Table Full Of Donkeys

[BadBeatBones 0]

Ok every two weeks or so we have a home game where we play nl hold em with 16 people with 10k starting chips and blinds start 50/100 and go up every 1/2 hour. Now the early stages are easy for me because I just play a lot of hands and trap all the donkeys for their money and I usualy come to the final table with 20k. Now comes my problem. The final 9 players are usually consisted of 7 donkeys and then theres me, and my really conservatively aggressive friend (who always ends up drawing the seat to my left which pisses me off). Nonetheless, I always seem to hit a roadblock at the final table because the blinds are usually 400/800 by that time and I just seem to lose with every hand because I get 3 donkeys calling my every bet. Its only when I get lucky that I actaully can win or get in the money. My question to everyone is what should I do differently against a table of donkeys in respect to betting, bluffing, and playing hands? Thanks.

[Actuary 3]

overbet your made hands, like Top Pair with good kicker and better, and don't bluff calling stations.raise premium hands big prefop to punish them for seeing every flopin the end, you got to catch some cards. Luck has a lot to do with it in Tournies; but over the long run, a good player will win more than their fair share of the $$$.you could post some hands so we can help better.

[BadBeatBones 0]

alright one hand i had was J J with 7 players left and i was on the button. With blinds at 600/1200 with the avg stack at about 20,000 and I had 24,000. One caller came in from one seat before me and I raised it up to 3600. I got called by the bb and player before me. The flop came down 10 2 9 . It came check check to me and I bet out 5000 hoping to take the pot there. I got two calls and was dumbfounded. The turn came 3 and they both checked it to me. Now I figured one of them for A 10 and the other for a flush draw. I knew I couldnt get the out except for an all in, so I pushed and both players called me! One had the flush draw like I thought but the other had 10 9 off suit. The river was a blank and I lost my tournament life there. Is there any way I could have played this better or was I just unlucky?

[offset 0]

alright one hand i had was J J with 7 players left and i was on the button. With blinds at 600/1200 with the avg stack at about 20,000 and I had 24,000. One caller came in from one seat before me and I raised it up to 3600. I got called by the bb and player before me. The flop came down 10 2 9 . It came check check to me and I bet out 5000 hoping to take the pot there. I got two calls and was dumbfounded. The turn came 3 and they both checked it to me. Now I figured one of them for A 10 and the other for a flush draw. I knew I couldnt get the out except for an all in, so I pushed and both players called me! One had the flush draw like I thought but the other had 10 9 off suit. The river was a blank and I lost my tournament life there. Is there any way I could have played this better or was I just unlucky?

It would help to raise more preflop. I use as a standard 3bb plus 1bb for every limper up to 6bb. In reality, you didn't do anything wrong in this hand though. Calling stations could have any pair or draw on that board. You just got unlucky.

[Actuary 3]

I'd raise to 5-6 k preflop.If two callers, pot is 15,000+.You then have 19k left.With those blinds any decent bet committs you to the pot.15k would look really nice next to the 19 k you have.Push the flop.and go broke proudly.***************************Pushing preflop and picking up 3000 is a great idea.The 5-6k preflop bet, looks great until and Ace or K flop.*************************

[BadBeatBones 0]

I'd raise to 5-6 k preflop.If two callers, pot is 15,000+.You then have 19k left.With those blinds any decent bet committs you to the pot.15k would look really nice next to the 19 k you have.Push the flop.and go broke proudly.***************************Pushing preflop and picking up 3000 is a great idea.The 5-6k preflop bet, looks great until and Ace or K flop.*************************

I also dont like getting pot comitted with JJ. If the flop come K 2 3 Im almost positive one of them hits the K and if they did and I push I'm done. I think the standard raise to 3600 is the right one but I'll try to raise more and see what happens.

[Actuary 3]

I also dont like getting pot comitted with JJ. If the flop come K 2 3 Im almost positive one of them hits the K

you need to take a probability course.

[yergan 0]

^^^ good advice. One thing that I have recently realised about my game is that I always tried to bluff too much... I have turned that around and seen huge profits. You gotta know who you can bluff against... It doesn't work against bad players because they often times don't realise there beat or just don't care... "Calling Stations" in a home game I'll make a few bad bluffs early show them or lose some chips. and then wait for some real quality hands and they'll call me off thinking I am not capable of getting a good hand and playing it... Works... So just only play really good hands... Most people who are considered Donkeys think they are alot better than they are. And people very often let there ego's get in the way. So forget your ego... And use their weaknesses against them.... My .02

Its also important to know when its worth bluffing esp. with regards to pot size.