Playing Well against Rookies

[Yo'Maha]

You are probably right about that rule - I call it a rule, because it's the advice I hear most...."tighten up against bad players and play the percentages against them. Overall, you'll beat them". I have always equated this to playing tighter pre-flop, but I think the moral here is not necessarily that. Post-flop is where I am learning you want to play more solid poker.

To that end, I have noticed that while these "rookies" rarely meet two cards they don't like, seem to call everything, and you can't always get a good read on where you are at in the hand, they also let you in the pot for cheap. You see very few pre-flop raises and when you do, you usually know where you are in the hand, so the call is almost easier. So kind of talking this thing through here, I guess the right advice is to see alot of flops and play good post-flop poker.

Along with the rest of the advice that came in....i.e, rarely bluff and never naked bluff...don't get too tricky, etc., I'm also learning that they are never reading you the way you think they are, or should. They don't think the same as you, so I guess remembering that will help.

Either way, I still got clobbered the other night in my home game again. Fish-boy chased a straight all the way to the river against all three of my pot-sized raises with the nuts and a board that should have told him to let it go.

Baited the hook, cast the line, hooked-up the fish, reeled him to the boat......then the river came and took my fish away....along with the rest of my chips. Oh well, I guess it's bound to happen. Thanks for all the good advice. Interesting discussion.

[Coffee]

I'd just like to chime in as a moderately successful low-stakes NL player to say that the majority of my +EV is my postflop play. It's not so much that you need to tighten up preflop, so much as it is that you should expect to have to showdown your hand to win. Many times, you won't need much more than a pair. But...you are going to outstrip the rookies primarily on your postflop play.

Oh...also...the biggest disparity between you and rookies is going to be betting aptitude. 8 out of 10 low limit players have ZERO concept of how much to bet properly. They'll either underbet or severely overbet the pot. In the first case, you will often have the right odds to draw. On the second case, depending on the player, you'll either know to bail out or to call, if he's the sort of rookie who likes to shove his stack in with less than the nuts.

[JOHNY CA$H]

One thing I do notice with no-fold-em holdem against loose, sub-par players is that while you're sitting back waiting for a good hand, these guys are going to war with any two. After a few rounds, the smoke has cleared, and one of these cats is left with a MASSIVE stack (after all, SOMEONE has to come out on top after all of these A6 vs 88 match-ups).
How do you counter-act this?

1) Get good at heads-up, so you can routinely beat a donk with a 2 to 1 or even 3 to 1 chip lead.

2) Play hands cheaply that play well against multiple players. Small pairs and suited connectors. It just takes a big pot or two in a game like this to get to heads against an even stack.

3) VALUE BET!!!!!!!!!!!

4) Avoid suckouts.

Many players have trouble against LAG players, whether these LAGs are good or not. Get better against them ,and your results will improve.

[mrpotto]

Had this experience at a home 30 person tourney where in my estimation 20+ had no clue. Goat rodeo described this tourney.

Early on I get pocket Jacks and raise 3x big blind. 6 callers! I think to myself, "Hmmmmm, I guess everyone's got a pocket pair". Flop is something like 8 4 2 rainbow. I bet pot. 4 callers! Turn = 6 or something. Bet pot. 2 callers. River is a J giving me a set.
Bet a large amount and get same two callers. One had a pair of 4s the other had pocket aces!