One thing I have trouble with is putting players on hands. Some players are easier than others of course. Some of the no-foldem junkies I play with are liable to have AA-27os, basically any two cards from any position and raising to the hilt. So what I have done to some extent is just play big pairs like only AA, KK, but those hands don't come often enough. So a lot of folding is in order. I play in a lot in 1.00-2.00nl game, so if you have a hand like AK, AQ, some one makes it twenty to go and you call or raise, most of the time all the money will get in. So it may be a multi-way pot or heads up. Basically the variance in this game is severe. I know these players are super donks, but in my opinion it is hard to outdraw a lot of them. Because in NL holdem, one hand can cost you everything, especially after you have made a ton of good plays all-night and boom one hand its all gone. I'm learning somewhat to stay away from these type games, because its just too volatile. I find it hard for mystyle to have an edge. If you get AA and 2-3 players have called a raise in front of you for $20 or more and you reraise or whatever and the money gets in and you lose. I see that happening all the time. Is it right, Math says you may be a favorite or whatever, but your empty wallet says something else. That may also come down to bankroll issues, but I just don't like the heavy swings myself. Also, its usually some asshole idiot that gets my money and I hate that. Please let me know your thoughts on this, and how to combat these issues. I guess I kinda got of on another subject, but with these guys, 3-4 players going into a hand. I try to play big cards, see cheap flops, I have read Lee Jones Low-limit poker, basically play straight forward poker in this one game. You can sit for a month not playing a hand, and then raise, a lot of players will call. They don't care about what you are doing, just themselves. These guys are awful players, but I have a hard time beating them a lot. Any thoughts on this?

Another thing also that has happened to me a lot is. Waiting and trapping aggressive players, I will wait on a big hand like AA,KK and raise, get the money in and lose. I wait on the moment and when it comes I pounce and lose. It has happened to me many many times, sometimes I just wanna flip the table over. Just joking, I take it in stride and move on. Basically, if you are a good player and you are what is the best way to exploit these fish.

tough one, but in these situations the old advice, is the best. Aquire the best hand and bet it. developing the ability to put your opponents on a hand is something that takes time. But look at things like when they were in a hand with you or any other player did they call on the flop and river with two diamonds on board then fold to a bet on the river, if so its likely they were drawing to a flush. Or prehaps the board was very draw heavy and they raised any bets against them, its likely they have a made hand such as top pair top kicker. If the betting is getting heavy on a raised pot its likely somebody has top pair top kicker and maybe one of them has a hole pair which has made a set. Each player plays differently but we are creatures of habit and most of us are almost robotic without even realising when it comes to how we play a hand. With calling stations it can be almost impossible to tell what they hold, they are usually completely passive, even when they hold a strong hand which can be outdrawn. Next time your at a table really concentrate on how every player plays a hand, especially hands in which your not involved, watch the board and try to assign a hand to each player in the pot. Playing AA or KK to an aggressive player can be tricky, although most of the time you are way ahead, the best advice with these hands is to always re raise as its better to win a small pot than lose a big one. If your opponent decides to take the flop watch it very carefully for straight or flushes, or flops r such as KQ high as many lose players may call a reraise with hands such as KQ without a second thought. however if you were dealt Aces every hand you would be a rich man. Dont be afraid to protect them and get aggressive with big pocket pairs but also the ability to say, you know what i only have a pair at the end of the day its time to get out of this hand is something many players lack the ability to do. Well thats my two cents worth. prolly just left you completely confused but hey.

Just a quick addition, not always the case but even a calling station knows when they have it good, and a sudden burst of confident betting from them on the river can mean they just chased and made that two pair against you. On the other hand this type of bet from a very loose player can mean a busted draw. However thats not always the case and they could have just been letting you do the betting for them. Also a good place to brush up on your skills is sit and go games as you can only lose your buy in, but you get to play or observe lots of hands without risking too much money. But as i said in the above post practice putting opponents on a hand, that way your always playing, even when your cards are in the muck. You may be suprised how accurate you become, of course there will always be the times when you get it completely wrong, and the very best players will mix it up so much they leave your head spinning and wondering what happened.

Thanks for the advice, I'll try harder to focus on that stuff

One that is hard to deal with is when you do make the right read and move in on them and then get outdrawn for all your chips, which happens to me a lot. I've some pros say that one day you'll make a small profit and one day a big one. I'm usually not the guy who buys-ins for $200 and cashes out for $2000, it seems the donks do that more. One friend of mine says that pro grind more for smaller pots. Players do know that I'm good, so it seems that I loose big pots with the best hands more than them and win small pots with whatever. A lot of times it seems that they know when I have a hand, not by reads, just dumb fate. I don't think that I'm jinxed or nothing, but its tough to beat a bunch of donks.

Interesting, it could be thata s dumb as they are, they have noticed you have a narrow pre flop range. Try mixing it up a little by raising if your first to open when holding hands like 9 10 Suited in late position. If a guy knows you have AK or similar they are gonna call with almost any two and see if they can outflop you. Also ive been running bad lately due to donks (i have posted a thread in online poker discussions). The problem with them is, if you have one or two at your table then its easy money, against a bunch of them, each will take their turn to suckout on you. if you play regularly at the same place, Look at each donk and all they are doing is passing the same pool of money between themselves from one day to the next. Also do you play limit or no limit? In limit the variance can be brutal because almost every body is priced in preflop due to the odds on offer, if you are playing limit it may be worth trying no limit (maybe drop stakes slightly). Something else i try to do in every game is incorporate a new tactic by trying to play a hand differently, for instance try check raising your next flush draw, this can have the advantage of taking down the pot there and then or confusing your opponent. of course there will always be those who couldnt care less what your holding and will hang on until the death. But thats poker, the truth is in the long run the donks lose and tight aggressive players win (supposedly).

Great post, I love your answers, especially about passing the money around between donks, so true. Also, I think that you are right about the narrow range as well. I try and play straightforward poker without being to straightforward, if that makes since. I guess its like fastball pitcher, throwing a curve every now and then. The other night I would raise strong hands in various positions and the second guy to my left came over the top with healthy raises and I would lay down hands like AK, AQ. He showed a bluff or two by flipping over crappy cards, one of them was 2-7os. I haven't played much against that guy, so he got me. In he future he will not have that move as much on me. I guess when I look him up next time he'll have AA against my KK, lol, I hope not. I don't let players slap me around, like Doyle B. says, we will play a pot. The game I have been speaking of is 1-2NL, I'm not bragging, but those superdonks probably couldn't beat me not nearly as much in a limit game, especially if I run good at all. I know how and when to ram and jam the pots. I will not make as many mistakes and if and when I do, it won't cost me as much. I understand more of the odds and stuff than this particular bunch. I think that limit poker takes more skill in the long run, especially against donks. It may be harder against pros, who knows? They say in limit you cannot protect your hand as much, ok thats fine. Well in no-limit you can bet a ton to protect and still lose, know what I mean. I think most of the time when you hear that, players just overvalued their hand, like not realistic. Thanks

The problem with donks is well, theyre donks. They have no concept of pot odds hand value, hand strength or anyting. They pay way over the odds to hit their draws, they believe gutshouts are actually a valuable drawing hand, random suited cards are worth any amount of preflop action and any ace in any position is a monster. They call when they should fold, they fold when they should call and worst of all they believe their, uber bets are actually gus hansonesque super aggressive skilled plays. I know a donk who i regularly used to beat in a home game every week (sit and go), seven of us used to play and i eventually got banned for "being too lucky". We used to play three games on a friday night each for £10, i would usually win two and donk around on the the third and say things like dam, just needed a six and i would have had a straight. This meant one of the others would win at least one game a week, of course id get unlucky every now and then and lose but it was a great way of turning £30 into £140 every week. But this donk would sit in the pub with me talking about how great a player he was. Funny. I will never forget my last hand against him before i got banned, i had KK and raised it up, so he tanks for a minute and reraises, i call and we go to the flop, i flop quads and cream my pants. He bets about a third of his stack, i tank then raise. He then check raises me on the turn all in, needless to say i called and he flips over pocket 2s. I show him my quads and, i swear to you, he shook his head and said, my two pair is always beat.

Its sweet when you win the fights, I rarely get a lot of action when I have monsters, its like they know.