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Playing Against 'Bad' Players
I've noticed a few people on the forum moaning about 'idiot' players and how 'hard' it is to play against them. I've been listening to this audio book about the correct poker mindset, and there was 1 section that I thought was quite relevant/interesting when it comes to trying to put opponents on hands/ranges. Most of you probably already know this but I always find it's good to repeat things over and over in poker to make it stick.
Basically there are multiple levels any given player will be thinking on...
Level 0 - What cards do I have?
Level 1 - What cards does my opponent have?
Level 2 - What cards does my opponent think I have?
Level 3 - What cards does my opponent think that I think he's got?
Obviously these can go on and on forever and that's how meta-game starts but for the most part you're only gonna come across them 4 levels. And it's key to be thinking ONE level above your opponent, no more, no less. If you're thinking at level 2 and he's thinking at level 0, it's completely pointless cos he aint thinking about what you have, so there's no point representing hands etc.
So in summary, you need to figure out what level these guys are thinking on (mostly level 0) before you decide how to play against them.
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Comments
It's really frustrating when you're having one of those days where the awful players are hitting everything and taking your money, and i have been guilty of calling them mugs because it's so annoying but it is clear that if you just carry on you'll eventually take their money.
I don't know whether it's a good or bad thing about the standard on here though. It'll bring more sharks for sure as soon as the upgrades come along but as long as there's enough fishfood to go round then it should be ok.
What's not in doubt is that the standard is horrendous and is getting worse, but it just brings little annoyances like raising 4p into £1.20 pots and going to pots with AA 6-handed etc. In the long run i'm finding my profits shooting up though.
It's strange though with all the free advice that's out there - i mean, you don't even have to have Sky Tv to watch the live shows and the repeats on 365 and every single week Ryan and co. try to educate and yet it goes in one ear and out the other. Still, without bad players we wouldn't be able to make any money as previously said.
very simply put, bet your hand versus levels 0's, if they raise then fold
can't go far wroung tbh
in essence, you have to adjust to your oppo's level of thinking - that's why level 4's who can not beat nl4 struggle because they think oppo's are thinking on level 1/2 /> !
It is not 'tosh' and is very true if you actually think about it. So let's have an example....
Your opponent is level 0 but you're thinking on level 2, so you're thinking abuot what cards your opponent thinks you have and so you may 'represent' a hand, and bluff the river pretending you have hit your flush. The problem here is Mr Level 0 is only looking at his cards and thinks 'I've got 2pair, I call', so your bluff fails. If you'd have just been thinking at Level 1, you'd think he has 2pr (or something of the like) and give up (not bluff).
This is one of the main reasons why a large amount of players at 4NL are exploitable, because they only think about what they have (Level 0), so if you are capable of thinking at Level 1 and put them on a hand/range, you can assess if you are ahead or not and bet accordingly, so you simply bet when you think you're ahead and don't when you're not.
This does not mean that players capable of Level 4 thinking cannot beat 4NL, I have no doubt Scotty77 could beat 4NL, he just needs to realise that most people have Level 0 thinking, and so start using Level 1 thinking (ABC poker).
Basically there are multiple levels any given player will be thinking on...
Level 0 - What cards do I have? NO (We can see them - Why would we ask what cards we have?)
Level 1 - What cards does my opponent have? NO (We want to take down the pot before the river preferably) so its irrelevent. Unless he shoves your 3 bet or re-raises then its............What cards does my opponent have?
Level 2 - What cards does my opponent think I have? NO It's (What cards DO I want my opponent to think I have?)
Level 3 - What cards does my opponent think that I think he's got? NO It's (What cards DO I want my opponent to think I know he has got?
you can take a horse to water, but you can't make it drink
In relation to educating people playing better poker )
So it doesn't matter what you do or what SKY put out there for free, some people just don't wanna learn
each to their own innit...
I dont get this, cant play bad players thing... Give me a table of 5 "bad" players or 5 sharks, i know which one i would choose to sit at if i wanted to win money! But if i fancied a bit of fun, id be happy to sit at the table of sharks for the lolz, as long as i could afford to lose the money.
just a bit of gamble for them, it's nice to have a gamble - I still do )
If your not playing as al iving then why not gamble, and play slightly against the odds
The amount of outdraws I have had latley I might just start, so tilting !
Just thought I'd bump this cos I think it's an interesting topic and might come in handy for a few of the newer forum posters.