5 Poker Tactics That Will Make Your Opponents Cry (with Hand Analysis)

23 Jun 2025

Intermediate

This material is for medium-skilled players

Sometimes just one showdown can be enough information to destroy your opponent at the poker table. Myself and poker pro Gary Blackwood are about to show you how to do it. We're going to go through five hand examples played by hypothetical opponents. You'll then learn counter strategies you can use to crush these opponents on the very next hand.

But before we delve into the topic, I want to caution against having 100% confidence in your reads. Every player has a certain degree of randomness in their decisions, especially inexperienced players. That's right — just because you saw someone play a certain hand a certain way does not mean they will definitely play it the same way again. People tend to play consistently, but they don't always play consistently. So be on the lookout for multiple showdowns if possible. Let's get into it!

Here's hand number one: Suppose you're playing a NL2-NL5 cash game and a player open raises to $35 — that's a 7x raise. You notice this right away, especially because it's different from the $15 and $20 raises you saw this player make earlier. That player eventually reaches showdown with their $35 hand, and they turn out to have  . 

Gary, what does this showdown tell you about this player, and how would you exploit them?

When you see a player raise to an unusually big size preflop and then showdown a very strong hand, that means they're likely sizing up preflop with stronger hands. You can probably assume they're sizing up postflop with really strong hands as well. This happens more often than you'd think at lower stakes, so when you see a player randomly juice up their raise size, pay close attention in case the hand goes to showdown so that you can make a mental note.

Now, what exploits can we use to counter this player? There are actually two here. The first one is really quite obvious: we tighten up versus the larger raise size — fewer marginal calls and fewer marginal 3-bets.

But let's think about when this player raises to their standard size. We know that they size up with stronger hands, so their normal raise size range becomes much weaker and will contain fewer strong hands in it. So, let's attack that with an aggressive 3-bet strategy. They really are giving you the green light to 3-bet them when they use one of those smaller sizes. They just aren't very likely to have a strong hand.

Time for hand number two. You're back in that NL2-NL5 game, and you raise preflop to $20 from early position. The big blind defends and eventually shows down  . A few hands later, that same player is on the button, and he calls a preflop raise to $15, eventually showing down  . 

Gary, what does this showdown tell you about this player, and how would you exploit them?

Those two exact examples may sound like they're just a little bit too wide, but they're actually way too wide in both scenarios.   is not even close to good enough to defend versus an early position raise — especially in a rake cash game, and especially against a 4x raise. And even on the button, jack-9 offsuit is not good enough to call a raise. Jack-10 offsuit, queen-10 offsuit, king-10 offsuit — these hands are mostly folds, so a hand like jack-9 offsuit is way too wide to be calling there versus a raise.

This means that their range is wider and weaker, and therefore it will have more air in it. We can attack that wider, weaker range with more c-bets on the flop and also on the turn as well. If you think about it, your opponent's range is wider, which means they've got more weak hands to call on the flop, which means their turn range automatically gets that little bit weaker as well. So we want to barrel more on the flop versus them, but also follow through on the turn as well. You can expect those c-bets to force more folds than usual.

You can also exploit these players preflop with a simple two-step adjustment. First, raise bigger. If you normally raise to 3x, jack it up to 4x or 5x. You can even consider going bigger against especially loose opponents.

Second, consider cutting out some of the weaker, speculative hands in your raising range. If you make these two tweaks to your normal strategy, you'll get to the flop in a bloated pot with a far superior range. That's a recipe for postflop success, especially when you stack it with the c-bet exploit Gary recommended a moment ago.

Moving on to hand number three — let’s talk about donkers. Suppose you raise preflop, the big blind calls, and the flop comes a   . Your opponent immediately leads out. You call, and the hand eventually reaches showdown, with your opponent revealing a flopped middle pair with  .

Gary, what does this showdown tell you about this player, and how would you exploit them?

I should note that leading out on the flop as a preflop caller and not the raiser is a fine strategy — but only in the right spots. For example, if you defend the big blind and the flop comes down 6-4-3, having a leading range on that flop is completely fine because it smashes your big blind defense range. You've got more nutted hands in your range, and therefore, theoretically, leading out is appropriate.

But that’s not the case on flops like   ,   , or   . Yet some players will still find leads on these flops, and they usually do so with one-pair hands — like top pair or second pair.

Think about it: if a player donks when they flop a pair, what does that mean when they check? That, to me, suggests that they’ve got a weaker range. So when they check, let’s ramp up our aggression with more airballs, more low-equity bluffs — because we know the likelihood that our opponent will continue has just decreased.

You arguably don’t even need to get to showdown to implement this exploit. If a player ever donks on a flop that isn’t advantageous for their range, they are almost certainly a player who isn’t protecting their checking range. So when they do check, you have the green light to c-bet, double barrel, and triple barrel — knowing it’s more likely to get through.

Let’s jump into hand number four. Suppose you raise preflop with a jack-ten of spades and a player on the button calls. The flop comes king-jack-three with one spade, and you check-call a bet from your opponent. The turn is the seven of spades, and you check-call again with your pair and flush draw. The river is a ten, giving you two pair — and you check-call yet another bet.

Gary, when you see this showdown, what does that tell you about this player — and how would you exploit them in future hands?

There are certain players who just love to bluff. Anytime you check back, they probe the turn. Anytime you check to them, they stab at the flop. These players aren’t super common, but they’re very, very profitable to play against — if you know how to exploit them.

Let’s break this down by position. First, when you’re out of position: check to them as much as possible, even with nutted hands. But with a nutted hand, you should still check-raise to bloat the pot. It might be tempting to check-call out of position to let them keep blasting — but if the pot is small, the EV is going to be far higher to check-raise. If you check-call, the turn might just go check-check — and if you’ve got a nutted hand, that’s a disaster. The pot will stay way too small.

For example: if you check-call the flop in a single-raised pot, there might be 12 to 15 big blinds in there. If it goes check-check on the turn, there’s still only 12 to 15 big blinds in the pot on the river — and it’s going to be really hard for you to win a big pot.

But if you check-raise the flop and they call, now the pot is maybe 25 to 30 big blinds. When you go to the turn with 30 big blinds already in the middle, it’s not hard to get all the money in by the river.

Plus, it’s always possible this very aggressive player is going to float your check-raise with way too wide a range — or even 3-bet you on the flop and play right into your nutted hand. So it’s not like you’re totally taking the gun out of their hands by check-raising — what you’re really doing is increasing your EV by bloating the pot.

Now, let’s talk about when you’re in position against this player type — this really aggressive player who loves to bluff. You should still fast play your nutted hands in small pots, for all the same reasons we just covered. It’s just so important to get the money in as soon as possible. Plus, they might check-raise bluff you with anything anyway — but you can still set traps for this player.

When you’ve got weak top pairs or strong overpairs on really wet, low-connected boards — that’s when you want to trap this type of player. You’re basically turning your decent pair hands into traps because they can handle some heat when your opponent starts blasting away on turns and rivers.

There’s one more adjustment you should consider making against these players — and this was covered on the Lucid Poker YouTube channel. You can actually tighten up on the early streets, so that your range is more competitive by the later streets when the pot is biggest.

For example: if you’ve got a marginal hand on the flop facing their c-bet — something like pocket fives on a board with two overcards, or maybe ace high — these are hands you might normally consider worth a call on the flop to see what develops, maybe hoping to get to a cheap showdown.

But against this type of player, you can’t really expect to get to a cheap showdown — because they’re a barreler, and they’re going to keep putting pressure on you on the turn and river. So instead of putting chips in on the flop, you should just fold those hands, tighten up, and keep your range more competitive.

That way, when they barrel turn and river, you’ll be sitting there with a stronger-than-usual range — and you’ll be ready to call them down. If you want to dive deeper into this adjustment, check out the Lucid Poker YouTube channel — there’s a great video called How to Exploit Maniac Poker Players by poker pro Texas Tomo. I highly recommend it.

All right — final hand of the day. Let’s say the button open-raises preflop, and you call from the big blind with  . The flop comes   . You check-call a small bet from your opponent.

The turn is the — you both check. The river brings the — again, you both check. You’re expecting to win with your middle pair, since only one small bet went in — but you’re surprised to see your opponent turn over  .

Gary — what’s going through your mind when you see this showdown? And how would you look to exploit this player in future hands?

This is actually a really common player type in low-stakes live poker — players who don’t value bet nearly thin enough. You’ll see players who’ll try to get just one street of value with pocket jacks on a relatively safe queen-high board with almost no action. Or they’ll bet twice with aces in a small pot, then check back the river on a blank.

These are passive players — afraid of value-cutting themselves — and they’re more common than you might think. The exploit here is to respect this player’s aggression. They won’t make aggressive plays often — but when they do, believe them.

So, if this type of player triple-barrels into you... if they check-raise the flop... if they shove all-in on the river — you can start exploiting them by respecting that aggression. You can overfold on the river. You can make marginal folds on the turn. Overall — you tighten up, and continue less when these passive players suddenly start showing aggression.

You should also consider cutting out some of your thinnest value bets against these players. Thin value betting is generally very good in live poker and soft low-stakes games — but against players who tend to “accidentally trap” with hands that are worth a bet, you need to be a bit more cautious.

I’m not saying you should never go for thin value against this player type — but if you find yourself in a really close spot... where it’s debatable whether you should bet for thin value or just check back and take the showdown — consider leaning toward checking back. Because they might just turn up with something stronger than you expect.

Thanks for reading — we’ll see you next time! And if you would like to work on these tough spots and improve your game, check out Getcoach.poker. There you can find real expert poker content that will help you understand these nuances and play smarter, not harder.

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