• How do they play?

Loose passive players tend to play too many hands passively, meaning they often call rather than raise. They limp and call preflop with a wide range of hands in an effort to see the flop. After the flop, when they have top pair or better, they become aggressive by betting or raising as they fear getting outdrawn in later rounds. They play drawing hands passively, betting big if they complete the draw and folding if they don’t. In general, loose passive players see too many flops, only bet with strong hands, check/call when uncertain of hand strength, and fold when they know they are beaten.

Now, there are the loose passive players and there are the extremely loose passive players. These are the players that simply do not fold. They are called “calling stations” and are uncapable of folding any hand that has any potential (and sometimes not even potential). These are usually very weak players because they do not understand the value of being aggressive in poker, while leaking their stack away by calling with worst hands.

• How to combat them?

To combat loose passive players in poker, you should use a tight and aggressive playing style. Essentially playing stronger hands than they do. Here are some tips:

1. Exploit their passiveness: Loose passive players tend to call a lot, so you can exploit their passiveness by betting and raising with stronger hands.
2. Take advantage of their wide range: Loose passive players play a lot of hands, which means they are more likely to have a weaker hand. You can take advantage of this by betting and raising with a strong hand and having them make the mistake of calling with worst hands.
3. Bluff selectively: Loose passive players are more likely to call bluffs because of their nature of playing too many hands, so you should bluff selectively and only when you think you have a good chance of success.
4. DO NOT (or seriously avoid) bluff calling stations: Of course it is usually exaggerated doing (or not doing) something 100% of the time. But be very careful of bluffing calling stations. Remember, they hate folding!
5. Avoid getting drawn out: Loose passive players often play drawing hands (and are calling stations at it), so it is important to be aware of this and make sure you are making value bets when you have a strong hand.

The key to successfully combating loose passive players is to play a tight and aggressive game, exploiting their tendency to call too much and play too many hands, while avoiding getting drawn out and keeping them calling with worst hands.