Different playing styles are humorously described here, mainly for No Limit.

Kings & Dragons

This article describes different poker playing styles, not with a bestiary, but using the heroic-fantasy-based Nethack characters. You don’t need to know the game to read on.

The Knight

Knights are distinguished from the common players by their devotion to the ideals of chivalry and by the surpassing excellence of their armor.

The knight is a tight, aggressive player, that applies the Holy Poker Principles by the book. He loathes to resort to devious, disloyal tactics, and will abide by his principles probably to the grave.

He will only play the best hands, as one should, and he will play them aggressively. This is therefore not an ideal opponent if he doesn’t have some flaws in his armor.

If you are not cold-decked and you don’t do anything stupid, he won’t be taking a lot from you, but you won’t win much from him either. His guard is too tight. You should therefore try to find out if he is over-aggressive after the flop, or if he’s afraid of being bluffed and make dubious overcall, well, these kinds of leaks.

If he has no apparent leak, try pushing him around a couple of time to see how he reacts; maybe he won’t be able to conserve his solid stance if bothered. The kinght is not particularly wise, and often find it a duty to severely punish the miscreants who dare play trash hands. This may be a weakness of his, and if you can spoil for a good ol’ tavern brawl, you will be able to fight on your ground and get a good edge.

If he is impervious, avoid playing with him and target the others players at the table.

The Tourist

Tourists are nice guy, but they have not traveled that distance to miss the action. They are to see everything!

The tourist is a loose and passive opponent; he is not very selective (he is on vacation!), doesn’t like much to fold, but since he’s nice and came here to relax, he hardly ever raises. He basically wants to see what is going to happen and take pictures. If the fees are really expensive, he will relunctantly convince himself to fold, and if he has a very strong hand, he will feel obliged to do a bit of raising, but “one must do what one must do”.

There are many players like this at Limit, but at No Limit, they often wise up after some time, tired of getting pushed over, and they realize that the fold and the raise are often better options. If they do not, they stop playing No Limit anyway. Against them, you want to play good hands (but not necessarily great) and make them pay to draw on you. If the stacks are big enough, you can take many cheap flops (since he won’t raise), and start betting from there if you hit it hard enough.

Naturally, refrain from bluffing against the good-natured tourist, since he will call your bluff. The tourist is easy to rip off by making him pay very high prices, so that’s what you should be doing. He is generally a much welcomed opponent at your table.

The Barbarian

Barbarians are warriors out of the hinterland, hardened to battle.

A barbarian is a loose, aggressive player, much experienced in battle. He will put a lot of pressure on you, launch bold bluffs, be quite unpredictable, and he can avoid many of the traps his opponents will try to set.

You should try to mitigate his strength and aggressive tendencies by having position on him, otherwise you may have a hell of a time playing against him. You will need to avoid playing hands that cannot stand some betting, since such a player thrives on your crying calls and your resigned folds later in the hand.

The ideal situation is to build a strong hand and let him bet at you, since he will suspect you are starting to get stubborn with a weak hand, and he will want to punish you if he got something. The best loose-aggressive players will realize what you are doing and may cut their loss, so there is no magic formula against these dangerous animals.

Yet, it is a tough style to play, and if he fails he can crash down in flames in no time, so be prepared to be the one who will get his chips if this happens.

The Caveman

Brute force, neolythic sophistication

The caveman is a bold opponent with some serious lack of analytical acuity. He will try to bet and raise his way to victory, often on a whim, and doesn’t bother to guess what you can have. He knows that aggression is power, but that’s the only thing he knows.

Beginners who just discovered the strength of big bluffs sometimes play like a caveman for some time. The players on tilt are natural cavemen.

As against the barbarian, you should avoid making dubious call to only fold to a bigger bet on a later street. A solid play should do just fine, and he will sooner or later launch a very ill-timed bluff that will seal his fate.

The Rogue

Rogues are agile and stealthy thieves, with knowledge of locks, traps, and poisons. Their advantage lies in surprise, which they employ to great advantage.

The rogue is a very tricky opponent, who will do everything he can to trap you someway. He will check his good hands, make precise bluffs, observe what others do and try to exploit his notes to full extent. Good rogues are very unpredictable, since they spend every effort for deception.

The problem of the rogue is that he uses so contrived techniques that he will often fail to maximize his profits. Sometimes the best thing to do is the obvious option. It can also cost too much in equity to deviate from the normal play.

Against the rogue, you should basically play your normal game, while refraining from betting your marginal hands when he shows (shams) weakness. You may call his bluff from time to time, but avoid calling his big bluffs, since he is liable to do it on purpose to arouse suscpion.

The Priest

Priests and Priestesses are clerics militant, crusaders advancing the cause of righteousness with arms, armor, and arts thaumaturgic. Their ability to commune with deities via prayer occasionally extricates them from peril, but can also put them in it.

The priest is a pretty normal player, except from his ability to make big overcalls with a prayer. He is either some kind of gambler, or believe in his good luck, or simply likes his hands too much to fold.

There is not much to do to beat this player beyond playing a solid a game, and obviously refraining from bluffing.

The Giant Leech

Slurp.

The giant leech is not a very dangerous opponent, but can be very sticky. His plan is to make smallish bets, call if you raise, and bet small again. Sometimes he has just a middle pair, and sometimes he has a monster and tries to let you do the betting.

Leeches are slow by nature, so it is easy to call when they give you good odds, and raise when you are confident you have him beat. Controlling the betting is most of the time a very good edge at poker.

What you should avoid is letting him get on your nerves and start raising with inadequate value, or playing his sluggish game of small bets and calls. Play solid poker, hammer him when you are strong and he won’t go away, call when you are so-so, and fold when you have nothing.

The Rock Mole

Crunch.

The rock mole is a fairly tight player, diligently selecting the best starting hand, and playing them with blind aggression after the flop. He is liable to give you excellent implied odds.

You can easily fold when you cannot beat his likely holdings (big pairs), but you will be paid off when you hit your flop. His error is that he is too easy to read and he cannot step off the gas pedal, or he does but too late. Against him, try to see several flops when he raises, and exploit the implied odds you get. Make an occasional marginal call, since he is prone to discount the possibility that you made the call with that hand (which he would never make) and will pay you off.

The Healer

Healers are wise in medicine and apothecary. They know the herbs and simples that can restore vitality, ease pain, anesthetize, and neutralize poisons

The healer is really a tournament player; he got the amazing ability to come back into the game while he was surviving with a few chips a moment before. He has a very keen sense of timing, know what risks he must take, and can feel when he has to push in in order to survive.

There is nothing special to do about this type of player, beyond observing him to see what he does.

The Oracle of Delphi

The Oracle of Delphi knows the cards before they are seen. When two players are all-in, he will announce the hands before they are turned face up. Well, he is often wrong, but when he is right it is a stunning experience.

During a hand, the Oracle will put you on a very precise hand, like the king of spades and the ten or jack of clubs. He will discount many possibilities, since for him you just cannot have that.

Make an unusual play or throw some confusion to the Oracle, and you will have good chances to win a big pot.

The Lycanthrope

This player has the ability to change appearance at will. He may start as a knight, and suddenly become a giant leech against some player, and then turn into a caveman a moment later. Guess what happens when the Oracle of Delphi meets a lycanthrope…

The most you can do is to identify who has lycanthropy, and try to find out which player at the table triggers which appearance.

The Eye of Sauron

The Eye of Sauron is right there, in the middle of the table, under all the chips in the pot. When the players see it grow, they feel helplessly mesmerized, all their attention is focussed on taking those chips.

Their chips.

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