Loose Passive tables???

[revolvingiris]

I am terrible when it comes to tables that have a loose passive over tone. What good exercises can be done to better combat this playing style?...I just FT another 180 man $4.4 and was knocked out 6th because no one was really making plays at all (not even on the shorter stacks). I noticed that this seems to be a trend with me. Everyone check calls regardless of their holdings and I continue to be aggro. This however bites me in the ass because I can't get reads on people who don't actually play. Maybe that's my problem? This isn't a bad beat thread either.

[drmcboy]

make hands

then show them down.

You have a read, you're just ignoring it.

If they always check call except when you have a hand, stop playing at UB

[golfguy37]

Bluff less, wait for the right spot, then PUNISH THEM!

[revolvingiris]

make hands

then show them down.

You have a read, you're just ignoring it.

If they always check call except when you have a hand, stop playing at UB

lol @ UB...I should rephrase my earlier rant. I cant force my hands to be made. So what to do when your at a passive table and not getting cards? Specifically a final table that has been super passive the whole time.

[drmcboy]

So what to do when your at a passive table and not getting cards?

you probably will not win. on the upside, you'll need cards to win however the table is playing so if you catch a rush you're in much better shape than if the table was playing more conventionally. I would be surprised if anyone could post a HH where more than a couple of the big pots they won on the way to a big score were not showdowns.

[revolvingiris]

Is there anything I can do to better combat this situation in practice? I'm a very hands on learner so I understand things the more I do them...It sucks running into a situation where I feel like I can't do anything. I know there is always a play to be made, its difficult to see for me in this type of setting.

[Poker Orifice]

We must be entering the same tournaments, lol.

[lestic]

One thing that's worked for me on these same tourneys: put pressure on the smaller stacks. Steal their blinds.
If they're calling your normal raises, then raise enough to put them all-in preflop, that should make them more cautios. Try to identify the weakest (tightest) blind on the table and steal that.
Also, stop-and-go has seemed to work well at the final tables of these.
Although I might not know what I'm talking about, I've played about 30 of these and made 5 final tables..

[drmcboy]

I know there is always a play to be made

Re read my responses, this is exactly what I am not saying and I think this mindset guarantees you will have some fancy play syndrome. Even if you play perfectly you will not win the vast majority of the tournaments you enter. If you cannot embrace that you should look for a new format. You should do better than the average player both over all and at the FT, but these edges can take a while to show up.

Being a good player isn't about magically winning chips with no cards vs people who always call, it is about recognizing the situation that you are in and playing the game that suits it. A lot of people like to 'punish' calling stations by continually bluffing them so they have to show the table how bad they are. The problem is the table sees it while they rake your chips with 2nd pair.

It sucks running into a situation where I feel like I can't do anything.

Yes, it sucks in the same way it sucks to get coolered or get a big hand beat late. And you have to get used to it just like those events.

Pretend instead of the passive table you have a maniac to your left who 3 bets every time you open. you've had him there for a while and several times he has been 4 bet by a third player. He calls these shoves with XX and sucks out time and again building a monster stack.

I hope that your adjustment there would be the same as what you should do at a table where people always call:

1) Tighten up.

2) Once you are in a pot take hands much further - vs the maniac that probably means 4 betting, vs the stations you'll make more thin value bets.

3) Accept that if you can't flop/pick up some hands, you will not win.

[revolvingiris]

I know there is always a play to be made

Re read my responses, this is exactly what I am not saying and I think this mindset guarantees you will have some fancy play syndrome. Even if you play perfectly you will not win the vast majority of the tournaments you enter. If you cannot embrace that you should look for a new format. You should do better than the average player both over all and at the FT, but these edges can take a while to show up.

Being a good player isn't about magically winning chips with no cards vs people who always call, it is about recognizing the situation that you are in and playing the game that suits it. A lot of people like to 'punish' calling stations by continually bluffing them so they have to show the table how bad they are. The problem is the table sees it while they rake your chips with 2nd pair.

It sucks running into a situation where I feel like I can't do anything.

Yes, it sucks in the same way it sucks to get coolered or get a big hand beat late. And you have to get used to it just like those events.

Pretend instead of the passive table you have a maniac to your left who 3 bets every time you open. you've had him there for a while and several times he has been 4 bet by a third player. He calls these shoves with XX and sucks out time and again building a monster stack.

I hope that your adjustment there would be the same as what you should do at a table where people always call:

1) Tighten up.

2) Once you are in a pot take hands much further - vs the maniac that probably means 4 betting, vs the stations you'll make more thin value bets.

3) Accept that if you can't flop/pick up some hands, you will not win.

Ok I'm beginning to understand. And on #2 I am assuming you mean take the hand further after we have something to take it further with?

[Sprayed]

[quote="revolvingiris"]Everyone check calls regardless of their holdings and I continue to be aggro.[quote]

Leak found.

[revolvingiris]

[quote="Sprayed"][quote="revolvingiris"]Everyone check calls regardless of their holdings and I continue to be aggro.

Leak found.

Be more conservative?