Playin bad against weak players

[Guest]

Ive been playing for over 2 years now, and have read my share of books. Ive recently been having a problem playin with loose weak players. I will raise with somethin like A K A Q, and they beat me with 2 pair for example with ace rag,. or king rag, etc. The problem is i can't get a good read on the cards they are holding due to the hands that they will play. Last night I played great poker and lost partly and mostly due to the fact that these players kept hittin there cards and might i had there bad cards. Does anyone else seem to have this problem?

[sxz18 0]

I used to have this exact problem. There are two ways to go about fixing it. The first thing you want to do is put pressure on your opponents preflop (if you're playing NL) or 3-bet various hands you normally wouldn't (if you're playing limit). For example, you can call two bets sometimes with AQos...othertimes you would fold. Against looser players, 3-betting with AQ becomes an option due to the various combinations of weaker hands they play. This will punish them when they do not get lucky.Another thing you can do is to check top pair on the flop and wait for a more expensive street. By this I mean to stop ramming and jamming. If you have AK and raise preflop and flop is A x x with two of a suit on board, assuming you have position, you can sometimes check after everyone has checked to you. This may induce a bet on the turn by another player and if a blank has rolled off, you can now make it two bets on the more expensive streets. Even loose players fold their gutshots or flush draws when they haven't committed enough money into the pot.Hope this helps.-Brett

[Guest]

Yeah thanks,i hope that will help. Usually with top pair and a flush draw on board I would almost always bet to eliminate flush draws so hopefully your thoughts will help me thanks!

[TimSchara 0]

The only way that I have found to effectively combat that is to move up in limits. If your playing 3/6 , 4/8 and even 5/10 chasing out K8 with a raise won't usually happen against a weak loose player, especially if they have already limped in, so they might as well call one more bet and hope to hit a flop. And when they do your AK is way behind the guy who just spiked K's and 8's. My suggestion is to play 10/20 and higher. I've been playing 15/30 for a few months now and I find it to be a much better game. Don't get me wrong, you still get clowns in there with trash hands and bad beats happen, but they don't seem to happen as much as they do in the lower limit games.If you don't have the bank roll for 15/30 then quit playing now. Read a few books and get a job to save enough money to play in the higher limits. If your a better than average player you'll do fine!!!

[tolbert 0]

Capping the betting preflop may not be correct in lower limit games. Often times this just builds the pot making it CORRECT for weak players to draw to gutshots, two pair, or whatever else. In these games ive found its profitable to raise only with aa or kk preflop, the rest i just limp. Play hit to win. That is limp with any hand that can make the nuts, see if you hit, and then pop it on the turn when the betting doubles. They will call. Ive used this strategy very successful at the 3-6 holdem at my local casino. Hope that helpsPS: DONT JUMP UP IN LIMITS. If you cant beat these weak players the 15-30 game will be impossible.

[Guest]

Ive read my share of poker books and actually do consistantly win at lower limits.I know everything thats going on so i really would think that it would be better to move up in limits, where the game has much more to do with betting patterns and psychology. Does anyone else think this?

[jayboogie 0]

You should be able to beat these games very consistently, sure you get a day or 2 where you get terrible beats, but those don't happen all the time. There will be days where your AA, KK, QQ are never good and that will happen at low limit, but you just gotta stick to it. I mean I lost today everytime I had one of these hands cuz a lotta players called my raise with not much and hit. When you have AA against 5-6 players, they usually never hold up unless you improve. It's very frustrating losing with it, but you just have to accept it happens, which I have a hard time with sometimes. More often than not, rockets will lose in a limit hold'em game, I don't really get to excited when I do pick it up. Don't move up in limits unless you have the bankroll yo do so, 10/20 and 15/30 require quite a large bankroll to play.

[stealfromblind 0]

Ive read my share of poker books and actually do consistantly win at lower limits.I know everything thats going on so i really would think that it would be better to move up in limits, where the game has much more to do with betting patterns and psychology. Does anyone else think this?

[thespoil 0]

If there's one thing I hate about poker it's when I sit at a table where the other players do not play as well as I do. :roll:

[KoRnholio 2]

A table with 7 donks is hair-pullingly-frustrating, but profitable if you tighten up and play more hands that are good in multiway pots (ie suited connectors).Or you can find a table with fewer donks but more average/tight players and hope to play a lot of pots with a donk heads up by 3 betting often

[Skizario 0]

This is an example of good advice:

Capping the betting preflop may not be correct in lower limit games. Often times this just builds the pot making it CORRECT for weak players to draw to gutshots, two pair, or whatever else. In these games ive found its profitable to raise only with aa or kk preflop, the rest i just limp. Play hit to win. That is limp with any hand that can make the nuts, see if you hit, and then pop it on the turn when the betting doubles. They will call. Ive used this strategy very successful at the 3-6 holdem at my local casino. Hope that helpsPS: DONT JUMP UP IN LIMITS. If you cant beat these weak players the 15-30 game will be impossible.

This is an example of bad advice:

The only way that I have found to effectively combat that is to move up in limits. If your playing 3/6 , 4/8 and even 5/10 chasing out K8 with a raise won't usually happen against a weak loose player, especially if they have already limped in, so they might as well call one more bet and hope to hit a flop. And when they do your AK is way behind the guy who just spiked K's and 8's. My suggestion is to play 10/20 and higher. I've been playing 15/30 for a few months now and I find it to be a much better game. Don't get me wrong, you still get clowns in there with trash hands and bad beats happen, but they don't seem to happen as much as they do in the lower limit games. If you don't have the bank roll for 15/30 then quit playing now. Read a few books and get a job to save enough money to play in the higher limits. If your a better than average player you'll do fine!!!

Here is some more advice:If you can't beat bad players then you can't be a winning player. Plain and simple. If you are a good player then the odds should always be in your favor because you are getting your money in with the best of it. Think of yourself as being the house in a blackjack game. Someone might beat you out of some money in the short run but in the long run you will be a winner. One of the most important skills a poker player must have is the ability to see past the short run and understand that the long run is what matters.

[rwood 0]

that was the dumbest advice ever.i dont normally post but dont listen to that advice, learn how to play correctly, as those types of loose games are the easiest/most profitable games around.

[Swift_Psycho 1]

The only way that I have found to effectively combat that is to move up in limits.  If your playing 3/6 , 4/8 and even 5/10 chasing out K8 with a raise won't usually happen against a weak loose player, especially if they have already limped in, so they might as well call one more bet and hope to hit a flop.  And when they do your AK is way behind the guy who just spiked K's and 8's.  My suggestion is to play 10/20 and higher.  I've been playing 15/30 for a few months now and I find it to be a much better game.  Don't get me wrong, you still get clowns in there with trash hands and bad beats happen, but they don't seem to happen as much as they do in the lower limit games.If you don't have the bank roll for 15/30 then quit playing now.  Read a few books and get a job to save enough money to play in the higher limits.  If your a better than average player you'll do fine!!!

:shock:

[dimseven 0]

The only way that I have found to effectively combat that is to move up in limits.  If your playing 3/6 , 4/8 and even 5/10 chasing out K8 with a raise won't usually happen against a weak loose player, especially if they have already limped in, so they might as well call one more bet and hope to hit a flop.  And when they do your AK is way behind the guy who just spiked K's and 8's.  My suggestion is to play 10/20 and higher.  I've been playing 15/30 for a few months now and I find it to be a much better game.  Don't get me wrong, you still get clowns in there with trash hands and bad beats happen, but they don't seem to happen as much as they do in the lower limit games.If you don't have the bank roll for 15/30 then quit playing now.  Read a few books and get a job to save enough money to play in the higher limits.  If your a better than average player you'll do fine!!!

:shock:

Wow, Tim, that was some horrible horrible advice.Too bad You didn't write a 3rd paragraph, I wanted to see if it was possible to get worse...

[BigDMcGee 3,355]

hahahah I think that guy was trying to trick him into moving up in limits to lose his ass.Tip number one: read Sklansky's Small stakes hold 'em.Tip number two: repeat tip number one.Tip number three: Learn to control tilt, as you'll get alot of it playing small stakes. Relize what hands do well in large pot, loose passive games. IE pocket pairs, and Big suited cards. Be aware of what cards do poorly, IE large unsuited cards. If they game is passive, any suited connectors do well. they also do well if lots of people stick aorund post flop. Hands like off suit AQ AJ, KQand even AK ( though AK is much better than the rest) actually don't do as well as you'd think. In a large pot, passive game, you have to make hands that can beat two pair, and AJ is the quintisential one pair hand.