Learn Texas Holdem

The vast majority of the time, things are as they appear. As you become a better player, you run into the problem of losing touch with your prey. What I mean by that is that you forget how they think, and you can overthink hands and end up making fancy plays at the wrong time.

Don't ever fall into the trap of assuming everyone else plays the same way you do (very rarely will they). This is especially true with bad players. The correct way to beat bad players is to play ABC poker. ABC poker is just waiting for good hands and betting them. For example, you wait for a hand like KQ, call with it and then bet it down when you have top pair. *** I see many players play the same way as the table dynamics change. They push too many hands like they would against harder opponents and they just bluff their money off.

Save the fancy tricky play for good opponents. See good opponents will be hard to beat if you just sit there and wait for premium hands because they will notice this and not give you any action, unless they have strong holdings too. To beat very good opponents deception becomes necessary so you have to start playing a little more risky to mix up your play and keep them off balance -- like raising with a few more hands preflop. (This is why it is harder to beat big games, there is more gamble.) To play like this against bad players is just useless and you are giving up your money. When you play against bad players, one of the hardest things to do is not to get stubborn.

Yesterday I was in a hand and had top pair with not a very good kicker. A bad player was calling me and then raised me on the turn. I still had top pair, but there was no chance it was good. The only way that type of player would raise me is if he had two pair or better, so I just mucked and waited for the next hand. (That happens numerous times throughout a session with these guys, so expect it and don't get upset.)

It is common to mess up in this situation if you are a good player, because you overthink things and decide that the opponents are trying to play tricky against you (like semi-bluffing on the turn with a flush draw or something); they aren't! Things are example how they appear. When the bad players have a hand, they raise, when they don't, they just call. It's that easy. Part of your job as a winning player is to figure out how the opponents play and put them in categories. You want to be able to play correctly against all of them, both good and bad. You don't play the same way against the best player at the table as you would against the worst.

*** I've found that raising preflop with hands like AJ, KQ, KJ, etc aren't that great plays in these games. It is much more profitable to just limp in and flop something. It gives you a clearer idea where "everyone is at" and it doesn't cost you as much money, plus you might actually get someone to fold a hand like K2 if you raise, while they are more than happy to just limp in with it. Normally in a tougher game, you would raise with more hands preflop to mix up your play and force people with weaker hands than AJ and KJ to pay more to play, but in these games there is no reason to mix up your play, it falls on deaf ears.