Does bad play beget worse play?
I contemplate this question every hand I play. It isn’t difficult to identify the worst player or the two worst players at the table. Heck, sometimes it’s pretty obvious that I’m the fish in the game. But when I’m in a hand against a player who clearly has no concept of the game, I find myself almost playing down to his (or her) level. For example, I generally resolve never to go broke with one pair. But if I get in a hand with a bad player who I know is capable of getting all the money in with middle pair or any draw, it gets difficult to throw that one pair away. All of a sudden, I find myself contemplating a decision I would never dream of contemplating if my opponent were a better player. I always scoff at the assertion that it’s better to play against better players. But when I actually get into these situations, it actually makes sense.
An example of this took place a couple of days ago during a typical micro-stakes session. There was a maniac at the table who was playing most pots and betting every flop. He had no awareness of position or table image or anything that he should have had awareness of. I get into a hand with him holding AJ. The flop comes J84 with two hearts. I bet out and he just shoves for three times the pot. In a normal situation against a solid player (solid in terms of skill, not playing style), I would go through this type of thought process: “The guy is overbetting the pot. Maybe he’s trying to price out a flush draw. He wouldn’t try to price out a hand with one pair, even an overpair. He probably has a set or two pair.” Using this thought process, I would probably lay down AJ but against this wackjob, I couldn’t do it. Of course, he had a set of eights in a situation where he could have just had a pair of eights or pocket tens, etc.
Maybe it was the right play. That isn’t relevant. What is relevant is that calling off my whole stack with TPTK for 100 BBs is not a profitable play. This guy’s style led me to making that play. Hence my theory: Playing against bad players makes me play worse. That’s probably my own fault and not a generalization on all poker players, but it applies to me. Is it really better to play against better players?
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Comments
Eventually, you need to learn to play against any type of player. You can’t always pick and choose who you play with. That is a luxury that a lot of middle and small stakes players have right now since there are usually enough tables open to make good table selection. A good skill to have.
The type of player you described here, sounds like a LAG. Just because they are a LAG, it isn’t always safe to assume them to be bad. It doesn’t exclude it either, and if I was gonna error one way or the other, I would assume bad since it’s a difficult style to play profitably. But there are a few out there that can play this profitably. They build an image when the pots are small preflop, and try and use that image to get paid off in big pots when they have hands. A good example is a Sammy Farha type player, although I think Sammy takes it a little too far. Just be aware that there are players out there utilizing their LAGy image.
It is sometimes easier to play against better players. It is always more profitable to play against worse players. Good luck my man.