help

been playing with ol' veteren of poker. he has money and is sort of burnt out and plays for fun. he changes gears frequently and will have any holding. my question is how do i play against him. his raises work and i end up playing less then my game. id say he is a small winner with all there fish but hi occupies too much of my time. i have been holding my oun but im unduly influnced by his play. help......

From what I have read, Stu Ungar is one of the very rare, gifted HE player, so if your opponent is barely a winning one, to compare him with Stu is too far-fetched.

Anyway:
You said that he occupies much of your time and affects your play. Well, you're playing in a ring game, right? Then there are other players you can expend more of your energy more profitably. I have noticed in my games that most of the more solid player tends to avoid tangling against each other unless it becomes heads up. You know that poker is a predator's game where you do not want to be the "predatee" [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] , so why waste your effort on an individual you find hard to beat? Unless, of course, you are really challenged and would gain a moral victory of beating this guy. Hey, I don't consider poker like boxing, where you're a club fighter, and because you're coveting the belt of, say, Muhammad Ali in his prime, you decided to fight him even deep in your mind you have but the slightest iota of an upset. Just like poor poker players who, inspite of overwhelming odds against them would chase their 2-outer to the river, hit it and found out they're drawing dead. To me, if I cannot win money from a guy, why play him?

If he is targeting you then you may have to make your stand. What are his starting hand requirements? How good is his post-flop play? What is his bluffing frequency? If he is a marginal winner he is not really that good. Maybe, you are just being intimidated by his image of having money and playing for fun and couldn't care less about losing. Another factor is your comfort level and bank roll for the limit you play. If you feel confident about these and it is worth your effort, then you have to study his tendencies and maybe with his big bankroll, you may make him your ATM machine.

BTW, there was a thread about a year ago by Tommy Angelo about "Hierarchy of Fear" which I found to be very informative and educational. Maybe other posters can give you the link for it.

Sorry for the rambling but I hope I made a little sense. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]