How to play against random players

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nathan66

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Hello,

I've been struggling against random players recently. I mean all their plays are so inconsistent that I don't know how to play against. For example a guy played a really bad hand (3-5o at UTG) and I had AKo the flop was 3 - 5 - A and he goes all in -> I follow and he wins with double pair. This is quite frustating but I don't know what I am supposed to do when I face that kind of players. This happen to me everyday I guess this is a lack of experience that's why if you get some tips for me, that would be really nice.

Thanks in advance.
 
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pierreb292

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It's impossible to predict this.
You take the right decision Imo but ofc this is frustating.
 
akmost

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Use more your fold button and always remember that they don't bluff as much as you think. I assume you are talking about small buy ins games. Be patient and note down some weird moves and whenever you have a hand try to get paid well.

The play you described above it can't be made by an experienced player unless he had a note for you that you never fold. I believe you got my point here. Top top [top pair top kicker] is not a hand you want to put all your stack in the middle almost never especially in the flop unless you have some serious notes about your opponent!
 
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nathan66

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Thanks your your answer,

Yes exactly these are really small buy-in MTTs, so according to you I shouldn't have called this ? I mean in that kind of MTTs people are playing randomly, oversizing their bets, bluffing with really bad hands, they play 70% of their hands so I was quite sure at 80% he was bluffing. Should I play more passive against these guys ?
 
MatMackenz

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Thanks your your answer,

Yes exactly these are really small buy-in MTTs, so according to you I shouldn't have called this ? I mean in that kind of MTTs people are playing randomly, oversizing their bets, bluffing with really bad hands, they play 70% of their hands so I was quite sure at 80% he was bluffing. Should I play more passive against these guys ?


I run into this pretty often myself, where villian will go all-in on the flop. These low buy-in tourneys you will see all-in from top pairs or flush draws, but you will also have a lot of two pairs or even sets that could be present.

Just think before you call the all-in... how often is my one pair going to win here.. you have to think maybe he must have something worth putting all his chips in. If you have good read on your opponent and know hes shoving worse then TPTK then go ahead and call, but to a random player, I would say maybe its too much risk.
 
makisaa

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Why not to play the 3 5 cards? You don`t need to wait for monster hands to play the game. They do not mean winall the times! Victory will come in many different hands. Watch the game and be carefull with the maths. Analyse as much as you can, as many factors as you can, like the other players you are paying with, the condition you are, the generall conditions of the game and many others and be patient.
 
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james bright

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sounds like you didnt bet enough preflop to get the 3 5 to fold dont let them limp in you just begging for trouble.You cant do nothing about a sic beat like that just keep having your money in good and you will win 85% of the time anyways better luck to you!
 
swannymojo

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Against new players i'm unfamiliar with i usually keep myself super tight out of position until i can see them in 100 hands or so. Then i open myself back up a little and get back to playing my default style of play.
 
pancho_1954

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I think there is no specific way to deal with those situations, you will always find players like that, you must also take into account that the other cards also have a chance to win, it is not about whether you have strong cards, of course there are situation situations but this is part of the game
 
Nathan Smith

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Just play solid opening hands - don't run big bluffs and mostly fold to big bets on the river without a strong hand.
 
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crisco609

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Depending on the chip stacks you may have been in position to actually let that one go. With that kind of bet on that flop I would be thinking they had 2-4 suited, or possibly even hit a set, or could still be drawing for the straight or something - either way a dangerous position. If your short stacked no way your letting that AK though, but if not theres alot of things to consider. And as far as the random players playing those hands.... that's not going to change no matter where you go. You just have to try to get proper reads and play your hands
 
LJG23

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I did a brief scan of the replies and everyone has some solid things to say and most of them are right in their own way but the real answer is a little bit of all of them.

PRE

You should be raising and re-raising with your premiums every time no matter what. Make a guy that is going to play 35o pay for it and if you have notes on him make him pay an even steeper price. A lot of people play those hands too passively and allow weak holdings to get there. This doesn't mean to shove with AK or put half your stack in pre when the blinds are 20/40 either. Make your standard raise (or more if notes permit) and move to post flop

FLOP
This is where I believe you have to study a little. People know we are playing AK pre and they are trying to get in there cheap with 35o and out flop us to win big pots. So since they know that we have to know they know...ya know? Like this...if he donk raised UTG with 35o and you rerasied him with AK he can flat knowing that you have a premium hand and he needs to flop well to continue. Now he's flopped his two pair with a K on the board. If he has notes on you saying you don't like to give up your top pair holdings on the flop he can shove there knowing he's going to get called by AK AA maybe QQ and win and only lose to KK.

SOooo

I'm not sure what all you did pre if you didn't raise, raise next time, if you could have and didn't three bet do that next time. But most importantly, don't stack yourself with a single pair by calling a donk shove. SOMETIMES it will be a bluff but even then those bluffs usually have flush draw or straight draw outs if not both. Hope this helps a bit.

:2d4::3d4:
 
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Hello,

I've been struggling against random players recently. I mean all their plays are so inconsistent that I don't know how to play against. For example a guy played a really bad hand (3-5o at UTG) and I had AKo the flop was 3 - 5 - A and he goes all in -> I follow and he wins with double pair. This is quite frustating but I don't know what I am supposed to do when I face that kind of players. This happen to me everyday I guess this is a lack of experience that's why if you get some tips for me, that would be really nice.

Thanks in advance.


I have had those situations and it is frustrating because you have top pair top kicker and think your opponent is shoving on ace rags.

I think the best way to combat this situation is don't shove your chips unless you have at minimum a five card hand i.e.
straight, flush etc.

Be prepared to lose chips but don't get wiped out in one hand that is hanging in the balance.
 
Rosxana13

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I totally get you this happen to me when I started playing since my beginnings because since I started playing I look for strategies read lot of articles online and watch videos so I use to play tight aggressive of course with my mistakes sometime and but learning and when a did good these crazy players sometimes get me out of the MTT with stupid calls and horrible bad beats!... this happen more often in freerolls and amll buy-in MTTs So here's my advice to you:

Don't go all in preflop in the firsts stages of the MTT unless with the premium hands (AA,KK,QQ) With hands like AK,AQs,AJs,JJ,TT I try to see the flop and take it to showdown so I only loose chips and not the MTT I also Fold this hands preflop against an all in if I'm in risk of getting Out of the tourney just for one reason if i win those chips won't be worth it with the MTT moving forward the Blinds increasing it will become nothing so I don't want to lose my entrance for those chips, It is better strategy to win small pots constantly until one hand you'll get the nuts or close and that your chance to build a bigger stack and try to take the tourney down !

Good luck hope this helps you this is what I usually do :D
 
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popstani

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I totally get you this happen to me when I started playing since my beginnings because since I started playing I look for strategies read lot of articles online and watch videos so I use to play tight aggressive of course with my mistakes sometime and but learning and when a did good these crazy players sometimes get me out of the MTT with stupid calls and horrible bad beats!... this happen more often in freerolls and amll buy-in MTTs So here's my advice to you:

Don't go all in preflop in the firsts stages of the MTT unless with the premium hands (AA,KK,QQ) With hands like AK,AQs,AJs,JJ,TT I try to see the flop and take it to showdown so I only loose chips and not the MTT I also Fold this hands preflop against an all in if I'm in risk of getting Out of the tourney just for one reason if i win those chips won't be worth it with the MTT moving forward the Blinds increasing it will become nothing so I don't want to lose my entrance for those chips, It is better strategy to win small pots constantly until one hand you'll get the nuts or close and that your chance to build a bigger stack and try to take the tourney down !

Good luck hope this helps you this is what I usually do :D



Totally agree with you, I think that is the best strategy to play a tournament.
 
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JordieChloe

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The villain could ahve easily had 33 or 55 and played that UTG. If villain goes all in, assume he has something. Is a pair, even TPTK, good enough to risk your whole stack?
 
drejva11

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You risked to much with all-in at short stack at this position, and you were unlucky too.
 
akmost

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Thanks your your answer,

Yes exactly these are really small buy-in MTTs, so according to you I shouldn't have called this ? I mean in that kind of MTTs people are playing randomly, oversizing their bets, bluffing with really bad hands, they play 70% of their hands so I was quite sure at 80% he was bluffing. Should I play more passive against these guys ?

Everything is situational in poker but against an unknown player as your opponent I always muck here. If I don't have any reads I play very conservative and just wait for my opponent's mistake in order to take all his chips.

In freerolls - smaller buy in tournaments you should play with your combinations - cards , I have tried many times to approach differently the game but there was no point.No matter how is the board ,how wet for example , the A pair will always go to the showdown. Sometimes I play opponent oriented , if I know I am playing against a better opponent I may try to bluff him.

Without some previous plays is better to avoid those marginal spots or some hero calls on the river,90% of the time they have it.It is very different if you know that someone often fires a third bet with air , this will make your decision easier. Another very important thing is to pot control if you are not sure , prefer the check / call line instead of leading in some spots you are not sure if you are ahead and avoid reraising your villain's bets.This tactic will save you many chips.I used to make all the above , just play abc poker in freerolls - small buy ins and fire big with your strong hands.

In the above hand I muck almost always he can have 3 5 , 33 , 55 or even 2 4 . They reveal their hands if they are bad players!
 
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nathan66

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Ok thanks to all of you guys.

I see that you all talk a lot about notes and I don't use them much so I will try to use more. And I saw some of you talked about that my preflop raise wasn't big enough to make him fold his bad hand. I remember that I raised but I guess it wasn't enough how much BB should I have raised here ?
 
Gyry

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Depends on where you played, if it was turbo freerolls, it's no wonder they are free and there are a lot of people who play every hand. until there is a good stack. in games for a cache this you will not see. but there are cases that depend not on you, but on the amount of chips, if you are playing against someone who has a stack more 4-5 times, he can play on any cards, and you should not forget if the person is in the big blind. my personal opinion. Whoever in the big or small blind always has the advantage:cool:
 
Mortis71

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I would the same as any other player..
 
dragunovich

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this depends on your goals in that tournament, if you want to win it or go very far then you play a little tight .. paying only strong hands .. the main thing is to pay close attention to what that randon player is doing and how he is doing .. in case you are a good player, you will detect their faults and exploit them. I like to check against these players, show them some bluffs .. having fun is also part of the game.
 
LJG23

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Ok thanks to all of you guys.

I see that you all talk a lot about notes and I don't use them much so I will try to use more. And I saw some of you talked about that my preflop raise wasn't big enough to make him fold his bad hand. I remember that I raised but I guess it wasn't enough how much BB should I have raised here ?



Normally preflop raises should stay the same size and should only get bigger if you had a note (yes notes are crucial) on them saying they will call bigger raises. Good players will see the change in bet size and fold, you are trying to isolate the bad player in order to extract the most value from your hand by getting him to make mistakes.
 
Pokericon08

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I try not to get over judgemental of opponents habits. I feel that thinking you know what a players style is can cause you to make decisions based on future moves rather than the way the current hand is playing out.
 
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nathan66

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this depends on your goals in that tournament, if you want to win it or go very far then you play a little tight .. paying only strong hands .. the main thing is to pay close attention to what that randon player is doing and how he is doing .. in case you are a good player, you will detect their faults and exploit them. I like to check against these players, show them some bluffs .. having fun is also part of the game.

Yes but I don't like bluffing them because they call a lot even when they don't have a great hands and they love bluffing a lot so they're so unpredictable that I never know what to do. That's why I got baited into that call
 
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