Spot the styles
There are different playing styles of poker:  tight, loose, passive, aggressive.  Some explanations about how to play and deal with these players is below.  At the bottom of this page you will find out how to play tournament play.

Tight-passive
Tight-passive works well in No-Limit tables for trapping poor players at the river.  If you have ever been caught by a suckout it is usually a TP style that got you.   However they are usually easy to spot and deal with.   They always wait till the river before they raise.  Before the river they either check-call or bet low.  They don't like risking their money until they are sure.   So -if you think you have one at your table, raise them aggresively at the turn.   If they are already made up they will call and you can think about dropping out.  If they don't already have a set they will fold - they don't like taking risks.  At higher-blind NL tables (say $200NL) most players are a better standard and are used to spotting TAG players so suckouts are not as common as at the lower blind tables.  

TP style is not so useful in Limit poker, because you can lose a lot of blinds while waiting to pounce but when you do eventually hit, the gains are not as much as in No-Limit.   

Loose-aggressive
These are the maniacs of the tables, they bet high and often.  They make their money by intimidating other players (like TPs) to fold but they also try to steal as many blinds as possible before the flop.   To deal with these guys you need to treat the game mor elike a limit-game and when you have a strong hand you need to go with them and potentially end up in lots of shootouts where the laws of averages will dictate how well you do.  As long as you have a strong hand hang in there and let the maths take its course.  Watch out though - if a LAG knows he is rumbled he may change styles.   Also LAG players often can't multitable so much as they stay in too many pots till the end.

Tight-aggressive
The most commonly successful style - the TAG.   They don't stay in many pots but when they do, they bet very aggressively, even pre-flop.  They try to cram as much into the pot pre-flop as they can, often re-raising and they are good at working the odds.  You may see them re-raise pre-flop then fold afterwards.  That may look strange but its a sound tactic.  Pre-flop they may hold say 10-10.   Not a bad hand, but if the flop comes A-K-4 then there are too many overcards for the TAGs liking and they will run for cover.  Compare this to a LAG, who would probably hang in there and either try to scare everyone away or hope to catch a straight at turn or river or hold out to try and get trips.   Anyway, the sign of a TAG could be strong betting then folding post-flop.   Don't underestimate them -they are working the odds but they will fold when behind and they won't go All-in unless they have nuts.

The secret -
Be able to change style!    All the above styles can be successful but it is amusing to see a table full of players who use the same style - nobody makes any money except the rake!   If you are sitting at a cash-table for a night, maybe start LAG for a while then change to TP for an hour then back again.  It will drive your opponents crazy as they try to guess what you are up to.   The same goes for bluffing - keep everyone guessing what is in your mind.

 

A few sites to try out advanced skills -

Mansion - traffic can sometimes be low but the bonus is a massive $500 and there are many tournaments with large "overlays" i.e. extra money added into the pot by the Company.  Also, the Mansion bonus can be cleared by either poker or casinos, or both.  Click the banner below..........

  

A site with a higher amount of traffic is Ladbrokes.   Like WillHill, it is a bookmaker which attracts sports-gamblers into their poker site so many of the players are inexperienced.  Most players are European so the No-Limit tables can be wild.   If you like more exciting play with a better traffic, try them.....