Good question. I prefer profiting from bad players…

By K-REX

I like cash games because I get to pick and choose who I play against. You don’t often get that choice playing in tournaments. I want bad poker players at the table I play on. It just makes sense, the better player will win in the end. So, you ask, why am I writing this article? Because there are a lot of people out there who will swear that you are better off playing against stronger competition because they believe it is easier to read good players. The explanation they give to justify this is garbage. “You suffer fewer bad beats,” they always say.

Bad Beats
I will grant that it can be pretty frustrating when your aces are cracked by JT off with all the money going in preflop (Nice hand Jay!). Just keep in mind all the times your hand holds up and all the extra chips in the pot. Think about it. You can only suffer a bad beat if your opponent makes a mistake! You bet the best hand and they called with the worst of it. This is exactly what you wanted them to do. Statistically, your hand will hold up more often than it will get sucked out on based on pure math. You are playing the odds and this is how you make money. Your opponent is playing hope. They are hoping they will get exactly the card they need to win the pot and sometimes it happens. If it didn’t, all the bad players would stop playing. All the times your hand held up, you won a lot more than what you invested. The bad player is just keeping your money warm for you. They will give it back to you with interest the next time they are hoping for a miracle.

Big Pots
Winning a big pot always puts a smile on my face. The big pots just don’t happen very often when you play against strong players. Each of you needs to have a stronger than average hand. Good players just don’t build big pots with other good players unless they have the goods. When you sit at a table with bad players, your hand doesn’t need to be nearly as strong. You don’t even have to work at building a big pot. Bad players are willing to put their chips in on a large variety of hands. They want to play poker, not watch it. They push their money into the middle and hope. It is not uncommon to see a bad player push all their chips in on the flop like AKT. At the showdown I turn over QJ or AK and they show me A8. They had a piece of the flop and that is all they needed for hope to spring eternal. I once heard a player say “ What’s the next best thing to playing poker and winning? Playing poker and losing.” They just want the action.

Finding Bad Players
If you are playing online look at the table stats in the lobby. The average percentage of players who see the flop is a good indicator. In limit poker 40% or more seeing every flop in a full 10 handed table is a very good sign. In no limit look for an average of 30% or higher. The second thing to check for is the average pot size. Bigger is better. Tables that have both of these characteristics are tables you want to check out. You can observe the table and see how everyone is playing. Take player notes on the plays you observe. If you can sit right in, go for it. But in most cases, there will be a waiting list since there are many people looking for an opportunity to profit from bad players. Another way to locate these players is to use a poker tracking software like PokerTracker. This can save you a lot of time and can effectively track several tables at the same time. I also like to put my favorite bad players in my “friends list” and look for them using the search function in the lobby.

At the end of a poker session, I am not tallying up how many bad beats I took, I am counting up how much of a profit I made. Winning is all the reason I need to keep sitting at tables full of bad players. Sure the variance will be higher but so will your hourly win rate. Keep your emotions in check, give the bad players all the opportunities they want to make mistakes and your bankroll will be happy you chose to sit a table filled with bad players. Lastly never educate a bad player or the next time you play with them they may not be so easy. I always joke that lessons are on Tuesday or any other day than today.