When I first started playing Texas Hold Em in the online poker rooms I would just sit down at the table and start playing. I found myself calling alot of bets mainly because I didn’t know how the other player played. I wasn’t sure if it was a good player letting me bet into them or if it was just some donkey that calls anything. I found myself getting outplayed more than I should be. I know my skills in Texas Hold Em but you cant get a read within a few minutes online because you don’t get to see your opponent.

I decided to raise my stakes a little bit hoping that I would find people with the skill to lay down their low pair with a few overs on the board. I was wrong. You never know who you are playing with. You might be sitting at a cheap table with a guy who is a millionaire and does not care if he wins or looses because he just likes the game. I started to get on a table one night and before I sat in my seat I realized that there was 3 people in a hand with a junk flop and they were betting and raising each other. I paused for a minute to watch the end of the hand and one guy hit a 4 on the river with a jack kicker.

Nobody else even had a pair. One of them was raising with 5-8 and no chance to get a hand of any value. Nobody was a good enough player to even consider laying the junk in their hand. It was really mind boggling. I continued to watch the table for about 20 minutes and seen the same type of play from the 3 in the hand. There was a few other solid players at the table but I think they noticed the same thing because they would only play against the 3 donkeys because they knew they probably would have the best hand. I made up my mind that I would do the same and make it a point to play against the 3 donkeys. Mind you this was on a $2-$4 NL table. I jumped in with a hundred bucks and ended up leaving the table with $1600 and some change.

Of course you do have to remember that just because they are bad players does not mean that they can’t hit a good hand every now and then so you have to make sure you really have a hand. But if you play your good hand against them you know they are going to call as long as you don’t push to hard. I tend to let donkeys like that bet into me and never raise until after the river as long as there is no worry of them fishing out a draw on me. It usually tends to work. They bet.

I pause and then call making them think that I am weak and then take their light bill money on the river. I really do get amazed by how bad some players really play. The point of this is to watch a table at least for a few minutes and get a read on peoples habits. Some call preflop every single time and then fold on a small to medium bet. Others raise every time they are on the button preflop because they know they will have position after the flop (which is not necessarily bad if you know what you are doing). So take a few minutes and observe and you will already be ahead of the game as soon as you sit at the table.