Loosen up to take advantage of bad players?

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pat3392

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In Harrington on hold'em it mentions that this should be done but he doesn't go into much detail about it. I was thinking that perhaps when the blinds are small I should start limping in SB/late position with hands like J9. This is still slightly ahead of my opponents range, depending on the players at the time though.

I think I'd do this more live though because some of the more observant players are realising that I don't play much hands and quickly jump out of the way whenever I raise, so I might get more value from my hands latter
 
slycbnew

slycbnew

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There are lots of different kinds of "bad" players - there are different leaks that different players have.

1. Plays too many hands pf, very passive postflop, folds to cbets alot.
2. Plays too many hands pf, very passive postflop, calling station.
3. Plays too many hands pf, aggressive postflop.
4. Limps too many hands pf, folds to raises oop.
5. Limps too many hands pf, calls raises oop.
6. Open raises too many hands pf, folds to 3bets oop.
7. Open raises too many hands pf, calls 3bets oop.
etc.

Your tactics against specific opponents will vary depending on in what ways they're bad.
 
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The Spillage

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It's often good to limp in late position with (suited) connectors and pocket pairs if you believe the implied odds are high enough. These hands play better in multiway pots at a cheap price. I'm not sure this is necessarily taking advantage of bad players. And it depends on the kind of bad player you are up against. Many of the bad players at micro/low limits are way too loose. Loosening up against these kind of opponents is never a good idea. But if you're at a table full of nits then widening your range can be effective, particularly in the mid-stages of the games where you're looking to pick up as many blinds as possible.

I also don't mind completing the small blind with a wider range than normal if I'm going heads-up against loose/passive types in the BB. When against other types I'm always raising here.
 
8Michael3

8Michael3

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Yeah, I remember him saying that it is better to win the chips off bad players before the good players get them. He didnt clarify what consitutes a bad player. I think theres a good list by slycbnew and at the back of the David Sklansky book "the theory of poker" there is a nice list as well, and he discusses some ways to exploit them.

For 1 I would def limp in behind some bad players when Im in position with a wide range as long as I have implied odds to flop 2 pair or better!
 
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pat3392

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By the way, this idea of being loose is just for my live games. On the first level and maybe the second too, my opponents have a mentality that it's better to play more hands early, since it is cheap to see a flop. I see many players play something like 65% of hands at this level, so that's why J9 is still just ahead of their range. I'm thinking that it would have to be suited though to limp.

I've found that if I get a big hand on the first orbit, I'm more likely to stack someone, since people are more likely to call me preflop and some for some reason they do crazy stuff( I was at a $3000 tournament and the first hand there was 6-7 limpers including blinds, I looked down at low pockets in LP so called and flopped a set, some guy hit his TP with K4o and called me to the turn and on the river went all-in when a 4 came + i've seen some interesting bluffs)

The main reason why I created this thread is because I watched a video of Jonathan little coaching a student; his student limped stuff like J9s mid position, to which he said that there was nothing wrong with that play and that he actually likes Q9, K2s on the button when there were 5-6 limpers. By the conservation they were having I got the impression that he did that to develop a "wild" image. Jonathan has also advocated playing loosely when playing live in the early levels so that my big hands will get paid of


One particular venue I play at I only have a M of 25; is this not deep enough to play loosely?
 
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