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Making The Best Of A Weak Position

Let’s face it, we have all found ourselves playing poker with a group of people considerably more experienced, knowledgeable, and overall, more confident at the poker table. This common situation is often overlooked in poker strategy guides, leaving novice players in the dark in terms of knowing how to adjust their playing style accordingly. However, before rushing to the conclusion that you should change up a portion of your game when faced with the prospect of playing against advanced players, you should consciously determine a few things about your opponents and your situation at the table.


First of all, determine exactly who at the table perceives you as a weak opponent. Perhaps this group of players is notorious for being dangerously superior and difficult to play with. If this is true, and you don’t know all the players personally, then they will have no idea what type of a player you are. In that particular situation, you have an advantage from the get-go, because you are free to attempt to camouflage your loose playing style with a tight, conservative one (for example). Not only are you open to take advantage of the fact that the other players likely have very little knowledge about you as a poker player, you are also a much less visible opponent in the eyes of the other players.


Although the other players will be unsure of your playing level, they will not perceive you as an immediate threat at the poker table. Because of this, it is quite easy to slip into the background and let the other players move their chips around the table. Win a few small pots here and there and you can easily win some cash while still flying under the radar. Since, as a newcomer, you will not be considered extremely threatening to the other players, you are able to enjoy a few other benefits, as well. Your opponents will not view you as a direct threat and will aim their “bullying” at the players that they know for a fact to be tough opponents. This creates for a great opportunity to sit back and let the action happen to other players at the table, while gaining some invaluable poker-playing experience.


While acting as a “fly on the wall” will work well for a period of time (perhaps entire sessions at one table), it is inevitable that you will have to act strongly on certain cards, consequently making your presence known to other players at the table. The best advice for having to actually play hands against obviously superior players is to always wait for strong starting cards. Once you have some strong cards in the hole, it is imperative to push them through the flop aggressively. Slow-playing against a considerably more advanced player is asking for trouble later on in the hand. The chances of a novice player successfully slow-playing cards to the end of a hand against a strong player are very low. It is much more likely that the strong player will end up trapping the novice player the second the slow-play turns into a huge bet.


Do not expect to sit down at a table full of advanced players and win huge pots. It is much more realistic to hope for smaller, but more numerous pots. Nickel-and-diming a group of advanced poker players is much more fun, when it comes down to it.