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Before you can spot or abuse a weak player, you first have to define what a weak player is. Most people would say a player that plays too many hands is weak. But we have all run into devastatingly talented LAG's, so that one goes out. How about people who don't play enough hands? Rocks often make a killing in full ring games. How about someone who is too passive? Or too aggressive? Passive players will chew up people who try to make a lot of plays while aggressive players will run over those who refuse to take a stand.

Here's an example of weak play:

You are playing a full ring NL game and a new player takes a seat. You are on the button and he has waited to post until his BB came around. After 3 limpers you limp with 68s and new player in the big blind raises to 3 times the big blind. What do you know about this player?

If you are experienced enough, and paying attention, you know that he is a very weak no-limit player who doesn't understand the game well. You probably also know that he is likely to have AK. He has put himself in a position to play a big pot, out of position, with many opponents, after he has announced his hand. We might be wrong about the AK, but there is no hand where he could have made the right play here so we are definitely correct about his being utterly clueless.

So what makes a weak player?

A weak player is one who routinely makes plays that are exploitable in some fashion. This means that spotting them and taking advantage of them are very closely linked. Once you find what makes a player weak, the way to punish them becomes obvious. Let's take our first example:

Too Many Hands

A lot of people play too many hands. They are easy to spot; they're in a lot of hands! The question is how -- and when -- do you punish them? A lot of this depends on their aggression factor. People who are loose, but passive, are great to play against because you very rarely get yourself in trouble. The aggressive ones are trickier, but you are far more likely to win a giant pot against them. You just have to be patient.

The best time to punish someone who plays a lot of hands is pre-flop. Their flop reading skills are often above average, so you don't want to lay them odds. Skew the odds in your favor with a pre-flop raise. But, don't take it too far. There are usually other people in the hand as well, and you don't want to stick your neck out with a mediocre hand that stands to be better than the loose player’s, only to have it snapped off by a better hand behind you.

Against an aggressive player who is just as likely to re-raise as fold to your pre-flop raise, you need to be more patient. You don't necessarily need to wait for a huge hand, but you need to lay down enough hands to him pre-flop to convince him you are a rock. Then you can start raising or re-raising to steal pre-flop.

The other mistake people make against loose players is taking their hand too far when their opponent hits. Remember, you are most likely value betting pre-flop to get some money in there while you're ahead. Don't reward your opponent's loose calls by paying him off when their long shot comes in.

A subset of the class of both loose players and rocks is one of my favorite weak players to play against:

The Wimp

He may be weak tight and surrender his blinds repeatedly, or he may play too many hands only to repeatedly fold them on the flop. His weakness is that he sees monsters under the bed any time you make a bet or a raise. To beat the wimp you need to remember just a few simple things:

1. Get your foot off the gas and on to the brakes immediately if he plays back at you. If you steal his blind 5 times in a row, and then he suddenly plays back at you, he isn't getting tired of your theft, he actually has a hand. Don't doubt it for a second. Just fold to the re-raise (unless you are playing fixed-limit or have a very good reason to get involved) and go back to stealing his blinds again next round.

2. It's a war of attrition. If you don't give it back in big chunks you will eventually end up with all his money. When he wants to play a pot just back off and let him have it, but keep the pressure on. As long as you don't play big pots with him you will get his money.

3. Patience is a virtue. If he is making some hands, just wait for him to cool off and pay close attention to his play to make sure your reads are still correct and he still hasn't changed gears. Usually he won't.

Players Who Bet the Strength of Their Hand

These poor fellows are just waiting for an advanced player to come along and abuse them. Simple game theory application, or just a little common sense, should make them easy prey for you. After paying attention to their game for a short time, you can usually be certain about a few things from these guys:

1. If they are betting, you shouldn't be in the pot anymore without a monster. This is particularly true when they raise or re-raise.

2. If they check the flop in a heads-up pot it is almost always profitable to bet at it. This is especially true in fixed limit games.

3. If they raise you on the turn you are in serious trouble. Don't call for one more bet, you are probably drawing dead.

All you have to do to beat these simple fellows is spot them and trust your reads on them and you'll be fine. In no limit, watch the size of their pre-flop raise and compare it to their starting hand. You can often find a direct correlation. Either they raise small with a big hand and big with a small hand or vice versa. They rarely change it up. Why would they? The practice works remarkably well against unobservant opponents. But you are not one of those.

In limit, I watch the check-raise number in PT. If an opponent who rarely check-raises checks to you, bet it! It doesn't matter what you have, give him a chance to fold. But don't raise when he bets without an actual hand --they are value-betting, not bluffing.

The Maniac

You know this guy already, he is probably raising someone right now. Play your strong hands more aggressively. Don't believe his bets until he proves to you that he has a hand, which is often indicated by a change in his usual betting pattern. Don't overvalue mediocre hands like AJ against him because you aren't that far ahead of anything and you still have the rest of the table to deal with.

As long as you keep the pot size proportionate to the strength of your hand you should be fine against the maniac.

The key in all of this is finding the weak player by knowing the game so well that it only takes something very minor to spot him. Then, knowing exactly what his weakness is, you must exploit it mercilessly while keeping yourself completely under control. Don't stoop to his level, and don't try to get all his chips right now. He'll give them to you eventually.