I'm frustrated lately playing against LAGs who have position on me. I think I'm being too tenative which gives them the room they need to hit their drawing hands. I just combed through the "Articles" section for an article that would shed some light, but remarkably I didn't find anything.

Does anyone have some solid tips or resources that can shed some ideas on the proper way to play against LAGs when you are out of position??

1. limp
2. call any raise
3. lead any flop
4. ?????????
5. profit!!!

I agree with tjmullen here. LAG's are the toughest people to play, and being out of position can make it very difficult. I would say is that you really need to take control of the hands you are playing. So, make sure you raise them before the flop. If they raised and you are playing, time for a reraise.

Also, you may want to just get in a habit of ditching mediocre hands. Say you have K8 in the big blind, against one LAG who limped (everyone else folded), board hits J-8-4 rainbow. You bet out and your called. You took your stab, you might want to bail here, as opposed to cintinue betting, unless you have a strong read. Last thing when you saw K8 you thought is that you would lose a ton of chips, you don't want to set yourself up.

Then again, when you hit big, play it passively, and let the LAG do the betting.

I agree lordxixor. I think taking control of the pot by betting hard is the key... maybe even doing this with air "sometimes".

Another key point came from the article I posted above. Even though it's hard to do, you can try to put a LAG on a hand range and then play a slightly tighter range yourself. This is probably better to do when you have position though as opposed to taking this tactic when out of position.

Out of position, it's probably better to play select hands to keep your image credible and just bet them hard and fast. Although, I took this tactic the other night at a final table and the guy would still call me all the way down to the river with like middle pair.... he was very tough to play against, especially when I'd get two broadway cards and hit nothing on the flop.

Image only works if he's paying attention to it. I think image is important, but I think it's more important just for you to realize what your image is (if you have one), instead of trying to craft an image at a game where you don't know if he's paying attention.

I also don't know about doing stuff with "air" out of position. Obviously, you should always bluff occasionally, either to show you will do it or to reap benefits of a tighter image. But, the problem with the Lag is that you may be called light, and you really want to take down bluffs quickly (I don't want a ton of chips going in on a bluff).

I agree, but you also have to figure out what type of LAG player you are playing against. Is it a good LAG player who is putting you on hands or a LAG player who because he hits anything on the flop thinks that they must be good? There is a big difference there and sometimes very tough to decifer when you are playing at a table that has more than one LAG player. Of course, a lot of this can be decifered from their bet sizes, etc. And then again, it may not because a lot of good "LAG" players are great at mixing it up to look like they are always LAG when really they are setting up the table for their big hands. IMHO.

IMO, LAGs are fun to play against!

They are by far the toughest opponents to play because of their unpredictability, but here's my solution: Initial analysis is key. Let's say it is early in a mtt and you have the good luck of sitting to the right of an opponent that is in many pots from position and taking them down without showdown. If he's continuing to play LAG, chances are a) he's a donk and potentially not sober or b) he's a strong player taking advantage of a weak/tight table. If you can't pinpoint exactly what kind of opponent you're up against, find out. Check out his mtt stats on www.officialpokerrankings.com and see if he is a donator or is quickly becoming the table captain. When looking at his stats, don't just look at his profits. Take note of where he is finishing on average. If you notice he is eliminated in the Mid-stages, he is clearly not using his image to his advantage and is eventually getting trapped or simply called down by marginal hands. If he is eliminated mainly in the Early-stages, he is clearly a donk and takes unnecessary risks too early in tournaments.

If your opponent meets the following criteria, RING THE BELLS beacuse you're up against a smart player! a) ITM more than 15%, b) has played enough mtt's to determine a true profile, and c) has finished in the Late Stages more than 15% of the time. This shows that your LAG knows how to change gears and is using a LAG image to get called by marginal hands later on.

Now it's time to adjust...

Early on, let this opponent take down pots from position. Who cares... patience is a virtue! Let him establish the control he wants because you and I both know that when the blinds/antes increase, it's GO-TIME! If he steals 3-5 pots from you at the lower levels and it costs you an average of 150/hand, you just lost 450-900 chips. When you've built up a stack and the blinds/antes have increased, it's only going to take one re-raise to take re-gain all of those chips. Play your normal game (assuming it's TAG), and bet your hands for value. If the LAG has built an above avg stack, he is probably going to call you down with marginal hands. And if he calls and gets lucky, his strategy has paid off and you'll get him the next time. However, in the long-run your value bets, 3-bets, and occassional re-steals will pay off.

Hope this helps.

i actually reinvented the wheel, but to my chagrin the wheel works much better.