Playing against bad players

How do you adjust your strategy against players who play bad without risking your chips? Waiting for the nuts will cost me money

Originally Posted by TheProdigy87

How do you adjust your strategy against players who play bad without risking your chips? Waiting for the nuts will cost me money

GAMB00L!

How can you not be risking chips without the nuts?

Anyway, the nuts on the turn changes every time the board pairs on the river.

I'm pretty sure this is a game of calculated risk. BR management is golden.

Originally Posted by TheProdigy87

How do you adjust your strategy against players who play bad without risking your chips? Waiting for the nuts will cost me money

What is your definition of bad players?

I'm playing a pub game in which I'm the only one who folds. My raises are never respected and I can even announce I have Aces and still get a couple of callers. One guy comes in for a 5-10xBB raise 70% of his hands then tends to push all in on the flop. This cascades so it's very common to have 4 or more players call him and it becomes a pissing contest. As the night progresses it gets ridiculously insane with nearly every pot being an all in situation.

I play fairly tight so the first change I made was opening up my starting requirements realizing that many of the pots are family pots and I was getting good odds to limp in with any connected and suited connected, higher near touching connected, pairs, and A(K)(Q)xs. The second thing I did was pay very close attention to the cards the maniac kept raising with. I began to notice a pattern of what would be a 5 or 10xBB raise to him so I had a good idea where I stood and if he might have any of my outs. The third thing I did was let them do the betting for me. I pay some attention to position but when the rest of the table thinks you're being the big blind has position on the table I don't think it matters. The last step I'm still working on is the courage to put all my chips in the center. Getting sucked out constantly has made me a little hesitant at times for even though I know I'm going in with the nuts, the inability to drive anyone out subjects me to some ridiculous beats. I can only laugh now when I put in a 5xBB raise pre-flop with AJs and get beat by a 73o.

I think the most important strategy is really just to play very simple straight forward poker. Learn to pick your spots where you're going to take a stand and do it forcefully. Additionally, leave a session knowing you made correct decisions. If you can't leave a session knowing that than maybe the other players aren't as bad as you think.

I thought the live games that I play at were bad..

"How do you adjust your strategy against players who play bad without risking your chips? Waiting for the nuts will cost me money"

- Think of how rare holding the nuts is. Ok it isn't THAT rare but you certainly can't camp on them, that's for sure. Just make a quality hand and bet it hard. If you make a set and an opponent calls a potsized bet on the flop and turn and hits a backdoor flush, that kinda ish happens. As long as you are playing within your bankroll and making quality choices (+EV choices), thats all you can do. Be happy you are playing against poor players and not sharks.

Originally Posted by TheProdigy87

How do you adjust your strategy against players who play bad without risking your chips? Waiting for the nuts will cost me money

not knowing the stakes and the exact complete badness of the players your up against all i can say is.. why wait for the nuts? fred bloggs over there is up for an all in with 7 high against what ever you've got.

Get top pair top kicker and bet it hard, get better than top pair top kicker and bet it hard.. you're in a high variance game, so your gonna get sucked out on from time to time.. isnt there a fantasitc post about this by fnord.. deep money and over betting is what i believe it is called.. its one of the stickys in here, check it out.

Thanx for the tips!

Why's my hand suck so much? Do i need to talk more in the forums?

Originally Posted by TheProdigy87

Why's my hand suck so much? Do i need to talk more in the forums?

Yes.

Is this a common worry? I have real problems against players who can't be read or who don't behave logically because they don't understand risks/odds/tactics. I'm going to be playing at the weekend, and I'm pretty certain that one of the guys is going to be a highly aggressive gambler who'll blissfully/ignorantly go all-in every other hand, and who'll call anything I bet. I tend to fold fast... and feel I can only get in pre-flop when I'm after somebody like that in the betting. I know I should wait, bet AA or AKs... and that I should have the advantage against this type of player. But... you bet AK, forced all-in because that's the kind of all or nothing betting he's doing, and you're beaten on a 752 flop by somebody holding 72. It just seems to me as if this kind of behaviour negates the advantage I should have (after picking up a RUDIMENTARY knowledge of strategy). It seems to me that in limit games I can feel more confident that the odds will favour me, but NL, against an aggressive gambler... what do you do? Any advice? I just really hate losing to bad players.

Originally Posted by BenRM

I know I should wait, bet AA or AKs... and that I should have the advantage against this type of player. But... you bet AK, forced all-in because that's the kind of all or nothing betting he's doing, and you're beaten on a 752 flop by somebody holding 72.

You are missing the point. If this is a cash game then 70% of the time you will win and 30% of the time he will win. In the long run you will be very happy and buy a new car and maybe even give him his taxi fare home.
You are allowed to lose sometimes in cash games as long as you make the correct descisions before hand and understand that over the long haul those correct descisions will win you money (and know that if you do lose it will not be too much money to make you uncomfortable).

Originally Posted by TheProdigy87

How do you adjust your strategy against players who play bad without risking your chips?

You can't win unless you risk your chips. Practice risk management by camping then pouncing on your loose player. Don't chase against him and lay the hammer when you have him beat.

theres really no such thing as bad players. there is always a separation in skill between players, this will be present in all games.

the really 'bad' players simply offer you bigger edges. so, you can get away with making larger value bets, and making longer-shot draws (because of the increased implied odds and the inability of the player to protect his hand by offering the proper defensive odds). but your personalized winning strategy should not have to change drastically.

trying to make the nuts is weak passive.