Loose aggressive players can be difficult to combat in any form of poker and these types of players present some very difficult obstacles for novice and even intermediate players to combat. If you are using PokerTracker then you will find these players with very high VPIP’s and PFR percentages relative to the game and the number of players. Let us look at how a LAG may play a certain hand over a solid regular. It has been folded around to the solid regular who opens with K-J and he gets three bet by the LAG who has 10-9s.
The flop comes 5-5-2 and the original raiser tries to wrestle the initiative by donk betting the flop. But the LAG places maximum pressure on his opponent by raising in situations where most other players would fold. This is high variance play and does not suit many people but if there is one thing that true LAG’s are not afraid of and it is greater swings. But if you do encounter these types of players then they can present you with some very formidable problems.
There are numerous types of LAG’s and a LAG could be highly skilled or someone who is a temporary LAG and simply blowing some money off. If someone who is playing $1-$2 limit with $50 and is looking to blow their money off then they may do so and take you with them. If you are multi-tabling then you really need to be careful with LAG’s because they have a tendency to affect your mental equilibrium and when that happens on several tables at once then you may have something of a problem.
At the end of the day then if you do not feel comfortable playing poker in a certain way then this is your subconscious mind telling you that you are either out of your depth or you do not have the experience level of several of your opponents. Far too many players stay in games when they are either being run over or outplayed. This could be because of variance or because you are simply out gunned by your opponent or opponents. The lesson here is clear in that you should never be afraid to leave a game if you do not feel comfortable.
Most players only have accounts at one site and many stay in bad games simply because there are no other games running. However if you have accounts at numerous sites or different networks then you have options to go and play in other games. If you feel uncomfortable in any game of poker then you have that feeling for a reason. If your game feels wrong then get out and do so quickly. Do not think that you should be fighting “fire with fire” or anything like that if doing so drags you away from the style of poker that you want to play.