how do you handle an annoying player to your left.

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ranma187

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I often get quite frustrated when once in a while an aggressive player to my left will call my preflop raise every single time and try to bully me out on the flop. If I don't hit the flop I almost get always incorrect odds to draw if I'm playing for a nut flush. A couple times i played back and wound up losing. Any tips?
 
vinnie

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You move to a different table. Position is just such a huge advantage that you're not going to get the best of it in these spots. If this player is constantly calling your raises and is giving you trouble, you don't need to stick around. You might know they're doing it with a worse range of hands, but you have to act first every street and it's hard and rare to flop the nuts. Plus, when you do, they're going to have an easy time getting away from their hand because they have position. You just won't make the money back.

Difficult player to your left, making it hard to play any of your hands but the button, is a really strong clue to leave the table. Your other option, if there are compelling reasons to stay (maybe you have position on three very deep and very weak players), would be to tighten up your hand requirements a bit and just do your best to avoid getting into marginal spots against this guy. It's not perfect, but I highly doubt he's really playing 100% of the hands you're raising. If he is, you need to wonder why. I only play 100% of the hands someone is raising if I have them tagged as a player I am specifically targeting. Are you raising too light, too often? Do you c-bet / give-up too much post flop? Have they seen you stack off with marginal values? Those sorts of things.
 
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Nutcracker69

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If you can't overcome a positional disadvantage through any of the number of ways to do so, then, yeah, you're going to lose to him at the table.

When I played live "locally" one of the first things I did when sitting down was ask for a seat change button. (They allowed this)

Often enough, no one would have one, and I'd be first in the queue. Other times, there could be up to 3 ahead of me so getting where I want to go is unlikely.

Where did I want to go? The 5 seat. I could "deal" with the 1 or the 10 but didn't prefer it. Why you ask? Simple. So I could actually see the cards on the board. My eyesight is dogshit. Since I stopped playing there, I eventually went to the eye doctor again and have new glasses. I think I can see better, but it will be a while until I'm at a table to test it out again.

So for most players, this would put me at a serious disadvantage because even though they basically let you sit wherever you want if it is open, I'm always seeking the same spot. So I very easily could be CHOOSING to have a LAG to my immediate left. Oh well, I adapt.
 
THEPOPE12

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position is everything

We all know that position can make or break most of pre-flop action the key in my opinion is to make people pay large to get to the flop especially if thr player to your left is calling think of widening your starting hands and make 3-5 times the big blind raises no mins in this case.
 
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Nutcracker69

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We all know that position can make or break most of pre-flop action the key in my opinion is to make people pay large to get to the flop especially if thr player to your left is calling think of widening your starting hands and make 3-5 times the big blind raises no mins in this case.

1st post? Welcome. Now go make an Introduction thread.

I think what he is saying is pretty much any open he makes is getting called down by this guy. So, to your point, make him pay. But 3-5xBB is NOT getting it done. Something like 20BB is totally reasonable in these rare cases.
 
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i slightly disagree with most of these answers.

when someone pushes me around ... i push them back ;)

take more time, and pick your spots wisely ... then make the aggressor look like a DONKEY in front of the whole table. i promise you .. he will leave :)
 
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MMarshall89

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That tends to happen a lot in online poker and live poker. Best thing to do in that situation is to A. Avoid playing as many hands as normally if you feel like you might just end up getting into a pot war with that player no sense in loosing all you're chips like you said to someone just playing so aggressively to push anybody out of a pot the first chance they get because it does make it harder to read a player like that never really knowing when they do have the nuts. Hope that helps and then there's option B. Be aggressive back, if that's not your play style then maybe avoid certain spots you're not to sure about when to play back at him, it's happened to me a lot playing back at a loose player hurts when you thin they are just bluffing but in reality they making pot sized bets to get paid off.
 
jacknstax

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TAG Play

Tighten up pre flop and when you get a solid hand and raise and he calls ...just proceed aggressively. Teach him the hard way. Yes you will lose a pot or two via simple variance but when you have a loose player (whether good LAG or horrible fish) punish him! I'm also guessing you are playing 6 max and not Full Ring.

You have to be ready to get it all in vs him too so again, tighten up pre flop makes your post flop game a lot easier to play.

Lastly, as we all know or I hope you know... we want tight solid players on our left and maniacs on right. If you sit and you see the guy on your left, like someone else already said ...get up go to another table. Nothing like a LAG or Aggro Fish on your left to make your life a nightmare. They can't find the fold button very well ...again, another reason to tighten way up.

Other LAG's may have diff strategy but tight is right. Tighten up then PUNISH him.

Oh yea, don't forget to say thank you sweetie when you take his whole stack. Stack him !!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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When someone who has a big stack to your left and keeps raising you have to take advantage of it and punish him when you have good cards, as he will probably re raise your bet and play tight when you have medium or bad cards such as low pairs
 
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I was playing in a tournament live and this guy got moved to my table and said he was going to play every pot i got into. He held true to his word.

Once he started trying to bully me I just sat back and waited for him to get knocked out. Final tabled that tournament too.
 
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ranma187

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I'm talking about live full ring. I don't play online.
 
vinnie

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I'm talking about live full ring. I don't play online.

Many live rooms will let you move to a different seat, when someone else gets up at the same table. You can take that option. Otherwise, you tighten up a bit. It really depends on what he's doing to make your life difficult post-flop. You said he's just calling pre-flop, which is already a plus. If he was 3-betting your opens a lot, that is different.

If he's betting the flops you check on or floating a lot of flops and betting turns when you check, that's different from him raising your flop or turn bets. Stack sizes, pot sizes, and how much he's betting and raising also play a role in this game. The larger the pot and the smaller the stack sizes on the flop, the less of a problem it is because you just find a range of hands you're comfortable committing for. The deeper the stacks, relative to the pot, the harder it becomes because you need a much better hand to not worry about all the money going in and those hands are harder to have.

These sorts of things are very villain dependent and your strategy will be based on the most likely errors he is making. For example, if he's floating your flop bets too light, you fire a second barrel on more turns. If he's betting when you check but giving up if you bet, you check your value hands and bet some (not all) of your worthless hands. All that said, you might be able to get an edge on this player and beat them, but you're giving up the best tool in your arsenal (position) every single hand. So, it's not going to be easy and you're going to be in a lot of tricky and marginal spots with hands that would be easier to play if you got to see the other guy act first.
 
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Broon1234

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Are you cbeting often with over cards and gut shots or just check folding. Is this person going to offer you implied odds if you hit your flush. Folding the flop with a strong draw is usually incorrect unless he's over betting the pot or folding to your flush, but that gives you bluffing opportunities
 
emk211

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You can try....

the Minion solution to idiots....
 
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Play tight. Trap. Utilize the check raise more liberally. Consider limping (even open limping, or min raising if he is unlikely to raise pre flop).

And Hammer him when you have the button. He may not recognize the positional advantage. Some people are just aggressive.
 
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In a cash game, I might change seats. In a tourney, you have to grin and bear it.
 
Space Ghost

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Play tight. Trap. Utilize the check raise more liberally. Consider limping (even open limping, or min raising if he is unlikely to raise pre flop).

And Hammer him when you have the button. He may not recognize the positional advantage. Some people are just aggressive.
Bingo!

These players are fun to trap. >:]

But keep in mind they can trap you. Don't let them get in your head... Just continue to play tight.
 
Aceplayer55

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Now - Change seats.
Over time - Learn how to handle that kind of play.
 
TulasMoreno

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I hunt them till i get a really good game to beat them!
 
PieterTerAar

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First try to adapt your play if it doesnt work out and you keep losing move to another table.
 
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Ac3 Meister

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I agree.Be agresive back if you have the hand.Players like him will probably end up busting anyways if they keep up theyr calling-machine game😄
 
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Usually tightening up and trapping work okay...if not, change tables. Position is one of the most crucial elements to winning, so switching tables might be your best bet.
 
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benspocket

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move to another table or hope you or someone else can take him/her out
 
Sil3ntness

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Definitely move to a different table. There's no gold medal for winning a reg battle; that's part of poker discipline.
 
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Just wait, folding, and when you have a very good hand go agressive like him. Every player like this never last too much if continues keeping this kind of game till the end!!
 
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