Monday, February 8, 2010

Playing inexperienced players.

The only cash game I play in right now is either the friday or saturday $10 tourney on pokerstars.

The rest of the time I play free poker.

Free poker has the most inexperienced players, 1$ buy in cash tournaments have a few, and in any large tournament from 1 - 10 dollar buy ins you will run into one or two.

Some things about these players are difficult, bluffs fall on deaf ears, called bets make little sense, especially in ratio to the size of the called bet. However, other things can usually be exploited. A little observation usually reveals:

Kickers are not usually considered on top pair. If they hit top pair no kicker they will swallow large bets through the river. Especially aces.

They will usually not check raise or even re-raise. They will just call medium to large bets with two pair. Or even a set. They undervalue most large hands up to straights.

Don't bluff them.

So, an ideal situation is where you have top pair good kicker. If they also have top pair, especially an ace, they will call large bets to the river.

Generally, if they hit almost any pair or draw, they are calling stations. They are ideal for drawing hands, as you can usually make a small enough bet to make the pot odds favourable on the draw, and they won't re-raise.

The real advantage can be exploited on calculating odds on all in moves. They make mistakes going for draws (calling large bets on gut shot straight draws), they overvalue top pairs. No need though to go all in pre flop unless you have the two top pairs, wait to see what the flop brings and act accordingly.

Against an inexperienced player, you want to see the flop. Your ability to make an educated guess on their hands will give you an advantage post flop.

If you hit big don't bother trying to trap. Instead make mid size bets doubling them to the river, look out for draws.

Beginners are much more likely to see a flushes over a straight, especially a hidden straight (5QA74). If your open ended straight draw hits, and they have a pair of aces or better, you can get all of their chips.

Of all the people you play, they are the most likely to get lucky to beat you, as a good player doesn't get themselves into situations where the odds are stacked heavily against them. The occasional two outer does hit on the river, but as with all poker, its much more important to go out on a good decision than to rely on random luck. That is the price you play for otherwise having an exploitable foe.

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