Strategies that make more against better players

[phish]

My answer is absolutely 'yes' against 'solid but not great' opponents, but 'no' against world class players.

In fact, I often find the 'solid but not great' opponents much easier to play against than against the total donks.

[JJNJustin]

Look for their specific weaknesses and exploit them.
Look for their specific strengths and avoid them.

Be more creative.
Mix it up.
Manipulate them into making mistakes later against you.

-J

[JaredL]

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My answer is absolutely 'yes' against 'solid but not great' opponents, but 'no' against world class players.


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This is my view. The key as a poster above said is that a strategy that exploits the weaknesses of a certain type of opponent could be exploited by another type of opponent, and it doesn't matter if the second is worse.

I'm sure there are less nitpicky examples but here are a couple:

1. In shorthanded limit you have a playing style (probably what I should have chosen instead of strategy which seems to have confused people) that involves a lot of betting/raising and then folding if you get (re)raised, particularly on the turn and river. Against two players that are otherwise pretty equal, but one bluff raises far too often on late streets and maybe is a bit too loose with calls early I think you would do better against the first guy as the second guy will cause you to make some huge mistakes by folding in big pots. The first guy may adjust to your play and start bluffing more, but even good players are unlikely to adjust enough. So in this case, player B bluffs too much overall, but against your style of play this happens to help him.

2. Compare two NLHE SNGs. Every player is the same in both except the player to your left. The guy to your left is the same in both with the exception that in one case he is far too loose in calling all-in raises before the flop when it is just the SB vs BB. There are loads of strategies that will do better with the tighter player to your left. In fact, depending on more specifically how loose the guy is in SB/BB situations I would guess that it may be the case that no matter how you play (assuming to play the same way in either case) you will do at least as well against the tighter player.

So both of those examples are fairly contrived. In the first case, if you adjusted to the strategy of the bad player then you would end up making more from him. That should be the case for all cash game examples, and must be if you're only discussing heads-up. In tournaments it may not be because it can be the case that guys who repeatedly make -EV plays against you could seriously harm your EV (all players other than the two of you gain obviously).

One thing I wanted to mention is that a good way to play against people who are tight and aggressive and you think may not be paying attention (multitabling for example), is to play somewhat looser preflop and on the flop and check-raise them on the turn. A lot of these guys will fold way too often to your raise. In fact, many of you (I do this) when multitabling fold far too much when raised on the turn because you don't follow games closely enough to notice that the same guy is nailing you with late street raises.

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In fact, I often find the 'solid but not great' opponents much easier to play against than against the total donks.

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This is often true for me as well. As I alluded to above, players easier to read are easier to play against. However, be careful. The total donks are still better to play against from an EV perspective. As I said above, if you are adjusting properly to their bad play then you will make much, much more from the bad players.