[Dr_Doctr]

I don't agree that trying to find soft games would hurt your development at all. Exploiting weak players for maximum value is probably the most important skill you can have. A lot of regulars I see who play pretty well against other regulars refuse to adjust their game to weak players - they play their usual Tag game or whatever and while it definitely gives them an edge it's often far from optimal. They refuse to limp because limping is 'bad' - they refuse to coldcall because coldcalling is 'bad' - they refuse to play junk because playing junk is 'bad', and so on.

You can still learn to exploit regulars because you hardly ever get a table full of very bad players. In fact playing soft games with just one or two regulars is probably more helpful to developing skills because you'll have to adjust to the dynamic - looking out for regulars trying to isolate and 3-betting them etc.