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Edited by Sona59 at 25-12-2023 12:33 PM
01. You Need Position
If you have position, making opponents emotionally unstable becomes a million times easier. Positional advantage allows you to 3-bet, tangle, and bluff weaker players, extracting more value. Constantly disrupting opponents will eventually tilt them (from a gaming perspective, through your bets and raises, not your social behavior). When you are the last player to act, executing your plans becomes straightforward. For this reason, I try to disrupt weaker players as much as possible when I have position.
This also means that I tend to avoid fast-paced modes (Zoom). In fast-paced games, opponents and your position change with each hand, making it impossible to maintain positional advantage. You also can't target them with data from auxiliary software because you may need 10-20 hands to gather sufficient information, which is not enough.
02. Weak Players Like to Limp; I Like to Raise
Once you have position, what's next? In low-stakes games, poor players often limp into pots frequently, entering the pot with almost a 50% range of hands, taking the flop "cheaply." The easiest way to annoy them is to start raising with a wider range of hands. When they can't get to the flop cheaply multiple times, they tend to give up.
Personally, I will raise with any playable hands, such as any pair, two high cards, most AX hands, most KX hands, almost all suited connectors, most suited gappers, and even some suited three-gappers.
When there is a regular player on your left, the prerequisite for raising is that this regular player is a tight-passive player. If they are an aggressive player, it is challenging to isolate weaker players with a wider range. Fortunately, in low-stakes games, most regular players are relatively passive.
03. Make Many Continuation Bets on the Flop
The strategy on the flop is relatively simple—you should lean towards more aggressive decisions. When opponents check to me, I almost always make a continuation bet. This is more important when facing opponents with no history because they will give you more respect.
However, if my flop continuation bet is called, I usually stop my action on the later streets, especially when holding air. If the opponent is a calling station, avoid frequent bluffs as they won't be effective.
The main reason for increasing the frequency of flop continuation bets is that opponents will often miss the flop. You can take down most pots with continuation bets even when they miss, and you still have a chance to hit your own cards on the later streets. With positional advantage, you can completely control the direction of the game.
04. Identify When Weak Players Are Tilted
If you follow this strategy against weaker players, raising with a wide range before the flop and making frequent continuation bets on the flop, you will win many pots. This is because opponents will often miss the flop, frustrating them.
At this point, opponents become more aggressive in some pots, hoping to regain some chips. Most of the time, they are bluffing. Note that unless you have a strong hand, be extra cautious in large pots. The opponents are likely to bluff, so stay focused.
I'm talking about strong hands, not nuts. For example, top pair can be considered strong because when opponents' bluffing ranges increase, our ranges for bluff catching and value betting also increase. In large pots, we don't need nuts to beat them.
However, there will be times when you get very good hands (such as AA before the flop or hitting a hidden set on the flop), and the returns will be even more exciting.
Conclusion
Many players have forgotten that profits come from weaker players. When playing poker, your main goal should be to extract chips from weak players. Remind yourself that these opponents lack an understanding of the game, but they are not fools. If you sit there waiting for AA, they won't pay you much. The best approach is to sit behind weaker players, bet/raise them a lot, especially on the flop and pre-flop. Eventually, you will get strong hands (maybe just a top pair), and you won't have to worry about opponents not paying you. |
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Post time 6-12-2023 12:28:05