Shooting Into The Barrel

Many poker authors write about strategies for the games they play. As consumers of this information, we tend to gravitate to the well-known, high-stakes players. The problem is that the texture of their games and opponents is frequently very different from the way low-limit games play. If you’re a novice or just play low- to mid-stakes, you need to learn how to play against the players who provide the economic benefits to your games, not the Daniel Negreanus of the world.

Fellow Card Player columnist Dr. Alan Schoonmaker made this point on the first page of How to Beat Small Poker Games. “Small game players are MUCH weaker than bigger game players. You MUST adjust to their weaknesses. Most books don’t tell you how to beat bad players.”

Many undeservedly and condescendingly refer to these players as “fish,” “donks,” etc. Often, these “fish” are simply unconcerned about the money they play for and are highly successful in other areas of life. Many times I’ve been amazed by observing a broke, burned out, low-limit hustler intellectually disparage a smart, successful fellow player for the way they played their hand. Not only was the hustler by far the less bright of the two, but the play of disparaging the recreational player is the worst play in poker, way worse than any you can make with cards! What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Make them play better? Quit?

That said, playing low-skilled opponents requires different strategies and skillsets. Some players, myself included, play against low-skilled opponents significantly better than high-skilled ones. While that seems incontestable, the skillsets are different, and the application of those skills varies significantly, even among quality players.

Players play poorly for differing reasons. Some are just looking to wildly gamble and are hyper-aggressive. Exploiting this style involves playing your marginal hands more passively, trapping more, and slowplaying a wider range. Some authorities recommend that you tighten up against these types of opponents, but that’s not optimal. Since you can get much higher implied odds from this kind of opponent, playing more marginal hands for a cheap entry price that can develop into big hands becomes more correct. Hands like wired pairs that can improve on the flop to high equity big hands tend to play better than suited connectors that often have to call large wagers on multiple streets to make a significant holding, and often whiff. Always keep your pricing in mind. A strong made hand against a draw is usually around a 2:1 favorite with two cards to come, a draw against a made hand is usually around a 2:1 underdog. Calling large bets without the correct implied odds won’t get the dough.

A select few play their hands well post-flop, but just want to play too many hands. They call/raise/call raises too much preflop, and it’s an error you can exploit. Assuming you can play at an equal or better level post-flop, you should seek to play slightly more hands with these players, marginally widen your raising and calling range, and increase your bet-sizing. By playing slightly better hands than your opponent, and increasing your bet sizing, you’ll make the best hand more often than they will and the pots (and EV) will be bigger. You’ll be charging them more to play inferior holdings, exploiting their preflop tendency to call too loosely.

Others play badly by playing too loose, passive and predictable. They get little value with their winning hands and lose the max with their weak holdings because they call too much, bet too little, and give away too much information, causing their opponents to make better judgments. Against this texture of opponent you should tighten your post-flop wager calling and bluffing ranges, and widen your value betting ranges. However, while you should be more wary of calling their bets, since they will have tighter betting ranges, the fact that they call more frequently and often higher bet-sizes, you should widen your calls with hands that can improve because the expected value (EV) of your implied price should be high.

Additionally, low-level recreational players are tell rich. Some aren’t even aware that they need to hide their holding’s strength. Pay particularly close attention to them, not only will tells be abundant, but you can attach a high level of confidence to them. Many high stakes players dismiss the value of tells as better players both exhibit fewer and fake them. But there’s great value in them in the lower stakes.

These are just some basic concepts for exploiting weaknesses in low-limit games. There are other methods and derivatives of these concepts. If you’re playing these games, against this kind of player, you need to make sure you understand these concepts and apply them accurately.

And if you can do all that, you’ll be amazed how much it will add to your win rate. ♠

Roy Cooke played poker professionally for 16 years prior to becoming a successful Las Vegas Real Estate Broker/Salesman. Should you wish any information about Real Estate matters-including purchase, sale or mortgage his office number is 702-376-1515 or Roy’s e-mail is [email protected]. His website is www.RoyCooke.com. Roy’s blogs and poker tips are at www.RoyCookePokerlv.com. You can also find him on Facebook or Twitter @RealRoyCooke.