A little less than a year ago I was doing a lot of reading about poker and gearing up for a great summer of poker. Everything went according to plan, and when I focused on playing my best I was beating the $10/$20 and $20/$40 games on Paradise for a lot of money. The trouble - or at least my trouble is - that after a long stretch of continuous play my game starts to deteriorate. Let's say I've played every day for a month straight. My "poker pysche," as I like to refer to it, is usually in a pretty shattered condition. In that amount of time I would have seen some horrendous rivers, etc. It's enough to drive a man away from solid winning strategy, that's for sure. Ok, that story doesn't really have much to do with weak opponents. Still, take a break for a couple of weeks if you're not running well. It has never failed to help me.
Back on topic - what do you do when you are playing at a table full of seemingly dumb, very loose players who don't even know how the blinds and limits work (anyone who has ever played in a $3/$6 game at Soaring Eagle knows what I'm talking about, but I think I've seen it even more at the $6/$12 limits). It shouldn't suprise some of you that I find this type of game to be the least attractive, and guess what, I'm gonna tell you why.
Poker is a game of partial information, and betting is how players communicate with each other at the table. When I check-raise from early position it could mean I have a flush draw, top pair-weak kicker, a set, etc. I could even be on a bluff. When someone bets into me at a K97 rainbow flop and I raised from behind them with QQ before the flop they are telling me that they have a King. They might not have the King, but that's what they're representing. By understanding the way people's bets and checks and check-raises communicate you can gain more and more information and actually put some analytic skill to use to come up with ways of winning the most money. HOWEVER, at a table full of poker illiterates there exists no such modality of communication. Unless these players immediately exhibit some sort of monster tell it's very difficult to analyze what the possibilities of their holdings are. To put it simply, you can't read someone who themself does not know what they have. Likewise, you can't communicate to someone that you have a hand by betting or raising when the only hand they are concerned with is the one they are holding. Typically in this type of game you will see a lot of slow calls on the flop and turn, and then when they get bet into again on the river the weak player will wrinkle their brow, pick both of their cards up completely off the table, stare at the board and then finally deciede that their Jack-hi is probably not going to take down the pot. In turn, you will have your AK pair up on the flop and get outdrawn by some strange hands with much greater frequency at this type of game just in the same way that you will get that pair paid off by hands that are virtually dead with much greater frequency.
The reason why I don't particularly care for playing with people who don't have any clue what they're doing is because it totally eliminates a huge edge I have over players who I can read well and outplay. The only resort I have is to patiently fold a lot of hands and try to limp in with good drawing hands and raise with only the most powerful starting cards. When the table of novices is crazy and aggressive this becomes even more difficult.
Here's a couple of tips for when you find yourself in that spot:
1.) Never, repeat never, try to put a sophisticated move on a weak opponent. I'm certainly not the first person to tell you that a bad player can't be bluffed. Just don't do it.
2.) It helps to try and play along and not get visibly frustrated or lash out at bad players who seem too dumb to lose. The only thing worse than playing at a table full of people that don't know how to post blinds but are more than happy to raise with any two random cards is when those players also think you are a jerk.
3.) Focus more on limping in with drawing hands before the flop. AQos probably is not worth playing for a raise in any position but the cut-off and button, but Th8h can be a great hand to limp in with. The reason: it's easy to fold when you miss, and when you're on a draw you don't really have to have a great read on the other players in order to get good value out of your hand. Be careful not to get too frivolous with your weak connectors and suiting cards, though. It is rare to make a draw and you can end up calling off a lot of chips with those weak hands when they don't improve to make winners. Obviously position will be a major determining factor in how you play 'em before the flop.
4.) Only raise preflop with AQs or better unless you are in late position and want to pump up a big pot with a good drawing hand (aka - suited connector). Unlike Hellmuth, I do not necessarily consider 77 and 88 to be better starting hands than AQs, so use some disgression when you playe those types of hands. Remember that in a very loose-aggressive game hands like 99 and 88 usually need improvement or a very cooperative board in order to win the pot.
5.) Just leave. If you don't like the game and feel that it's going to be more frustration than it's worth just get up and walk away. That's some solid gold advice that by far outweighs the technical stuff above that you probably already had figured out.
