The way a player plays his starting hand, combined with their betting styles is called a player style. When you’re trying to read your opponents hand you will need to know the players style. Once you have figured out what type of player your up against it’s not just about the cards anymore but you will be able to play the player. There are four main styles of play in poker.

Tight Passive
The tight passive player, also known as the nit, avoids confrontations and only plays premium hands. The tigh passive player tend to avoid big pots with marginal hands and they do not like to gamble. When you are all-in with a tight passive player you’re usually behind.

Tight Aggressive
The tight aggressive style is based on the assumption that since you play few and only good hands, most opponents will give you credit for a strong hand when you bet or raise. They might even throw away a better hand than yours if you make a raise. Tight aggressive players do not like to call, they rather raise a hand if it’s good enough to be played.

Loose Aggressive
The loose aggressive player plays a lot of hands and raises most of them. It is a high variance and swingy style but it brings lots of excitement to the game. You may find them intimidating as they always seem to have a hand.

Loose Passive
The loose passive player, also known as the calling station, consistently calls bets and rarely raises himself. He will often chase draws without the correct poker odds and makes mistakes all day long. This is the worst combination of a player you could be.