Adapting to wild players in home cash game
 

In my weekly home game ($20 buy-in) there are 2 (me and one other guy) of us who "study" the game. The rest of the players are pretty bad to pretty good, relying mostly on general poker knowledge and common sense. We're all friends.

There are two guys who essentially don't know anything about the game besides the rules and basic structure and make wild plays that would be considered by most to be unconventional and generally "bad". We recently opened up a can of worms explaining pre-flop raising and are now dealing with the reprocussions of people not quite understanding how to apply it.

Typical plays from these guys include, but are not limited to:
Raising 10-15BB pre-flop
Seriously overbetting (3 to 4 times the pot) on the flop
Seriously underbetting the pot on the turn and river.

My question is, how do I adapt to these wildly erratic movies? I tend toward pretty tight play in general, so calling these huge bets without monster hands goes pretty well against my nature.

Please keep in mind when replying, I am NOT complaining about the way these guys play. I usually end up ahead when the game breaks regardless, but I know with a few tweaks to my game I can take serious advantage of their unorthodox poor plays.

What I am looking for are suggestions on how to adapt my play in order to take advantage of the gold mine I see in front of me.

Thanks

Re: Adapting to wild players in home cash game
 

Just play ABC poker and you should be fine.

Re: Adapting to wild players in home cash game
 

If these 2 guys are like a couple of guys at our home game--usually they bust out early, sometimes the build huge chips stacks, and in the side games they play "dealer's choice" games with wild cards and names like Mariah--then I would recommend a few things.
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If you have a choice, sit to their left so you can act after them.

If you are in a pot with them and have a hand better than just top pair, try to get heads up. Chances are they are betting aggressively with just top pair.If you can force out other players who might have you beat or have a better draw, you have a good chance of taking down a big pot heads up.

Other players are going to call them because everyone wants to take their money. If you can get in cheaply, try to see flops with connected cards or Axs, Kxs. The times you hit your flush or your straight should more than pay for the times you have to fold after the flop.

If you don't get the cards to take their money, just be patient. Someone is going to take their money, and then you can take the money from that player. It's not worth it to play looser in an attempt to get their money. Play good cards until they get knocked out, unless, as I said, you can get in cheaply with drawing hands.

The presence of a couple of gamblers at a game makes other players gamble more. That increases the risk for everyone. Let them knock themselves out, or others out, and then make your move (unless, of course, you have the cards).[/list]

Re: Adapting to wild players in home cash game
 

slight adjustment to what fortune says. Sit to their right, not their left. If they are the known wild players then the whole table is waiting for them to play so there'll be plenty of checking to them. Then you get to see what the good players are doing as well.

They bet 4xPot on the flop, a good player raises behind. Now your bottom 2 pair's not looking so good and you can ditch it.