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Struggling against bad players with increasing blinds?
Sometimes, I find myself playing at Stupid O'Clock in the morning and there'll be no more than a couple of hundred people online maximum, and the only game around is a £3.30 DYM with some random guys who (without trying to be rude or disrespectful, I just don't know how else to describe their play) can't play Poker and would probably be better suited to the 30p games or Sky Bingo.
As there's no other games to play, I end up joining and being sat with 5 players who limp into every single pot. I sit through the first couple of levels, only playing premium hands, and letting these guys knock each other out. However, because of the blinds, and hardly playing any hands, by the time it gets down to being 4 handed, unless I've picked up a monster hand and got paid, I'm usually the short stack, blinds are up to 75/150, I'll have maybe 1600 chips, something like that.
In this spot, I'm usually looking to pick up blinds or find a spot to double up and not be the short stack any longer. However, when playing against these players, they don't respect raises, so I can't even put in a 3x raise without getting flat called by the big blind, never mind a min raise! The only move I can make if I want my opponents to fold is to go all in pre-flop. The last thing I want to do is start putting in a decent sized raise with a hand like AK, get called by 3 calling stations, then miss the flop, and have to check/fold as one of them has probably flopped a pair of 6's with no kicker or something, and lose a large chunk of my stack because of other players' bad play. Even going all in is bad because even though they can fold to an open shove, I'll eventually run into a hand and it'll be a losing play over time.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I can't make what would usually be the optimal play in a certain situation, because it just doesn't work, and I don't know how to adapt when the blinds are going up all the time and I can't just wait for a hand, if that makes any sense. I'd probably feel more comfortable playing heads-up with my entire bankroll against Lolufold than having a calling station to my left in a DYM! (Okay, maybe exaggerating slightly...)
Should I just be looking to avoid games against calling stations wherever possible because I'm not comfortable with them, or is there a way of dealing with them with blinds going up all the time?
Comments
1st bold bit - This is very good, would you rather they raise every hand and make it expensive for you to play small pairs?
2nd - This is good only premium in early levels well done.
3rd - Gets to 4-handed, again half the job done and this is now the crucial stage.
4th - 1600 chips at 75/150 is plenty, and now you just have to maintain a stack that will scare players if you shove and this involves shoving in the right spots to steal the blinds ideally on the Btn or SB, if you keep doing this the plan is to hope the other 3 AWFUL players get involved with a hand and knock one or another out or better still you finaly get AA and double up.