Bad players

[chacon15 0]

I played a bunch of home games over the break, against a bunch of different people. I played against my normal group of players (along with some other new ones) and took home the pot both times. My problem happened when I played with some of my brothers friends. 2 of them were new to the game and the others had only been playing for about a year. As we all know, these players are usually calling stations, and I expected this going into the game. Although I knew it would be different from playing against seasoned players, I still wanted to win. I ended up in second and won some money, but it was the most frustrating game of my life. Any advice as to how to play against these types of players? Any advice or past experiences would help. Thanks.

[Fphillips 0]

The best answer I can think of....You need the best hand to win in games that have players new to the game.Forget all the fancy moves and play tight and aggressive.They will call alota bets and chase alot so hand selection matters more than in most games.I'm no poker pro but I hope this advice helps.Good luck!

[Smasharoo 0]

Boy I hate playing against bad players because I'm allergic to money. I hate winning money, man do I hate it. As we all know, it's hareder to beat bad players than good players because bad players play badly!

[HoldemPokerPlyr 0]

Bad players can piss you off sometimes when you get a bad beat against them. In the long run though you will be making money off of these players. You want bad players if you want easy money. You just have to learn a few simple rules that may help you out.1. Bluffing is hard against bad players. Why? Because they usually will keep calling.2. If they check, it usually means they have nothing. They don't know about the check-raise. 3. Don't try to be too fancy when playing against bad players. It may screw you in the end. You may have a nice pocket pair with AA so you decide to slow play it but the other guy has a 4 6 and he makes a two pair in the end. 4. They rarely bluff, if they usually start betting alot it means they have a hand. **MOST IMPORTANT: MAKE MONEY OFF OF THEM! -HoldemPokerPlyr

[chacon15 0]

Thanks for all the advice. I played again last night again against some "bad" players. I was able to use your advice and it helped out my game against them a lot. It just meant I played less hands haha. Thanks again.

[Tiburon41 0]

I played a bunch of home games over the break, against a bunch of different people.  I played against my normal group of players (along with some other new ones) and took home the pot both times.  My problem happened when I played with some of my brothers friends.  2 of them were new to the game and the others had only been playing for about a year.  As we all know, these players are usually calling stations, and I expected this going into the game.  Although I knew it would be different from playing against seasoned players, I still wanted to win.  I ended up in second and won some money, but it was the most frustrating game of my life.  Any advice as to how to play against these types of players?  Any advice or past experiences would help.   Thanks.

You can't bluff a bad player, mainly because they're (no insult intended) too stupid to know when they're bluffed or beat. Bad players will draw out on you, because they don't know when to lay something down. They will win many battles at the table. So long as you avoid tilt, and keep playing with them, you will win the war.

[TakeYourClay 0]

All very well said. Especially the part about having to make hands to take pots down. I ran into the same problem initially. I tightened up a bit and let the others bet their gutshot straight into my set or two pair usually. If you're patient the home games aren't that tough to beat. Also, grab Caro's book on tells. You'll see that a lot of the people that don't really play seriously exhibit some of the tells in his bok (ie, leaning back with a hand, hunching over without one, looking at their chips right after the flop, etc.)Just my two cents...