How to play against "bad" players?

[Yadoula]

Play tight n boring... Get reads!

 

[johnruso]

want to know

Hi
I can see you are so little. Are you really an expert in this game? If so would you please tell me what is the main purpose to play? Is it a game or a destructive system? Thanks

 

[Largebalance]

Take their money

I love playing against friends who believe any 2 cards can hit. While the statement is true I find that I will always leave with their money if I play good poker and fold when folding is the right thing to do.

 

[seventhcereal]

I find people who play too loose to be much easier than tight players. Loose is like playing slots wait for a hand and just value bet them. Value bet thin then value bet thick with a monster and watch them pay you off.

 

[Rain92]

Play tight n boring... Get reads!

This is actually not as easy as it seems. I get so bored at times that I get tilted and start to play badly.

 

[akaRobbo]

This is actually not as easy as it seems. I get so bored at times that I get tilted and start to play badly.

Add more tables.

 

[Michael Paler]

Keep in mind that those whom have made big $$$ online have done so playing bad players, not good ones. That is exactly who you want to play against. I think the best stratagy is what Texas Dolly recommends in the poker bible -
1. Never, ever, ever bluff a bad player ("it takes an idiot to bluff a man who you know is going to call you"). You would be amazed how many fail to do so and try to run them over. If they have any piece of that board, they will call.
2. Play straightforward poker against a bad player. If a weak player rasies preflop, checks the flop and checks the turn, you bet - holding a hand or not. Becasue if he had anything, he would have bet already. Unless....
3. Unless he is the type to constantly check-call (does not bet even when he flops the nuts); you assume he has somthing after calling you and show him a hand after checking it down the rest of the way. If he beats you, oh well.
4. Never gamble with a weak player. Do fundamental, even obvious, things against him. And when you flop the nuts, check it back and hope he improves, becasue if he does you can break him.
Of course, no one really seems to have a valid stratagy on these penny games where the player just does not care about losing one or two dollars. You just follow the above guidelines or, better yet, don't play in these "any two card monte" shove fests. But I don't care if it's 2 cents or $200 a hand, you will run into at least one that does not care.
Last month in a live game at the Commerce, I rasied from the big blind 20x; thinking I would steal the blinds or entice a shove into my AA. One guy called. I shoved the flop (of course). He called with J9 (no pair, no draw, no nada!) and sucked out with runner-runner 9's. Who the heck calls off half his stack after a limp with J9 off and calls the shove on the flop with nothing but air? A weak player, that's who. And after he did, I and a few others quickly tore him apart. I got at least half of it back from him, others got the rest. Preferably, you find this out before losing your stack and having to rebuy!!

 

[seventhcereal]

seriously just play with your cards face up. Bet your aces hard. Don't level yourself, if you get folds it's only because they don't have a hand not because they put you on aces. I bet 9BB from UTG and still get callers because some must be thinking I'm trying to "steal". LOL.

 

[Largebalance]

I like the idea of finding the weak player, only it seems the bigger the donk the better his luck. I lost hundreds on CP the other day due to total luck suck outs it was enough to make me shoot my laptop.
I wish there was some way to gauge these things, nio matter how well you play you can't beat dumb luck.

 

[Kuphaldt]

I play 6 player 10c/20c NLHE cash games with some friends. They (in my opinion) play very poorly when it comes to textbook poker. I am by no means an excellent player but I know there are certain things you aren't supposed to do. I play textbook poker online but I can't do it when playing with my friends because they don't play like you're supposed to. What can I do to take advantage of these flaws/errors that I have noticed?

1. They play with a very wide range. They place a lot of value in suited connectors, cards like KQ KJ QJ, suited hands, anything with an A (although they know A7 is not very good). They will also play unsuited 1 gappers, unsuited connectors in hopes of hitting a straight.

2. 90% of the time everyone flat calls the blinds with a wide range. Many of them will flat call even if someone raises 5x bb preflop if they have one of the above hole cards

3. If they flop a gutshot straight draw or a flush draw, they will bet a lot ($1 or $2 into a $1.20 pot) on the flop, and often will continue on the turn and river.

4. Many of them will usually call these bets all the way to the river on a flush or straight draw even when the pot odds are no good.

5. They think big blind is the best position because you can see what everyone does preflop. In addition, some people will do a $1 3bet from bb position after everyone limps in order to "use their position" if they have "good" hole cards.

6. A lot of aggressive 3 and 4 betting and often I find out later they had shit or were just on a draw or bluffing.

Problems with playing textbook poker:
1. The standard 3x bb raise doesnt mean anything. 99% of the time I get called by almost everybody or I'll get 3 betted with a bunch of people calling behind them.

2. Pot is often bloated from aggressive betting and draws. A 3/4 pot sized bet doesnt scare anyone off a draw and it costs a huge portion of my stack. With so many people in the game all the time, someone hits a straight or flush by the river much more often than normal

3. Its hard to put people on a range with the aggressive play and wide starting ranges

I think the best way to play against players like this is to just bet bigger preflop with your premium hands so that you can make it a 2 or 3 way pot and then extract value while feeling pretty confident you have the best hand. Also play a lot of connecting and suited cards by limping in and then when you hit a big hand like a straight or a flush just bet it and get value.

Definitely do not bluff in these kinds of games because everyone likes too call with any kind of hand and sometimes without even having a pair. So you kind of just have to wait to make a hand and then extract value from it.

 

[guutox]

play with good cards and wait for trap

 

[love that omaha]

The worse the player, the more I like to keep the pots small, like a small ball tournament strategy. Conversely I like to have the max buy in on the table and have everyone covered whenever possible so when they do make that one big mistake I can get all their chips. A more patient style is needed, primarily playing pots in position and not worrying as much about the small advantages even folding sometimes with your A 10 and KJ hands because once you flop a set or even top two pair you will have no problem getting all the chips in the middle

 

[Aces2w1n]

If you got a group of friends who you feel you have a huge edge over it.


Not just focus on the cards, make their night enjoyable... You want repeat business it's not all about the game and poker it's about making sure your the fun laughing guy.

Some guys think being quiet on the table is good poker, it's not especially if you have a good group of people to play with, you want to be the person they want to hang with...

Ofc when your playing sharks prolly quiet is the way to go but I found at the end of the day, keep your fish closer to you and make the good players uncomfortable we want them out... We want the fish playing. Also we talking will get information off your players since you have the edge you should know how to fish for information as well....

Anyways just beware even if you have an edge, you'll still have variance and losing times... But how you handle those losing times and your mental toughness really will be the difference between you and your friends.

 

[abzdolc]

take money from your eq, play more pairs (pre-flop) less bluf

 

[joe777]

Play tight and aggressive style to counter that kind of loose player.