Value Betting Loose Players

I can't even count how many times I've been at a table with a mix of tight and loose players and seen the following scene unfold:

-A loose player makes a ludicrous call
-He ends up winning the hand
-His tight opponent complains that he "can't get these idiots to fold."

Guess what? They're both idiots.

If you can't get a loose player to fold, STOP TRYING TO! It seems like common sense to me, but a lot of players never seem to adjust their betting based on the opponent's level of idiocy. There's a much better strategy for betting against very loose players: never bluff, and expand your value betting range.

Consider this example hand. You have KJh on the button. Unraised pot, 4 players. Flop is KT2, with two diamonds. It checks to you, you bet 2/3 of the pot, a non-blind in early position calls. Turn is a seven. He checks, you again bet 2/3 of the pot, he calls. River is a 4 (no diamonds). He checks. You _____?




It's a trick question. You need to apply what you know about this player in order to act correctly.

Against a tight solid player, check. The reason is that he just doesn't have a whole lot of hands behind yours that he'll call you with. He probably has a busted draw (which he'll fold), KJ, KQ, or if he's tricky, he could be slowplaying a monster.

Against a straightforward loose player, you should bet again, provided you deem it rather unlikely that he's tricky enough to check-raise you here. You're well ahead of the set of hands that he may have that he'll call you with. It's perfectly reasonable to assume that a loose small stakes player will play K5s, K9, AT, etc. this way. Will you always win? Of course not. But you'll win often enough to make the move profitable in the long run.