Hi....this is my first post so excuse me if a silly question.

I have been playing NL hold'em for 2-3 years now on a background of playing draw poker and stud for 10-15 years before that.

Recently we have started a game of limit hold'em with about 8 of us playing regularly including 4 guys who are total newbies and learning week to week. The first few weeks it went as expected with the better players doing well but this has evened out a lot in recent times.

This is the problem. I am finding that there is a lot of very loose betting and apparently lucky draws as most people are willing to stay in the pot and hope for flushes,straights etc.. which invariably turn up if there are 4-5 people winning to stay all the way to the river.

How do you play against this? I am forever studying and trying to work out tells and odds but it appears as though this is a waste of time with people randomly throwing their chips about in the hope of landing good hands (which seems to have a predilection for myself). I am, by nature, a tight player who will occasionally bluff but this is lost on the newbies. I don't want to sit tight all night and only play pocket JavaScript or above but I also don't want to be the guy chucking in chips with a 2 6 off suit in their hand in "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" fashion.

All suggestions and tips appreciated guys..............

Is this cash or tournament and how deep are the stacks usually relative to blinds?

Against these type of players never slowplay and always bet godd hands big. Raise AA-QQ hard and bet pot on flop (all in if you think you will get called by any top pair or draw).

Limp and call reasonable raises with any pocket pair <JJ playing for trips. Which you should bet hard until all in.

Personally if you feel that a 4bb preflop raise will always be called by 4 people I don't mind folding AK in these types of games, but you should probably raise it and bet al in any top pair.

These games can be frustrating. Forget any moves/bluffs and play ABC poker, it's the only way to win.