ITH Poker Forum

[seyzna]

I sometimes play low limit games online and they're are often times players that raise literally everytime. When playing with these players almost every hand either goes to the river, or the other players fold and give it to this guy. I typically try to wait for an absolute killer hand and then call his/her raises but even then I could have something like Aces, and this guy has 9 4 and will get like two pair on the river. Should I just up and leave the table? Or is there a better way to deal with these guys?

Thanks all

[jeffnc]

This is definitely a profitable situation in and of itself, but ultimately it depends on the other players at the table. If they are the same level as you, then you'll be sharing this guy's money. If they're better, then you can't win.

Let's assume they are a mix of players some as good as you, some worse. What's your strategy? It depends on how the other players are reacting to this guy. If they are calling him light, then play a lot of the normal multi-way hands in late position. This is a fantastic situation because now you're getting your money in so good relative to almost everyone at the table.

In early position, as always it's not so easy. With legitimately strong hands, you should tend to reraise though, to isolate the dead money all for yourself. Just calling allows the other guys to get a chunk, and makes playing your hand difficult when there are several players to act behind you postflop. If this guy is to your left, it's also not so easy in limit. In NL, the strategy would be fairly simple. Wait til you have a strong hand, limp with it, wait to see what the other players after this guy does, and then shove when it gets back to you if it looks good. In this sense, you have the best position at the table - you have relative position to the raiser which basically gives you the button every hand. In fact, if you were in a casino and saw this guy raising every hand, you would choose to sit on his right if the seat were available, not on his left.

In limit, it's not so easy because you can't fold anyone. Now I'd normally prefer to be on his left so I could 3-bet and isolate. If I were on his right, I'd limp with good multi-way hands. You haven't said what he does if the person to his right raises him.

[nsidestrate]

Waiting for really strong hands is what most players do intuitively, but it is exactly the wrong thing to do. If he raises 80% of his hands, you should re-raise 40% of yours, at least 25%. You generally should be punishing him severely for starting with much worse hands than you do. Charge him more whenever you play and get much more stubborn with single pair hands than you would generally. Make the adjustments Miller calls for when playing in big pots in his book Small Stakes Hold'Em.