What to do against that one player you seemingly can't beat

Last night mid way through a tourney there was a playing I just couldn't beat! I could not put a read on him for nothing. Then with 14 remaining and 10 cashing he moved to my table, and I still couldn't beat him. In situations like this what do you do? Just try to avoid it just being you and him playing?

Watch him play,
why is he hard to beat is he aggro donk? keeps betting/calling

any exposed cards he has will be huge. if he goes to showdown make sure you track back how he played the hand.
and whether he played it well

Does he call fold the flop ever.
does he ever shut down when he c-bets and gets called
how many hands is he playing per orbit?

watch how often he plays out of position and whether he flat calls.

I would say if he's loose aggressive try and avoid pots with him out of position and let him hang himself when you have position on him and generally find his leaks if he is aggressive. If he is on the tighter side you can to think more about his range and when he is going to be betting, in order to know what sort of hands he is willing to invest into and whether he has the discipline to fold a well repped hand

The other thing to consider, if he / she is a good player and has a big stack. They should be raising and playing a wide range. If they are shorty stacked they should be shoving and praying.

If you are big stack, stand tall, and play. If you are middle stack, ABC poker. Play tight and pick on the small stacks. If you are short stack, shove any ace or pair and pray.


Sometimes you may think, you can't beat someone. That is not the case. They may just been running hot. Play tight and eventually, you will hit. If not, chalk it up to a bad run.

what was making him so hard to beat was the fact he was calling/raising everything! then hitting every time

I fold lots. Surprisingly though they are still more than happy to call their chips off in reallyyyyy bad spots when I do tangle with them or gii vs. them, etc. (some of them (no names mentioned ) seem to suffer from the "He don't got" syndrome... even if it's a blatantly obvious spot (ICM, etc.) that you do got.

It's simple really. You just have to rungood (or just not 'bad')

i thought your question came from another perspective,
for instance i have faced players which seem unbeatable to me because the luck they have once and again in a short period
last night it was a villain in pokerstars, he had like 2000 chips (1BB) and i had like 80k (40bb), then it happens the incredible, we started (hero vs villain):

first round:
AK vs A3 board: 332AJ

second round:

AA vs KK board: JQ99T

third round:

KK vs AK board: 3A32J

4th round:

TT vs A9 board: T92AA

after that:
hero chips: none

villain chips: 160K

players reamining: 10 (and i was the 10 so i couldn´t make the final table despite that 7 hands earlier i was second)

looks like a lot of "coolers"

With players like him/her it's super TAG play. They have their daily streak and you should be careful to remain until ITM.

I just refuse playing with these types of players, I play super tight against them .

Everyone has a hot day. Just hope they are on your right and play super tight. Let them carry you to the final cash.

It's probably either your imagination/perspective or he's just running well. There is a very good player I run into once in a while who usually owns everyone - everyone but me. He hates me. Can't ever seem to get around me. If he has KK, I have AA. Well that's his perspective - the truth is I can count on my fingers (probably one hand) how many times we have actually gone to showdown. I hold a significant edge in a SUPER SMALL sample size. But people tend to remember their really good hands getting crushed.

its very LUCKY right now
tomorrow you will beat him

I've ran into those guys, raising every hand and no matter what they hit. when I run into them I just avoid playing hands they are in. unless I can get in way ahead.

Just sit it it out, if his play is affecting you, try not getting involved with these players

fordman427 said:

Last night mid way through a tourney there was a playing I just couldn't beat! I could not put a read on him for nothing. Then with 14 remaining and 10 cashing he moved to my table, and I still couldn't beat him. In situations like this what do you do? Just try to avoid it just being you and him playing?

Click to expand...

avoid his A game
waiting for his C game.
using your A game try to beat his C game

if you could not beat his C game, do not sitting with him/her at the same table!

lost2qandisa said:

The other thing to consider, if he / she is a good player and has a big stack. They should be raising and playing a wide range. If they are shorty stacked they should be shoving and praying.

If you are big stack, stand tall, and play. If you are middle stack, ABC poker. Play tight and pick on the small stacks. If you are short stack, shove any ace or pair and pray.


Sometimes you may think, you can't beat someone. That is not the case. They may just been running hot. Play tight and eventually, you will hit. If not, chalk it up to a bad run.

Click to expand...

What is ABC poker? Im unfamiliar with this term

I try not to make any adjustments just because someone seems to be running good against me. It just doesn't seem like good poker. Otoh, I've had a couple of people tell me they thought I always ran well against them. In those cases, I tried to get into a few more pots with them, esp. in position, because I thought they would be more likely that usual to make mediocre or poor decisions.

fordman427 said:

Last night mid way through a tourney there was a playing I just couldn't beat! I could not put a read on him for nothing. Then with 14 remaining and 10 cashing he moved to my table, and I still couldn't beat him. In situations like this what do you do? Just try to avoid it just being you and him playing?

Click to expand...

If you can not beat, that virtually eliminate marginal hands only play premium hands and play the line bet/3bet, check/raise.

You got your money in 4 times with the superior hand and lost which is unlucky - actually really unlucky - but the key point is you got in ahead each time - how the cards play out is something you can't affect. He didn't make any real mistakes either - so now you have some good information on him - it should help in the future.