How to play against those who do not know how to play?

Usually (about 3 times a week) I play poker with friends. My problem is: everyone is crazy, nobody follows a logic game, go with any crap in the hand, do not respect raise preflop, completely loose weaks and loose agressives. And having that kind of player on the table is easy, but what to do when everyone is like that? We played fixed limit today for example I gave a raize with an AA and the guy paid me with an 83rd and made a FULL HAND. That is, someone always plays with either a low or high card table. I play tight, aggressive when necessary. What to do against these types of players? be even tighter or broaden my initial hand options?

Not sure

I am not sure how to play against terrible poker players. You can't put them on any kind of hand and for some reason they seem to get lucky on a regular bases.

I was wondering the same thing. Sometimes it feels that its easier to play against better poker players than crazy fishes and donks.

Lets say you got aces but if you cant isolate a player to play them heads up because nobody folds to your big bets, then your odds of losing the hand is skyrocketing.


My advice is to value bet your big hands and not your top pair top kicker hands. You hit your set, straight, flush, full house? Take your friends to value town. :burnout:

You just have top pair top kicker? Just play small ball and forget fancy moves. Fold it if you have to.


My advice is that you shouldn't aim to gamble to win every little pot but to win big ones when you know you have it.

You should not try to bluff or push out of the hand the calling station (and in this case you have more than one such on the table). Widen your range of limping trying to get more times to the flop and eventually catch good hand. When done raise aggressively and see them paying and giving their chips to you.

Tighten up when you’re against players like that. Middle pair, top pair and two pair goes up in value, as they will be chasing draws. Three of a kind will often allow you to go all in.

With the AA hand, that’s just a bad beat. If you had the option, you’d make that bet all day as it’s +EV to you. You’d be around a 4.5/1 favourite.

Limited_Al said:

Tighten up when you’re against players like that. Middle pair, top pair and two pair goes up in value, as they will be chasing draws. Three of a kind will often allow you to go all in.

With the AA hand, that’s just a bad beat. If you had the option, you’d make that bet all day as it’s +EV to you. You’d be around a 4.5/1 favourite.

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Agreed, I actually find it easier to play against those players, I tighten up and put them on any hand. The board always tells me what they have by how they bet.

against those type of players i think playing tight aggressive is the way to go and playing in position if possible they will donate their stack eventually and be ready for the suck out , it will happen from time to time , just deal with it

stick to the rules

stick to the rules and play your game, they will be eliminated themself.

You should only play premium hands,trust me. Let them make a mistake. If they call and raise with everything, wait untill you are sure you have the nuts to take all of their money

Only play the most premium hands from any position.
JJ+, AKs, KQs only
It's extremely boring and I could not do it.

This is why I cannot beat 2NL, 5NL, or 10NL - however I am crushing 25NL
I would guess the rake is another reason why I can beat the smaller 3 levels.

xexeu said:

Usually (about 3 times a week) I play poker with friends. My problem is: everyone is crazy, nobody follows a logic game, go with any crap in the hand, do not respect raise preflop, completely loose weaks and loose agressives. And having that kind of player on the table is easy, but what to do when everyone is like that? We played fixed limit today for example I gave a raize with an AA and the guy paid me with an 83rd and made a FULL HAND. That is, someone always plays with either a low or high card table. I play tight, aggressive when necessary. What to do against these types of players? be even tighter or broaden my initial hand options?

Click to expand...

usually when you play against fish you actually need to loosen up a bit rather than tighten up. and also remember, 3betting doesnt work well because people who suck dont fold, ever. check raising also not a great idea... you know, the usual tools you would use... throw them out the window, and play like a donk lol

Start playing more hands in position it is extremely valuable against these kind of players, do not be extremely tight, just a % tighter than they are, for example if you can asses their defending range on BB vs BU at 90% of hands then you should still open very wide like 60% of hands, even more if they almost no 3bet.Value bet thinner even for 3 streets, Top pair 2nd kicker on dry boards for example.And in general this is your approach, to almost no bluff and value town them postflop.These are the easiest opponents to win at Poker, dont forget variance can crush your soul even on this level, people who feel its hard to play against such weak players are 1)messing up their expectations of victory(entitled to win every time or more often than normal because the perception of being better) 2)Doing something very wrong in their game or adjustment so their edge might not even be so much bigger without even being aware of that.

You have to open up the ranges of hands you play. Play more suited 3-gappers and AXo hands. Everyone has a range. Some may be very wide but you play very frequent with these same players. What types of hands aren't being played. What position do they tend to get out of line. What amounts are they betting when they hit compared to when they're bluffing or have a medium range hand. What hands can't they have due to board texture and you holding. Make sure to get max value on your premium post flop hands is going to make you the most money. Keeping your opponents draw hands in until later streets. You can't be afraid to get outdrawn and understand they're range. If you master just the being able to get max value and understand when they hit their draw you'll profit.

Something others haven't touched yet I think: If a lot of them are refusing to go away preflop, lots of limps and min raises, which is another thing that can happen on a table full of donks--the value of speculative hands goes way up. Suited connectors, that kind of thing, can catch that sort of player out for a LOT of chips when you hit.

Do not play poker with friends ..
Better drink a beer and invite drunken girls ..)))
And then there will be a cool game ..)))
and your big AA will not lose to a small 83 ...)))
:icon_rr:

I feel when you have these players you need to mix things up. Usually I set them up a little. I might fold a weaker hand when they raise to give them confidence. Then call them all the way through without raising in a situation where I have the nuts and then turn up the aggression so they lose a big hand. After they lose like that they usually start to play with some more caution. It also helps sometimes to get caught in a bluff on purpose so they assume your bluffing when you have a monster hand. Long story short...those ppl I like to pick apart one by one and take them out

there are different beginners players ... those who we care about learning and those who try to improve without knowing how or how to handle .. since we were not all born knowing and we were learning from the wins as the defeats .. to improve our game. .. you have to be careful when you are faced with either of the two ... aggression and overconfidence is not good

It's sounds like they're just fun games where nobody's serious..I'd just have fun in this type of game and play just a little less crazy than they do..you can't play chess with a pigeon and expect to win...have fun..good luck..

Tighten up then pick them off when u get good hands.

xexeu said:

Usually (about 3 times a week) I play poker with friends. My problem is: everyone is crazy, nobody follows a logic game, go with any crap in the hand, do not respect raise preflop, completely loose weaks and loose agressives. And having that kind of player on the table is easy, but what to do when everyone is like that? We played fixed limit today for example I gave a raize with an AA and the guy paid me with an 83rd and made a FULL HAND. That is, someone always plays with either a low or high card table. I play tight, aggressive when necessary. What to do against these types of players? be even tighter or broaden my initial hand options?

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I think you have to ask yourself what your purpose of playing with friends are. Is it to make $$ or to socialize. Conversely, you need to ask yourself "why are my friends playing this game?"

The insight that I have into this situation was learned from my own experience. I had a monthly home game where friends would play at my house. The game was played tournament style and grew to 2 tables (18-20 players a month). After a few months some of the players no longer wanted to participate. When I queried them as to why I learned that their intentions of joining the game was purely social. As the game grew larger (thus the prize pool) the social aspect was less. The social players were no longer happy.

Your friends, where everyone is crazy and don't follow any logic might not care about winning the $$. They may treat the 3 time a week gathering as a social release. This game will have a wide variance - I agree with others who have posted you can play tighter to reduce the variance, but you will certainly run into bad beats repeatedly.

Try to get the chips of them all.It's really easy to play against fresh beginers.

The old but gold strategy: dont bluf any of them and just play for the value of your cards. This could be a boring poker game, but at least you will beat your friends!

Run into that kind of play in the room when they have their hourly best hand promotion. $100 for the best hand every hour. The FL tables and to some point the NL tables see almost every one with a Ten or better in there hand call to at least the turn so they don't miss the chance at the 10's full or better bonus.

All you can do is ride your good hands to the turn and start evaluating where you are in the hand then.

Well, remember that you are playing together with your friends (a friendly game), so, no stress. Just get a few beers, some snack of your preference and it's all right, guaranteed fun. Cheers! :tee:

i think you should keep changing your game style through the game, shift from agressive to tight, that way (i think) is more likely to catch them of guard