lines bad players take that good players misinterpret

[Guruman]

One of the most difficult (and rewarding) things a poker player can do is to really get inside the mindset of his opponents. Since we seek out bad opposition like good little poker players, I'd like to take a semi-analytical look at some plays that bad players make that look like good plays, but are in fact poorly conceived.

In a general sense, bad players differ from good players by valuing the wrong things. These things (in no specific order) consist of, but are not limited to

winning the hand that they are currently playing.
-bad players want to win every hand that they are involved in, and may bluff carelessly if shown weakness.

showing down
-bad players don't like to be the last one to fold. Really bad players will call you down with seven high and no draw just to see your cards.

folding out worse hands
-bad players would rather win by making a bet and having everyone fold to them. this includes the times that others are drawing dead. It just feels good to flex a little and have everyone run in fear.

hitting a draw
bad players love to hit that big flush or hidden straight, and can be willing to take poor odds and chase just to get the chance to show down the winner and go nuts on the river.

As good players, we value all of these things as well. Just not to the great extent that bad players do, and never at the expense of proper odds or lost bets.

so

just as bad players have similar but fundamentally different poker values than good players do, they take similar lines with radically different thought processes than good players do.

occasionally these lines lead to them accidentally playing perfectly against us [why does that f#$^# fish keep calling my bluffs with bottom pair?]. More often, they are misapplied and result in spewing.

There are a couple of specific lines that I'd like to address, and I'd love to hear other contributions as well. The deeper we can get into that mindset, the greater our ability to exploit it.

Here's my first example:

The Stop'n'Go

defined as:just calling a bet or raise out of position [the stop], and then leading out on the next street [the go].

Good players take this line when they have a moderately made hand and suspects an opponent may be either ahead or drawing. This prevents leading players from reraising, and it prevents drawing players from taking a free card. If an opponent is not capable of betting or raising and taking a free card on the next street with a draw, then this play is not usually recommended.

Bad players do this too. The difference is that the are unmotivated by our possible holdings. Most stop'n'go's from bad players that I've seen come from moderately made hands like middle pair or a mid pp that the bad player is afraid to cap with. The main difference is that bad players can make this move whether or not there is a draw on the board. They also have a hard time folding to a raise under most circumstances. In thier mind, the two cards they hold are worth about one or two bets per street, and they know that if they get capped they may have to fold, so they'd rather just not find that out. they may value showing down more than thier money This mentality may mean that thier hands are more difficult to read, but it also widens thier range to the point that it's often profitable to continue betting and raising with most moderately ok holdings.

another note here. Occasionally they'll stumble into the correct situation for this play with the correct cards, forcing you to fold. If this happens more than once or twice in a short session, they'll notice and start taking shots with worse hands. This probably shouldn't change our strategy much, but it may net us more money when we go into calldown mode against them.

I'll update this as I think I can define more of them. Feel free to add your own! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]