Today, we will discuss how you're not getting enough money from bad players. So many times, when people are playing, they're afraid to initiate bets that they feel are obvious or think that everybody at the table can see through. That’s just not the case.
Here's the deal. The only person you're trying to exploit is the player you're playing against. Let's discuss an example.
You’re playing in a small buy-in tournament at a casino. You raise with A-2 offsuit on the button and the big blind calls you. You’re deep into the event now, and every chip is precious.
The board comes A-K-9. He checks to you. You bet one-third pot. He calls. The turn is a five. He checks to you. You bet again. He calls. The river is an offsuit 8, and he checks to you once again.
Many players don't want to bet here because they don't think a king or a nine will call anything. Players will sometimes feel really dumb if they actually have the second-best hand and bet.
That’s not how you should be thinking about this situation. Your terrible opponents will call you with a king or a nine. You need to go ahead and make an obvious bet if this is a bad player or a bad reg, even if you bet something as small as one-fifth pot or even one-fourth pot.
That might look really obvious to every good player at the table. It might be obvious to the dealer. Most importantly, what you're doing might be obvious to you.
But if your opponent is incapable of turning hands into bluffs, raising you on that river, or folding one pair when the bet size is so small, you have to make that bet. You have to make the bet even though it could turn out you are value betting the second-best hand.
Do not be afraid to make the obvious bets versus bad players when playing low-stakes tournaments or low-stakes cash.
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