[chris]

I play poker almost every day with some of my friends and I do not consider any of them pros. My problem is, many strategies I read on these forums and in these books are too advanced. For example, it is very hard to put my friends on a hand. They are just as liable to raise preflop with 7 2 offsuit as with A K. My question is, how do you play against these "bad" players?

[lork]

Play in freerolls on almost any online site, haven't really seen any others but Pokerstars has huge one's with plenty of bad players that are good for practice. I do play for money, but this helps a lot against bad players on a bankroll of 0. You become more patient, learning when, where and how to play your hands against bad players, and perhaps most importantly, you get better at sensing weakness/strength in their hands, without physical tells. Add the extra physical "sense" you can get to that, and you can dominate weaker players every time. As long as you stay patient and play it like it is real money, you get a good learning experience. You could and should make it very far almost every time out of 7000 people.

[pritz]

I've had this same problem at my home game...

the best advice I've heard... (because it's simple... and easy to repeat to yourself through the night)

play the opposite of most of the table...

if they're loose... (and they likely are at this kind of table) then play tight...

some people make the mistake of playing looser to see more flops because "that what everyone else is doing..."

but then if you hit it... you have no idea if someone else hit it better, because it's all too unpredictable...

I like to play loose and aggressive at my online game... but it just doesn't work at these tables...

you need to take advantage of your opponenets biggest weakness.... and at this level... their biggest weakness is that they play too many hands... so make sure you don't... and only play premium hands...

[ballen]

But being patient doesnt always work..especially when you dont get cards..the other night im playing with a retard like you described and i raised 5X times the bb and he calls..bet small on the flop to see what he does and he just calls..this guys always just sticks around and trys to fish something...so the turn comes and i bet a little bigger and he just calls..so im figuring what can he possibly have? hes playing his fishing game..i hit top pair on the river and i go all in..he calls...he turns over 7 2 offsuit...made two pair...i think its much harder to play against people who dont know what their doing and play anything then people who actually know what hands to fold or keeep...it pisses me off that i lose money to people who dont know how to play...

[razor]

I hate playing against bad players.

But it teaches you to be able to change the way you play a little differntly with the people you play with. If your playing with a crowd that is really tight and you know if you put alot in they will fold than do that. You have to learn how to play against all different types of people

[BigAl]

You need to adapt, and playing bad players is part of the deal. My advice is as with many other situations - clam up, play only premium hands and you will take jokers carrying junk for all they are worth.

It's hard going, it's frustrating them not having any betting "rules" and it's impossible to guess what they've got. Thats why you don't take any chances.