. People call large 3 bets oop all the time with all sorts of hands.

[@alwaysradical1613]

Oh I know, it’s why it drive me crazy playing with family. They’re so bad. But it helps sharpen my skills by focusing more on the player at their level, and to me, that is real poker, not necessarily playing with perfect players

[@bryanjohnson8162]

If he's a loose spilly player what are you supposed to do You're supposed to call more often with a wider range and really you're closer to the top of your range

[@larryvq]

I would have loved more discussion on general strategy to handle loose aggressive players in games like these. I think the caller got a bit unlucky but I would like to know if it is smart to go to call down mode and let the LAG take himself to value town.

[@mbtadhl]

My advice is run for your life especially if the table has 3 or 4 of loose spewy aggressive maniacs. Your going to get torched. Run Forest run !

[@tomignacios3668]

Tough spot to be in against that kind of opp. Calling is fine but I like a fold a lot more. Villain bluffs are Ax spades, 10s9s, 6s7s rarest of rare Q6. Villain is so wide he has all the 66,88,68, 108,Q8,J9, 79 combos and just about every 8x combo. Plus you can find a better spot against this villain it sounds like than to call him down with one pair on a pretty dynamic board. If you get bluffed you get bluffed more power to villain but I think there’s better spots to play against this type of villain

[@Jermo484]

I like that you're trying to find logical bluffs from a moron who limp calls J8o pre and raises a Q86 flop with middle pair.

[@JohnSmith-nx7zj]

What better spot would you be hoping for? I’m assuming if hero even raises 8x pre on this loose table he doesn’t bet-call the flop. So the only better hands he has on the river are QQ and maybe 88. You’re going to be waiting a while and folding a lot of hands in the interim.

[@MCFoultier]

If that guy raises 8x next to act with 3 people behind on that board, his range has so much other nonsense in it. Let him do his job and blast off, sometimes they have it, oh well, next hand

[@jeremyhahn3612]

That's if villain is structuring correctly. He had J8o so can have dozens of offsuit trash hands. I think it's a mandatory call, if he can have an 8 here he can have any number of 6's and other missed draws.

[@SuicidelG]

If you're fully aware that the guy is raising bottom and middle pair previously on the flop, why would you consider the 8 on the turn a blank? I get under normal circumstances you can consider it that, but you have knowledge that this is a different situation.

[@Crypt0M0nkey]

I put Ad8d, 8d7d, 8d9d into villains range while watching this… even though it’s a bad raise by villain to raise these back door draws multi-way, it’s definitely in a maniacs range. I go back to the old theory in 5/10 and lower live poker “If villain bets/raise big on river they usually got it”

[@MrStevie57]

I like to limp small pairs suited aces etc.If I get raised just call and see a flop.I am bad haha.

[@dan22482]

Losing play in the long term especially if your opponents are somewhat aware. Good luck getting paid when you hit your set…

[@MrStevie57]

@@dan22482 I do because I sigh loudly and check.When they bet I shake my head and tank then go all in.

[@Peter-zg3em]

i need to get into a game where there are dudes this deep and raising with middle pair. sounds simple but i think one of the takeaways here is that you need to bump it up higher pre flop with 2 limpers and in this case the blind raise dynamic. becomes very hard to play against several callers whose ranges are wide open. even a computer won't touch it and i think that tells you something.

[@pot_kivach160]

Sure. Bump it up pre, and then hit him hard on Flop, make him pay for his favorite bottom pairs.

[@Mbougie]

Not sure if the logic was consistent throughout the video but I’m probably calling here as well

[@AT-bw4cm]

I doubt villain is the type of player to limp pairs. If you 3bet the flop, isn't he going allin with flush draws (maybe 10 combos he limps with) but when you don't reraise and he misses the turn he may very well shut down on turn and/or river as you probably have a tight image. When he makes a pair like with the hand he had, how often is he continuing to blast? Probably only when a scare card comes that would get you off a Q. A spade or 7,9,10,J which he can crediby rep: flush, two pair and straights and you will have a tougher call on those runouts. Might want to consider 3bet flop.

[@qsdailydose8970]

Need more content!

[@kineahora8736]

The description of the villain and flop situation, strikes me as a point where I just wanna go call-call-call across 3 streets almost regardless of the runout… Sure this river isn’t great-my plan is to check-call and keep his bluffs in. That outcome sucks. I woulda been pissed.

[@kineahora8736]

@@aheroictaxidriver3180 because he’s raising middle and bottom pairs all night and against *me* he hits🙄I’m sure he has other bluffs as well. Spews 30k to others, hits vs me.

[@Jermo484]

@@aheroictaxidriver3180 Because he got a dream spot against a tilted moron and easily could have doubled but got unlucky and lost? Seems reasonable to be sad.

[@kineahora8736]

@@aheroictaxidriver3180 the poker gods dude.

[@pot_kivach160]

@@kineahora8736 he is raising bottom and middle pair against YOU all night...? And you're pissed on poker gods? 😭

[@charliedurham4248]

No one ever calls in and says, "i was in this hand with a much more skilled player." Everyone thinks they are above average. Everyone can't be right about that.

[@Fixundfertig1]

Nice turn of events 😯

[@longdngg]

I put him on 8x of diamonds, something like Ad8d, J8o is just way out there.

[@bryanjohnson8162]

Just finished the video holy s*** my first comment was so right he said the guy was known to raise bottom pair So why the hell wouldn't he raise f****** second pair come on guys

[@pot_kivach160]

😂

[@Kegs2689]

Moral of the story, raise flop or risk being out of position against anything

[@davidculhane4388]

I would absolutely fold the river because we block all the king high flusy draws. Villain's range is polarized to the point where it is either total air which is far less likely than QQ, 88, 66, J9 or 97. Only time i call here is if villain is a complete LAGtard. On the other hand, this is a prime of example of why a good LAG can be a winning player even 9-10handed. I small my way into pots with suited connectors and if I miss and scary runouts come I'll bluff TAG players off and if an obvious draw misses, but I hit my disguised straight, 2 pair, trips, etc... I win massive pots. A competent LAG player is extremely dangerous, but it is a very difficult style to play.

[@fevolenko3995]

I've learnt a long time ago that the exactly even 3x check raise is 99.9% the effective nuts. 100 to 300 200 to 600 250 to 750 etc Check raise to exactly 3x means guy has Minimum 888 or full house imo. Very keen to hopefully actually hear the villains hand for once..

[@pajamajeans1]

I raise 3x without the nuts all the time

[@fevolenko3995]

@@pajamajeans1 Cool, however I said check raise. Also literally another recent Bart hand after this one proved my point. When it's big bets, and check raises, my 3x rule will save ppl money. It's subconscious human behaviour in game. You can think you're special and unique... I doubt it 👍🏽

[@buggaboo2707]

What is "red black flipping?"

[@buggaboo2707]

@@aheroictaxidriver3180 OK, but it's not part of the pot... just side betting??.... so there is no skill to it... just might get more money on the table I guess

[@NewEnglandFish]

@@buggaboo2707 exactly. it's just pure gambling. It's literally the exact same as playing roulette, without the zeros for the house edge.

[@Fixundfertig1]

It looks like villain was Tony G, playing like cassette again lol

[@bryanjohnson8162]

You just said you saw him do some weird s*** like raise bottom pair and then just said I don't think he's raising second pair kind of contradicting yourself there guy

[@monacojerry]

Excuse me for my ignorance, but what does "red/black flipping" mean?

[@Jermo484]

Probably a side bet. Like all black card flop you give me $100 and all red card flop I give you $100.

[@rjlj6040]

On tge flop there will be 2 or more of one color. That is the winning color.

[@mdg4347]

All in on the turn is the best decision. He had an eight. Please excuse me while I wreck the bathroom.

[@tylerslenk8243]

Against this specific player, caller should probably be 3 betting that flop with KK.

[@JohnSmith-nx7zj]

I was thinking that. If he’s raising bottom and middle pair all the time (as proves to be the case) he’ll probably call if you 3 bet. Could easily level himself into thinking that his constant raising has tilted you into 3-betting him with air trying to get his random 6x/8x to fold.

[@lakerfan1855]

Nope he’s too deep. Suicide against a possible set.

[@JohnSmith-nx7zj]

@@lakerfan1855 he’d have got stacked by a set anyway.

[@zerrez9791]

i am a LAg so i wanna know what the strats are against me

[@adambrown8867]

What confused me a lot is if a buy in is $1k cap at a MUG, I sit there with my $1k dwindling while one guy to numerous guys keep pulling chips out of their pocket or bag & end up with several thousand on the table without having won any of it. I just had the $1k & an extra $500. These guys had $1k & 3 or 4 more on the table. The dealer said something about something being 70%. I don't know what that means.

[@Dynamice1337]

You should be able to reload up to the 1K amount anytime you want. If you think you have an edge over your competition you want to have as much in your stack as possible at all times.

[@terriblebhop]

Sounds like they have a 70% rule. Anyone can top off to 70% of the top stack.

[@adambrown8867]

@@terriblebhop I was at Choctaw MUG with Brad Owen. This dude lost half his 1k stack, to Brad on his right, but in a few seconds he had pulled out a bunch of 100s & at least one 500 & had 3 or 4k on the table. He was the biggest stack by far after that.

[@tanthony298]

In 2022 any player can have any hand at any time even the tight old man coffee regs are getting out of line nowadays lol.

[@pot_kivach160]

8:38 _he cannot have like 8xs. ..that pretty much a brick_ 16:08 he shows J8

[@harryxu9424]

If he is loose why couldn’t he have 9J, Q8, 68, 66?

[@bmoresavage5037]

Yeah I was guessing a random 8 the whole time.

[@lloydchristmas1086]

Lol Bart always thinks someone may have a straight flush draw. While ya they may isnt that fairly rare?

[@jllerena488]

I dislike that question.

[@mrhumble2937]

Can't imagine 5-10. 2-5 is big stakes to me.

[@rppoker8541]

How do you call when everything gets there ?

[@Jermo484]

Uh, everything didn't get there. Spades missed. Combo draws like JT spades/diamonds and T9 spades/diamonds missed.

[@bradleyhines604]

75s missed

[@johns783]

if he's playing J8o there's a lot of stuff that missed.

[@rppoker8541]

@@johns783 have you ever heard river jams or river raises in small games they always have it ? Always . Don’t pay the fish off

[@lloydchristmas1086]

@@rppoker8541 5-10 is small? Damn I play 1-2 and 2-3 lol. Always wanted to try to play 5-5 or 5-10 but im not good enough i dont think. Just going up from 1-2 to 2-3 you see the difference in skill. I know it just goes up the higher you play.

[@KingKoin88]

Fish thinks bet small means weak, so he thought 8 was good, then got lucky turned 8. If u don’t want a bad beat, U need to play face up and raise him again on the flop

[@mlow99]

Brick Squadddd

[@lacivertumutkazankaya2042]

Actually this is one of the reasons why one should at least consider raising with the second pair sometimes, your hand is so well disguised. Not necessarily with J8o but with an over card wtr to the flop,say, with A8. Timing is everything. However I also think check raising allin is a serious option here on the turn instead of calling the turn and then not really knowing what to do on the river. There is almost no correct play on the river, it is just your gut feeling, and if you are wrong it is sickening (you are either way ahead or way behind, but which one) However if I check raise allin on the turn at least the guy gets some of his own medicine and it eliminates the guesswork on the river. Plus for future hands he will know that he can’t immediately bet whenever I check on the turn.

[@jeremyhahn3612]

A8 of diamonds and K8 of diamonds are probably good candidates for this. I think blasting off with middle pair is generally a bad idea against someone that leads into four people though.

[@MCFoultier]

C/shoving turn just ensures that you win the pot quite frequently but you'll get never ever called by worse. Can you see the fundamental flaw of making a valuebet which is never get called by worse?

[@patrickspens497]

@@MCFoultier yeah 3-betting turn is an aggressive give-up ("I'm never folding this hand but I don't want to play it anymore, do as thou wilt")

[@jeremyhahn3612]

@MCFoultier yeah this is a simple call call scenario, especially against an opponent that is playing J8o this way. This isn't even a hard river decision, if he's check raising a 8 on the flop he can easily have a 6 or TT or any number of random hands. You'll lose sometimes to an 8 but villains range is way too wide up ever fold.

[@davidr1620]

Haven't finished the video yet, but I think this is a fold. He doesn't have enough bluffs here and you're losing to all his value. Q8, 86, 66, 88 are all very real possibilities, as well as the straight combos. If he's any kind of player, he has to know that it's not a great bluff spot when the FD misses and the board is paired. This is an underbluffed spot, especially against the PFR. Nitty folds to extremely aggressive action in live poker are the way to go.

[@myaccount3402]

In general yes nitty, but opponent is playing wild it's a must call IMO. With that in mind a check raise on turn seems best

[@pot_kivach160]

@@myaccount3402 well, even a blind chicken can hit a grain sometimes. If he is lag doesn't mean he can't have a winning hand.

[@myaccount3402]

@@pot_kivach160 many people auto attack a perceived small bet....the flop bet could be Percieved as hero AK...

[@jamesbell1613]

Wouldn't discount crazy guy having a weak 8.

[@Mrperson662]

Haven’t seen the reveal yet but this smells like sixes full all day

[@Mrperson662]

Oof

[@lookaguru]

Jam flop. Deny equity

[@jdaz5462]

I wouldn't have just called the flop, I would have ripped it in. I haven't seen the turn yet.

[@williamswiniuch7527]

Me too

[@cedriclenners3737]

Too many mistakes on that hand. Preflop first. I would easily raise 200 viewing the profiles he described. Than on the flop I would either bet full pot size, or check raise if I'm convinced the guy will bet any pair.

[@tightlines7]

I’m never calling this spot. If villain is even half decent he knows not to bluff ace high flush draws. You have the king of spades. There are only a couple bluffing hands. What’s he hopping for. If he’s that wild check call flop multi way

[@AT-bw4cm]

I doubt he is limping any Ax suited or suited connectors like J10. If he is aggressive but limp happy, then he might be limping with suited hands like 63, j7, 106, etc. I think he might also be less likely to river bluff a paired board as it is well known that paired boards are defended more often.

[@BLUFFIRL]

Criminally small squeeze

[@christianulmer]

Players like this villain are the reason Phil Hellmuth has as much money as he does. Throw GTO out of the window on this one and read your opponent! I certainly would have played the hand just like the hero, I’m sure PH would have folded

[@NewEnglandFish]

unless the villain in this scenario is Tony G. he's stacking PH here all day long.

[@dustinpitre2278]

FIRST.

[@sergiotc78]

Sorry but the whole point of this call is to make a 10 minute video. No usefull insight here. It is silly to even debate this play.

[@kobeandmike]

bart talks so fxxking much its painful to listen to the whole thing

[@Bhodisatvas]

Personally I would have been worried on the turn but a tank/call considering the villain for me too.

[@SubjectMatter100]

😂 I love hearing the nerds get there premium hands cracked 😂

[@pot_kivach160]