Magical Mystery Poker Tour

Playing With Rookies

2 min read

How do you cope with a field populated largely with players who have rarely played before? It’s a tricky one - and your game needs huge adjustment to play optimally, in my opinion.

A field of 60 took to the felt at the LC for the latest instalment of the BetterPoker £50 monthly tournament. I should add that these are not poor players with attitude, but simply guys who are inexperienced, and the game is played in good spirit. There were also a few wily old goats in the field who had clearly played before, as well as a smattering of LC regulars: Myself, Chewitt, The Good Doctor, Tony, Hugh, Briony and McDee. The lycra clad Volcano bench pressed in a distant gym in his self imposed exile.

Tony flew the flag for the LC squad by busting out 2nd hand, followed before the break by Briony, Hugh and McDee (the latter missing out on a 24k pot with top set against a flopped straight).

So my guide to playing with inexperienced players:

  1. Use the multi limpers in early levels as a chance to see cheap flops with suited connectors/suited gappers
  2. Do not get tricky with AA or KK - other players will call pretty hefty raises 3) Do not continuation bet if you miss the flop
  3. Do not trap - bet out when you hit the flop hard
  4. For the love of God do NOT execute a squeeze play on the limpers with rags - you will be called in 3+ spots
  5. When facing all-ins later in the game call with JJ and TT more readily than you might in other games

This is a pretty drastic change to my normal game, but needed I think in this tournament. Poker is often about adapting to other players’ styles in order to survive. I think I did it well and with average luck would have gone deep in this one.

And so to my demise:
My stack is 3500, blinds 150-300

UTG min raises to 600 (which normally means a monster, but here probably means a weaker hand than would get a standard raise)
I push in mid position with AK for 3500 to hopefully boost my stack by 900 Folded round to the UTG villain (who has a stack of about 7000).
I hear the words “yep, why not”
He calls and flips K7, the turn is the dreaded 7 and I’m sent to the rail. Villain fist pumps as the 7 pops out :) Ah well.