Hi everyone,

I’m pretty new to the forum, to the site and, although I’ve been playing for about 2 or 3 years I don’t think I’m doing particularly great (or bad either, just sort of even). In any case I keep trying to improve… I usually play 7$ 6-Max S&G to keep my bankroll rolling and then all kind of MTTs from 1$ to 11$. I wouldn’t say I’m a winning player, total winnings is something like 800$ (which is my bankrollo) in two years and I’ve never had to pay for playing except for the initial 50$ deposit.

Now, with the introduction out of the way one of the places where I know I lose a fair amount is playing against random players. This is the kind of player that will have a high VPIP and no logic to their actions whatsoever.. they may call 3 streets with lower pair, or call two streets with no pair no draw or do things that don’t make sense (like raise all in on the river with TP, position and no spade on a 4 spade board).

Playing against these kind of players is kind of a roller coaster ride for me. Sometimes I do get all their chips, sometimes I go broke… The crazy thing is they do not seem to have any pattern and it is very difficult to level them, and usually I only get to know that AFTER the hand.

For example I’ve had guys betting 1 blind into a 3bet pot with a draw heavy board with a flopped set. Or guys that cold call a 3bet OOP with a T8o. Obviously sometimes those guys just throw chips at me but often too they just flop something and I go broke because I’m unable to put them on a hand or, even worse, I make incorrect assumption they are going to act as real players. I.e. “The only hand that makes sense is a failed draw” but they have TPTK or trips… or “if I push he’s going to have to fold now as my line looks like I hit the draw” and he calls with 3rd pair.

This also has the effect of screwing up my game. Once I see a player do a bullshit play (specially if he has something like a high VPIP) I won’t give them credit for anything, even if their line screams value.

Lately that has driven me into taking a passive line against those players… raise, 3bet, and only continue if I hit or if the have a high FCB… and shutdown otherwise. I’m not sure if this is the right way of handling this kind of players.

Any advice or suggestions?