The Calling Station 
#Counter play against the calling station: Almost never bluff against these types of players. Don’t slow play or check-raise but bet and raise into them (especially value bets). Also know how much you can bet before he lays a hand down so you can maximize your profits. These players don’t care about pot odds so you probably can bet far more than just overbetting pot odds. You can play all sorts of cards against these players due to their tendency to be extremely passive: you can draw your pairs to trips and your suited connectors to straights and flushes because they give you the odds to do it. On the other hand, you might want to play a little tighter because they are so loose. Hands that won’t make big pots normally (like AK, AQ) can become monsters against calling stations because they will call you down when a K or Q comes on the flop and they hold K3, K10, Q6 or Q2.
What about betting strategy? In general you will want to bet slightly more than against average players. Betting more because they will call more often, betting slightly more because you don’t want them to fold as you lay ahead most of the time and you want them to chase you (as long as you bet enough that won’t give them any good odds). You all know the saying: know when to hold’em and know when to fold’em. It applies against calling stations: you get used to laying ahead so much that you forget that even calling stations can pick up monsters in the hole or flop the nuts. So beware when these players raise or even reraise (which is highly unusual for these kind of players). Some calling stations are dangerous players. They never raise or bet, they only call. This way they don’t get value out of their hands but when you are betting into them and they are only calling they give you the feeling you are ahead (as always) while you certainly are not. Funny enough they tend to forget to bet the river which reminds you that he may have trapped you although he remains a bad player. It is hard to arm yourself against these kinds of trapping plays. It’s the unconscious strength of all passive players. The only thing you can do is check for time-patterns, or any other unusual event, and if you really can’t find anything that helps you just go and follow your intuition which will help you more than you think.

The Shark 
#Counter play against the Shark: There is no defined counter play against sharks. Why? Because they are the best players at your table so you should not play with them in the first place. By letting lobby-edge scan the tables before you sit down you should make sure not to pick a table with more than 1 or 2 sharks. Of course you can’t run away from 1 shark at a table if there are 4 other fishes at that same table: it will then still be a very profitable table for you so don’t let one shark scare you off it. And be advised, It’s not that you can’t win against sharks but it’s just a little harder. Not all sharks are the same but most of them have tight starting hand requirements and are pretty aggressive. What you often can do against these players is to play stupid hands like A2-8 against their AK and to hit the A29 flop. Those are the pots where he will stay in the hand and bet aggressively, all the way till the showdown. Also, because some sharks are very aggressive they sometimes bluff and make lots of continuation- and/or semi-bluff bets. This is where the reraise is very powerful. Reraising sharks often makes them very scared. But watch out, only do this when you almost certainly know he doesn’t have a lot, for he plays tight and often holds great hands. Other than that, one rule is most important: bad players don’t need to be studied as hard as good players. So this is where poker-edge really can make the difference: when playing sharks you should get the most out of all the known stats and more (watching betting patterns, watching decision-time patterns, watching play-swings, personal playing habits – like betting a flush draw or not etc -) to counter play a shark. By doing that I am absolutely sure you can even beat the shark in the long run.
What about betting strategy? Sharks mix up their game so well (like you do, or are going to do) that it’s very hard to see any betting patterns and thus to make a counter betting strategy. I would advise you to look at sharks individually (like I said above in the general counter play section). If you did a good job at selecting your table contains not more than one shark. Just figure out an adapting betting strategy that counter plays the sharks typical, individual play. For, as I said before, sharks are good players (mostly tight aggressive but not all are, this is a misunderstanding!) that aren’t really types like a maniac or a calling station who are basically all the same. Sharks are different and they even mix up their own play; that way, as there is no formal, standard counter play there is also no standard counter betting strategy.

The Maniac 
#Counter play against the maniac: Against maniacs you want to play tight and you want to set traps. First of all, go and sit left of them so you can act after them: they will raise a lot preflop so this should discipline you in playing tight. But when you hold a monster hand you can go ahead and reraise or just call his raise when you think you will be alone with him in the pot to make sure he will make a standard big continuation bet on the flop (and even on the turn). You can then choose to slow play (check-call) or check-raise him on the flop/turn and get him all in on the river. Beware though, because you feel that these players over betting bad hands you always think he is bluffing. Make sure you hold the nuts or almost nuts: if not, he may well be ahead of you while you are thinking he is just bluffing.
You get the most money while playing big hands and let them bet into you but you lose money from these players when holding semi-strong hands, thinking that he is bluffing and calling him down to lose the showdown all of a sudden. Remember: he too can have a good hand preflop.
What about betting strategy? Almost never bet yourself. Let them do the betting work. However, even maniacs will check from time to time. At certain flops, especially when more people are in the pot, or when there wasn’t any preflop raising, they won’t over bluff their hands. The trick is to induce a bluff from them if you do have something. In a multi-way pot you shouldn’t try to do this, but if you re playing a pot heads up against him or with another you can, assuming the third player doesn’t have anything, make a very, fishy, small bet. It’s not intended as a feeler bet but as an inducing bet: a lot of maniacs will think this is a weakness bet and come of the top to make a check-raise. With showing that sort of strength they think you will lay it down. If you have a mediocre hand yourself you reraise him. If you got a very powerful hand you slow play and thus only call his raise, hoping he will fire another, even larger, bet on the turn.
 
The Mouse 
#Counter play against the mouse: The mice make a lot of ridiculous lay-downs. This means that bluffing will be very powerful, which means raising and reraising with mediocre holdings. Steal a lot, almost always bet to pick up the pot, in other words bully them! Play your good cards like playing the fish: bet into the mouse. However, if they bet, raise or even reraise you know you should mostly fold (because they almost never bluff), unless you think there is a chance to raise/reraise-bluff him out of the pot (betting/raising when scare cards come, represent-betting the nuts etc.)
What about betting strategy? Most of your general counter play against the mouse focuses on betting strategy so just look above for this kind of information.

The Rock 
#Counter play against the rock: The Rock can be classified as a player who is too tight. This means that he makes very few pre-flop raises. So when he makes one, lay all but the premium hands down. Also, respect his post-flop bets and raises most of the time. On the other hand, you can bluff at him and you can also catch him when he is holding a monster and you flopped an amazing hand with a suited connector or small pocket pair. Generally, you don’t want too many rocks at your table because you can’t grab a lot of money out of their stacks.
What about betting strategy? Due to the rocks tightness your betting strategy should focus on raising and reraising this type of player. The rock won’t make stupid lay downs like the mouse but will lay down a lot when he has a hand of approx. the same strength as yours.

The Bomb 
#Counter play against the Bomb: The Bomb looks a lot like the maniac, but he is different in his starting hand selection: where the maniac is extremely loose (he bets and raises with any two hands) the bomb is somewhat tighter. However, when he decides to play a hand he will do it very aggressively (as a bomb who almost explodes). Just like playing maniacs you should wait for good hands and then trap these players, although you should wait a little longer (till having a better hand) against the bomb than against a maniac (against whom you can play even high suited connectors or middle pairs).
What about betting strategy? The playing style of the bomb looks a lot like the maniac so its obvious that this is the same with his betting pattern. Then again there is a higher chance he will certainly have something because of his higher starting hand requirement. Even if you think you re ahead you should find out sooner by raising his bet already on the flop: if he will cal or reraise you should lay it down, while this doesn’t have to be the case with the maniac.

The Red Fish 
#Counter play against the Red Fish: The Red fish is one of your main buddies. Although he is slightly better than the green fish (due to making preflop raises) this – on the other hand – makes him weaker because you will know when he has a hand, while you don’t know this when playing the green fish. Against the red fish you should call preflop raises more often, especially with suited connectors or pocket pairs for you will receive the correct pot odds to draw him out on the river (this is correct given his passive post flop play). When you are the one who has a hand you should bet into him because these players call most of the time and almost never bluff.
What about betting strategy? Call more often than you would do when playing normal if he has the initiative preflop or on the flop and you have a drawing hand. He will give you the odds to chase. If you have the initiative you should bet hard (not that hard to throw him off the hand if you hold a good hand) cause he will not the betting for you. Make sure you always bet enough so a call of his side would be a mistake (in terms of odds), period!

The Green Fish 
#Counter play against the Green Fish: See the calling station, just think of the green fish as a slightly better than a calling station player who doesn’t call EVERYTHING.
What about betting strategy? See the calling station.

Caution Icon 
Counter play against caution players: Against these players you should be warned. These are dangerous players. Why? Because they only raise premium hands (AA,KK,QQ,JJ,AK), but with 10-10, 9-9, AQ, AJ they would only call. This should warn you in a way that you aren’t always the favourite when you raise your eights for instance. On the other hand, it’s easy to know WHEN they hold their premium hand, cause they will bet and raise it strong.
What about betting strategy? Fold all hands except your premium hands if they raise preflop. But steal a lot of blinds and steal when they limp in. Also when he raises preflop, if you get some nice pot odds, call with a high suited connector or low/mid pair: hope to catch trips, straight/flush – draw – because he will be aggressive on the flop and therefore most of the time you can get him all in even before the river.