Playing a range of skill levels

Ok, I'm usually one to play against friends and others that aren't good enough players to be able to bluff. They may stay in with pretty bad hands from time to time. On other occasions I will play against good players. I've read quite a few books but there is very little information that I can apply from them to the weaker players. How do you all adjust or learn that a player is weak? Do you tighten right up when you find that they stayed in with a pocket pair of twos? Usually betting a decent bet preflop can get some of these characters out but sometimes it's hard to tell if they really have a good hand because they may of just hit two pair or a couple aces or something and to them that is a good hand at the moment.

My suessful strategy with really loose players has been to tighten up and almost camp for great hands. Often these players are oblivious to what is going on around them and do not pick up on your tight play. You will get outdrawn by them at times, but in the long run you should be profitable. Additionally, I believe bluffing goes down in value because they often will not fold and you can not assume with a rags flop that they have nothing.

I tend to do a decent bet if I plan on staying in and will keep betting as long as I stay in. If they are chasing something they will usually fold at the turn, it seems to be working ok, but if they don't fold there (and depending on the read) I will put that at a high pair usually, at some point I will check it to them to see if they raise, if they do they tend to have two pair or trips (or maybe even of flopped a straight.) That's just how I have been dealing with it, I start out by betting large and folding on the flop, but even though I bet large preflop I usually don't have a hard time getting away from the hand. Then by the time I get a good hand the other players are used to my high betting and will usually stay in with me.

LONGEST POST EVER FOR ME.

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Originally Posted by Ripptyde

loose players are much easier to bluff.

just remember to make sure you have signifigant stack leverage when trying to bluff out a loosey

camping and waiting on a monster is no way to play poker

mmmmmmmmm.........camping

Originally Posted by Ripptyde

loose players are much easier to bluff.

just remember to make sure you have signifigant stack leverage when trying to bluff out a loosey

camping and waiting on a monster is no way to play poker

Actually I'm refering to a bad loose player here, not a good one.

Stop bluffing bad players. It's the 11th commandment. They're stupid. They'll call with anything. Bad players don't care what you have in your hand. They just wanna hit their pair of 5's with 2 kicker on the river to pork your full house.

Originally Posted by Rondavu

Stop bluffing bad players. It's the 11th commandment. They're stupid. They'll call with anything.

That is how I play in my homegame. Its a question of limits too, they'll cut back on their calling down with crap if you raise the stakes on them. I am working on getting my homegame from 10$nl to 25$nl so the all-in call actually means something to them. Recently went up from 5$ and that slowed the loose calls down a bit. Maybe I'll be able to bluff them at some point in the future.....

- sed

definitely agree that in loose low limit games most of the time camping on good hands is the way to go. you will get your bluffs called enough to make them unprofitable, by hands that are bad but better than yours

Originally Posted by Ripptyde

loose players are much easier to bluff.

just remember to make sure you have signifigant stack leverage when trying to bluff out a loosey

camping and waiting on a monster is no way to play poker

Are you referring to loose players with some skill or just generally fishy bad loose players.

In my experience they, the fishy bad loose players, are so unaware of the players around them and the previous actions that they can not spot someone who is playing very tightly.

Additionally, with at times they can not be bluffed well, short of going all-in, which will get the call from time to time.

It may not be the pretty way to play poker, but it works.

I find that if I do not increase my starting hand requirements there is a great deal more variance in my winnings.