The Weaker Players

Something inside of me wants to win badly when I sit at any poker table, and my natural instinct is to attempt to control the action and push the issue. Most poker players who attempt to make their living have gone through similar emotions, and the first goal is to learn to control them. For example, I often like to find the other poker players at the table who are skilled, and I like to pick on them and be especially tricky, I guess to prove that I am better at poker than them. Unfortunately, they know the drill, and I get picked off sometimes. The better players to exploit are not the talented players, but those with known tendencies. Although I switch between tight-aggressive and loose-aggressive modes, depending on my table and chip stacks, I generally have learned that straight-forward poker with adjustments to individual players (especially in position when I can act after the player) is a must.

• The Ueber-tight Player: I bet a lot when they check, and I raise a lot when they bet. Of course, they'll start to notice that tendency and begin to grow frustrated with me, but instead of playing back at me, they often play even more tightly hoping to snap me off. I have usually backed off by then, or at least at the sign of first resistance.
• The Calling Station: My favorite. They call all the time, so they cannot be bluffed, but they will pay you off huge when you have the nuts or a good made hand. I value bet and value bet and value bet some more.
• The Former Jock: Also known as the Ball Cap Kids (which I blogged about previously), these guys attempt to steal a bunch. Re-stealing with an all-in is a good bet most of the time against this type of player when you sniff a bluff, but I often don't have the heart to push all my chips into the pot, so I simply re-raise. This usually accomplishes my mission. These guys usually talk a bunch and wince a lot, and they usually aren't very smart.

When I am playing well, I exploit these kinds of weaknesses, and they are everywhere. Though the fields in Las Vegas have gotten a little tougher than the last time I was here, they are still very weak at the levels which I play. I'll tell you about my attempted exploit in my next blog. Oh, and it went badly.