A good player raises with good hands and folds with bad hands right? Well yeah, but “good” is a relative term. A hand like A9o is trash when a super-tight player enters the pot but it can be gold if a loose lagtard enters it. The strength of your hand is relative to your opponent’s range. Here’s how to squeak out an extra profit with some marginal holdings.
Who to Target
You can target both loose and tight players as long as they’re passive. The idea is to steal small pots from these players cheap. A tight-passive player is likely to check/fold when facing a player in position. Sometimes they’ll put in a weak continuation bet, but these are easily picked off and you can be sure your opponent has something if he’s still betting on the turn.
Loose players are a little tougher. You usually have to hit something to play against these guys. My favorite hands for isolating loose players are middle Ax hands since they’ll usually dominate the A-small type hands they’re likely to hold.
How to Isolate
Once you have your mark, wait for the right conditions. You want to make sure your mark is the only player in the pot (a string of callers after your mark is a better situation for a squeeze play) and you have a decent hand (pocket pairs, middle aces and high suited connectors will work). Put in a standard raise. I prefer to isolate weak players when they limp since there’s less of a chance I’ll be up against a big hand, but 3-betting a raise is okay occasionally if the mark is loose-aggressive. Never 3-bet a tight-passive or loose-passive player without a strong hand because a raise from these players will indicate genuine strength.
One you’ve isolated your mark, your play will depend on your opponent’s style and the flop.
Bet the flop if a tight-passive player checks to you but be careful if they decide to stick around for the turn. You should generally have a hand to play against a loose-passive player since they’ll call you wide. You can play marginal hands against them by betting for value on all streets. Loose-passive players will usually raise you at some point in the hand with top pair-decent kicker or better.
When to Give Up
Even weak players get a hand sometimes. One of the reasons I prefer to isolate passive players rather than aggressive ones is because passive players will let you know when you’re beat. If a passive player ever throws in a raise, you can be sure that top pair is no good.
Loose-aggressive players are more likely to spew chips to you with little or no hand, but there’s a high degree of variance when isolating these players because it’s hard to tell when they have something legitimate.
Remember that you’re either trying to win a small pot or get your opponent to over-commit with a marginal hand when you isolate. Know your goal before you isolate. You should be playing small ball with marginal hands if you’re isolating a tight-passive player but you can swing for the fence with loose players.
Ready to try out your new poker skills? Play for real or free at:
