{"id":3469,"date":"2022-01-18T23:44:10","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T04:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.advancedpokertraining.com\/poker\/blog\/?p=3469"},"modified":"2022-01-21T12:42:21","modified_gmt":"2022-01-21T17:42:21","slug":"how-to-beat-bad-poker-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pokertraining.com\/poker\/blog\/how-to-beat-bad-poker-players\/","title":{"rendered":"The players were so bad, I couldn&#8217;t beat them!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A few months ago, I did a blog post about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pokertraining.com\/poker\/blog\/mental-toughness-in-tennis-and-poker\/\">the similarities between tennis and poker<\/a> when it comes to the need for mental toughness.&nbsp; Today I want to talk about beating &#8220;bad&#8221; poker players. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The more I play tennis, the more I realize that tennis and poker are one and the same.&nbsp; It\u2019s just that in tennis your weapon is a racket, whereas in poker your weapons are your chips.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I play tennis with a guy named \u201cGeorge\u201d (name changed to protect the innocent).&nbsp; George is the most hated tennis player in my hometown.&nbsp; Possibly the most hated tennis player in Florida.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Want to know why?&nbsp; He appears to be a <strong>TERRIBLE <\/strong>tennis player, and yet he always wins!&nbsp; He doesn\u2019t just <strong>slightly<\/strong> win either, he beats you easily, the whole time talking trash and embarrassing you in front of any onlookers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>George doesn\u2019t even look like a tennis player!&nbsp; He\u2019s overweight, he wears old sneakers with holes in them, and has a $5 racket he probably got at a garage sale.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sound like anyone you\u2019ve ever played poker against?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One common complaint we hear all the time in the poker world is, \u201cThe players were so bad, I couldn\u2019t beat them.\u201d&nbsp; Which begs the question, if you can\u2019t beat them, who is really the better player?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Common complaints I hear about \u201cbad\u201d poker players are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t beat them, they never fold!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s such a nit, he always folds, you can\u2019t ever get any money out of him!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat guy is so over-aggressive.\u00a0 He just raises every time! \u00a0You can&#8217;t beat him because you can\u2019t ever tell what he has.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not real poker.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Believe me, I\u2019ve heard all the similar complaints about George.&nbsp; In case you\u2019re curious, here\u2019s his secret to winning:&nbsp; he simply returns every ball.&nbsp; He never goes for winning shots.&nbsp; He doesn\u2019t hit the ball hard.&nbsp; George just chases down every ball you hit, and returns it back over the net.&nbsp; Every. Single. Time.&nbsp; Until you make an error, or (worse) throw your racket and quit.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most people refuse to play tennis against George because \u201cHe\u2019s a terrible player!&nbsp; Sure, I can\u2019t beat him, but that\u2019s not real tennis!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What I would say to all the George-haters out there, and everyone who complains about not being able to beat \u201cbad\u201d poker players, is this:&nbsp; if they are consistently beating you, are you sure they\u2019re that bad?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those of us that play the games of poker and tennis have a bias towards the accepted style of play that designates a \u201cgood\u201d player.&nbsp; When someone deviates from that style, our instinct is to belittle them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two important take-aways here. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>TAKEAWAY #1:<\/strong>&nbsp; If someone can beat you consistently, then by definition they are a better player than you!&nbsp; If you want to take your poker game to the next level, you need to find a way to beat them.&nbsp;&nbsp; Belittling them to your friends may make you feel better in the short term.&nbsp; But what will really make you feel better in the long run is taking all their money!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, stop right now.&nbsp; &nbsp;Whatever type of poker player gives you the most trouble \u2013 be it calling stations, nits, or over-aggressive bullies \u2013 stop talking trash about them.&nbsp; Instead, do some research online.&nbsp; Figure out a counter-strategy.&nbsp; Practice it on Advanced Poker Training.&nbsp; You won\u2019t have to preach about what a bad player they are anymore.&nbsp; When all their chips are in your stack, that will speak for itself.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>TAKEAWAY #2:<\/strong>&nbsp; Don\u2019t avoid these kinds of players, embrace playing against them if you want to improve.&nbsp; I told you that everyone in my hometown hates playing tennis against George.&nbsp; But not me.&nbsp; I\u2019ll play George anytime, anywhere.&nbsp; And I\u2019m not going to stop until I beat him some day.&nbsp; Until then, every time he humiliates me on the tennis court, and I endure the mental abuse from his trash talking, it just makes me stronger.&nbsp; And more determined.&nbsp; And hungrier.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We all aspire to be poker champions.&nbsp; A real champion is prepared for anything.&nbsp; So, <strong>welcome<\/strong> the opportunity to play against the \u201cGeorge\u201d in your life when he sits down at the poker table.&nbsp; No fear.&nbsp; No excuses.&nbsp; And trust me, when you finally stack him, it\u2019s going to feel <strong>REALLY <\/strong>good!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few months ago, I did a blog post about the similarities between tennis and poker when it comes to the need for mental toughness.&nbsp; Today I want to talk about beating &#8220;bad&#8221; poker players. The more I play tennis, the more I realize that tennis and poker are one and the same.&nbsp; It\u2019s just [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The players were so bad, I couldn&#039;t beat them! - Advanced Poker Training Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Steve Blay again discusses the similarities between tennis and poker. 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