Strategies against players who don't give a damn.

[Crooked Paul]

John, I totally sympathize with you. I just went through exactly the same thing online. Moving from the high-limit play money tables on Poker Stars (where contrary to popular opinion the players are generally rational) to the lowest-limit real money tables, I was getting absolutely murdered.

The problem was that I couldn't get those douches off a hand, even if they were holding bottom pair with a weak kicker. Then they'd hit trips or two pair on the river and gloat about their bad play. I feel you, man.

Here's what I did:

First, I tightened up A LOT. K10s in early position? Fold. A8o on the button? Fold. Fold. Fold.

This is hard to do, because if you're a good player, you're used to raising pre-flop to narrow the field and then outplaying anyone who stays to see the flop. I know, dude, it's hard, but tighten up and FOLD.

So at this point I'm playing only premium hands, always taking into account position. I'd fold even A9s under the gun, but I'd play it on the button.

The next thing I did was pull back on the size of my bets. This, too, seems counterintuitive for a good player who is used to taking pots with selective aggression. But if you're up against opponents who absolutely will not fold, one purpose of betting big (inducing the fold of weak hands) has disappeared. Against these players the ONLY thing your bets accomplish is building the pot when you expect to win. That's it.

The last thing I did was try to stay calm. Remind yourself that even when you're losing <font color="blue">you are making better decisions than your opponents.</font> Keep your head in the game, don't go on tilt even when a bad beat comes, DON'T loosen up your starting hands no matter how many rags you see win, and take a quick break now and then if you need to. Sit out two hands and go get another beer, have a cigarette, smoke some weed. Call your girlfriend on your cellphone. Whatever it takes, just don't tilt.

This is what worked for me. Hang in there. You can beat that fool.


Crooked