I go to a live cash game at a club nearby. I play $1-2 (min $100 max $500) and $5-5 (min $500, no maximum buy-in).

The thing is, people there have a lot of money to lose. I can hardly see a good player there, but people do not seem to care about calling raises and re-raises OOP with hands like 7-6 and so on.

I usually wait for the good hands and PP's, trying to hit a set, something like that, but any suggestions are welcome... is there any way to smallball agains these guys? I usually buy something around $200 chips and work my way up, so there's not much time to waste with the cheapest flops at $10~20...

How you guys tend to play in situations like that?

Thanks a lot,

u can play tight if u want.

or you can accept the fact that there will be some High up and down swings due to the nature of that game. Get your money in good, hope it holds.

I would buy more than $200 if this is the situation - if you can't, seems like this is outside of your bankroll. As for playing the game, I would probably play tight and wait for premium hands to play against their garbage. But as Royal said, you just have to accept that there are going to be ups and downs in a game like that.

Push premium hands hard preflop; RE-raise that $10-$20 to $75. Get your guts in the game, cause these people smell your fear right now, I guarantee it. Use position to limp in hands that hit boards hard whenever you can. Bet hard when you have a hand. Bet really hard. Build a stack and play with them. Understand where you're at in a hand. Invite me and I'll give you 30%.

I'd just be buying in for 100bbs so I can't worry about folding AK after I make a big raise and miss the flop.

When people open for 10x at 1/2, just sit on your hands and wait for JJ+ and AKo or AKs and make big raises. You'll almost always be getting your money in good.

Ok, simple question you have to ask yourself:

What mistakes do they make? By far the two most common are:

1) Little to no idea of position
2) Far too passive, checking and calling far too much

Many players think the correct way to exploit this is to tighten up, never bluff and wait for a huge hand and get paid.

They are very wrong.

You should isolate them as often as possible, with a huge range, and you should value bet thin and hard on all streets. Fire all streets with middle pair.

Situation:
You raise preflop with 77 and your opponent calls. The flop is Q64 and he check/calls. The turn is a 9 and he checks. Bet for value. Bet A6 here for value. Bet any queen here for value.
Yes, he could be check/calling with top pair, AA or a set. It's just as likely that he's calling with a gutshot or ace high or bottom pair or a worse mid pair. He could have a flush draw. If you get raised you have a simple fold.

Don't be afraid to play marginal hands against these players. Suppose you play with the exact same range as them. You will both flop the same hands, and you will both end up with weak hands in raised pots. The difference is, you will use position more often. You will get a lot more value from your hands. You will bet your hands better. You will fold your weak hands correctly. You will protect your hands better.

Identify which players will check/call down with one pair, which players will overvalue top pair and raise/reraise allin, and which players will c/c the flop c/f the turn. When you c/bet AK on a J64 rainbow flop and they call, know which players will fold J9 or 77 to turn aggression and which players won't.

Value bet hard, value bet often and be aggressive.


EDIT: This still works with shallow stacks, except you don't want to be raising weak hands to 10xbb preflop obviously. Essentially what I'm saying here refers mostly to postflop play.

Thanks a lot, all of you.

I'll start betting way harder now, making them way overpay for their draws... if they hit their flush, w/e, it happens. I just can't push them off the hand... but that's okay.

Once again ty.