How to beat a player who seems lucky....

Ok, I mentioned how unlucky I get when playing tournaments. But in cash games I seem to do alright. My best games seem to be limit tables, but I occassionally play some NL home cash games. For the most part I do alright at them as well. A majority of the time I end up making money... Not getting rich, but coming out ahead nonetheless. But there is one player I play against on a regular basis that I just can't seem to beat.

This guy will call any raise with any two cards from any position. He will gladly chase a flush when he needs runner-runner, and make it most of the time, no matter how much you bet. You can raise 5x the BB with AA and he'll call you with 35 suited and end up catching his flush or two pair. I know poker logic dictates that you want this type of player at your table. But I have played with this guy for more than a year now and I have NEVER seen him leave with less money than he started with. He has no clue about odds or position, in fact, if you mention either of those things to him he will look you in the eye and ask "What the hell does that have to do with anything?" He plays totally by "feel".

So how do you beat this type of player? My strategy for the most part is to just avoid him as much as possible. He simply ignores aggression and trying to trap him usually ends up backfiring on me. For example: I once thought I had trapped him with a nut flush, I knew he was chasing it with lower cards of the suit and when it hit on the turn I knew he'd call any bet I made, only to see him catch a straight flush on the river. What a pisser.

So how would you combat this type of player? Am I doing right to just try avoiding him?

players like this are unbeatable because they have sold their souls to the devil for their luck in poker.

There is no such thing as luck. It is most likely your perception that he is lucky because he seems to come out ahead all the time. Any chance that it just seems that way? Do you have any hard evidence?

[Guernica4000]

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... This guy will call any raise with any two cards from any position. He will gladly chase a flush when he needs runner-runner, and make it most of the time, no matter how much you bet. You can raise 5x the BB with AA and he'll call you with 35 suited and end up catching his flush or two pair...
...But I have played with this guy for more than a year now and I have NEVER seen him leave with less money than he started with...
...I once thought I had trapped him with a nut flush, I knew he was chasing it with lower cards of the suit and when it hit on the turn I knew he'd call any bet I made, only to see him catch a straight flush on the river...

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If what you say is true and this is been going on for over a year the easy solution is to not let him deal.

Players like this are the kind you want at your table, BUT, there are those rare few who have a tremendous amount of luck and never seem to lose. The easiest way to combat him taking your money is to A. Not play a pot against him, B. Kill yourself so you cant go to the game and lose your money, or C. make a post that doesnt tell us how a player who is as horrible as you say he is always wins. You made a lot of sense in your post...

[andyfox]

We've all had players whom we feel are our nemesis who always seem to beat us no matter what. There are usually a few big hands that stand out in our memory where they took the worst of it and sucked out, taking "our" big pot from our grasp.

People do run good or bad. That can't be denied. But when the last hand is over, the next one begins. To get the money, you have to play your best poker each and every hand. To avoid a particular player because he's "lucky," or to try to play against another because he's "unlucky" is -EV.

There are also some players who seem to be taking the worst of it all the time, but if you look at their play closely, they're not playing as badly as we might think. If this guy wins every time, he must be doing at least some things right. Luck is usually the residue of design.

Post a hand or two or three in the appropriate forum where you play against him and he gets lucky. See what the forum thinks about his play. If he is indeed just running good, this too shall pass.

[handsome]

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There is no such thing as luck. It is most likely your perception that he is lucky because he seems to come out ahead all the time. Any chance that it just seems that way? Do you have any hard evidence?

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This is wrong.




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players like this are unbeatable because they have sold their souls to the devil for their luck in poker.

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This is right.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
There is no such thing as luck. It is most likely your perception that he is lucky because he seems to come out ahead all the time. Any chance that it just seems that way? Do you have any hard evidence?

[/ QUOTE ]
This is wrong.




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players like this are unbeatable because they have sold their souls to the devil for their luck in poker.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is right.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh - my bad. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I absolutely won't play a hand if he's in it. He's just the one player that I won't try anything tricky with. I never EVER try to bluff him because it's totally pointless.

The only move I know to make on him is to move all-in if it's a rainbow flop and I'm pretty sure I have the best hand at the time. Most of the time when I do this he'll fold because he still needs two cards to make his draw. He will usually show me his cards and say if he only needed one more he would call in a heartbeat. Although I've lost count of how many times I've seen him risk all of his money to catch runner-runner or a gutshot. When it looks like he only needs one card to make his draw I still bet heavy, the size of the pot or more, but I don't risk moving all-in.

I'm not sure what proof I can give you he always wins. I only know that I've never seen him leave with less money than he started with. Now there have been nights where he only made a small profit. But I know when his name is mentioned everyone just groans. Also, we usually have a permanent dealer.... About 90% of the time.

As for my own play... I'm not too worried with my cash game play. I'm not perfect by any means and I'm always looking to learn more and improve my game. What I try to do most of all is get good reads on the other players and base my moves on those reads and my position. And several of the people I play with on a regular basis have paid me the highest compliment I can think of... That is they've told me several times that they just can't get a read on me. My actions are the same if I have the nuts or if I'm bluffing. If I could just get that to carry over to my tournament play I'd be doing alright.

So you'll push when you think you are ahead and he calls? So you are giving him 2-1 odds to make a call when he only needs one card? You do realize that a call on a 4 flush on the flop only needs 2-1 odds to be a good call right? Add an OESD and he'd be wrong to NOT call.

Sorry man - but it sounds to me like you are not quite the poker player he is.