Playing against calling stations?

[cparker]

I've been playing a lot of cash games lately, and I notice that the players I have the most trouble against are the players with VPIP>50. I know these players are supposed to be the easiest to play against, but for some reason, they get the most money out of me.

These are my PT stats: VPIP 26.81, PFR 12.27, AF 3.05

I'm trying to figure out should adjust my play toward these players. Should I preflop raise less often? If they call my raise all the time, I should raise less hands?

 

[c9h13no3]

1 word: Valuebet

Whenever you're making a bet against them, just ask yourself this question:

"Is he calling me with a worse hand?" If the answer is yes, then fire away.

So preflop, you should be raising less hands, and on the flop you should be betting all 3 streets for value with TPGK or better. And be more inclined to limp behind their limps with good speculative hands, since they offer you more implied odds.

 

[feitr]

Play tighter preflop and be less aggressive post flop unless you have them beat. There isn't any point trying to raise into a pot with like QTs and then c-betting when you miss if you know you are probably going to be called down by bottom pair etc. Then just value bet when you know they are probably calling you down with a worse hand.

 

[WVHillbilly]

VPIP > 50% doesn't really tell you a player is a calling station though, just that they see WAY too many flops. Include the W$SD stat on your HUD to identify the stations. When they call down too light just value bet your good hands and fold the times you miss. They'll more than pay for your misses when you hit.

 

[LUCIUS VARENUS]

You can't bluff someone who is going to call you! Since this type of player is not thinking about your cards and only their own, they won't notice that you only bet when you have a good hand. And if they show signs of noticing, its time to bluff one hand and revert to bet-with-a-hand ABC strategy.

Also if anything you should raise preflop more - if your VP$IP is ~26 but your preflop raise is ~13 with total AF of ~3, then this says to me you are limping in too much before the flop and your aggression over the course of the hand decreases generally. If you use poker tracker, I would advise using the player rating tool and try to play to achieve the stats of the Eagle, or TAA (tight aggressive/aggressive). This can be done well with a VP$IP of about 20, a total AF of 9, and you should try to raise every time you play a hand so that you have control of the hand to achieve this style, its a raise or fold style which works well against loose passive players.

Also VP$IP 26 is arguably too loose unless you play postflop well, which if you can't beat the LPP player then you can't be that good.

One more thing! Try as much as possible to have position, its so huge and really helps during a hand because its so much easier to get a read on what the opponents have.