Multiway Pots Against Loose Passives ?

Hi everyone

I'm a new member. I play at Nopaypoker. I also have 50 buyins at NL4 at Merge but i don't play there as i don't think my game is good enough to beat that level even if it's the smallest there.

Nopaypoker has downsides but for me it's a great place to start a bankroll from the scratch. The site is a combo of a PTC ( paid to click ) and a poker site. Basically you click ads and earn some money and play poker with this money. I transferred $200from this site to Merge ( can cashout or transfer to bigger sites) and i also have $100 there at the moment.

The downside is the gameplay is very slow ( about 35 hands an hour) but can play multitable to improve win rate. I find it's better than playing freerolls against thousands of players. For people who don't want to click ads league games are a good option, it's free to play, competition is weak and pays good for a free game.

Anyways what i'm struggling with at this site is when i play cash games. The games are 10 handed and almost everyone at the table is loose passives. I know these kind of players are the easiest ones to beat but when playing a 6-7 way pot against these players it's not that easy for me. They will open limp any two cards and others will follow suit and they won't fold to a raise unless you raise too big. Let's say i have AQs in late position and there are 5 limpers before me, if i raise 3 BB plus 1 BB for each limper this will not thin the field as none of them will fold, it will only inflate the pot and it will be very difficult to play this big multiway pot even if i hit TPTK on the flop as 1 pair usually isn't good in this spot. If i limp behind with AQs i feel like i'm as bad as they are and hate myself for doing that, lol.

Another thing that frustrates me is they tend to minbet a lot. If the pot is 20 BB they will bet 1BB into it and this tilts me a lot. I raise them if i have TPTK type hand and just call if i have a draw but i don't know what to do when i have nothing because i find it's too weak a play to fold to such a small bet and i feel like, if i do so, they're getting away with their weak play as they usually have some kind of draw or a weak pair and want to see a cheap showdown. I tried bluffing them by raising with nothing a couple of times but i ended up losing my stack as he called my 3 barrel bluff with 3rd pair.

The good thing about these players is they easily stack off with top pair weak kicker.

Any thoughts on how to play against these players ?

You kind of answered it yourself....

- Don't bluff
- Value bet relentlessly because they will stack off with TPWK but...
- Don't overvalue one pair hands in multiway pots, look to be aggressive with sets and better.

As for the min-betting I would call with A-high/overcards if you think they min-bet with nothing/drawing hands. They are so bad that they will let you know when they hit something.

I also read somewhere that in these kinds of situations you can try tightening up and raising a LOT with really premium hands. I would like to hear some more expert advise though, cause I'm just a puny beginner.

Thanks guys for the replies.

I know it's not a good strategy to open limp but i'm wondering if i should start open limping with small suited connectors and small pocket pairs against these kind of passive players who are unlikely to raise without a premium hand. Also when they raise PF they don't consider the mathematical aspect of the game and give you the correct odds to call. For instance they raise a fixed amount like 3x every time regardless of how many players limped before them.

Another thing is bet sizing postflop. I almost never bet smaller than half pot no matter if i'm value betting or bluffing on rare occasions. But my opponents seem to play a fit or fold game and easily fold to a minbet if they missed to flop. I think i could get away with betting smaller especially when i'm on a draw but the problem is i fear i will pickup bad habits like limping and min betting. For instance i'm a level 1 player who considers only his own hand and don't think about what his opponent might be holding. I've seen them make a lot of weird plays with weird hands that i've stopped bothering to think about my opponents possible holdings.

A few months ago i won entry to Merge 20k game by placing top 8 in the freeroll. It was the biggest game i had ever played but i blew it by overplaying my set when i reraised all-in with my set on a very wet board on the river. He showed straight and i was out of the tournement. I think i played it badly because i was so much used to playing with level 1 players that i had become one of them them.

Poker is seldom a game of absolutes or right vs wrong. Rather, it's one where situational variables affect how good or bad particular options are. For instance, open limping is very bad at tables where the probability someone will raise is high, and becomes less bad as this probability decreases.

There's nothing wrong with adapting your play to exploit opponents as long as you stay aware of what you're doing so that plays you shouldn't make vs other types of opponents don't become unthinking habits.