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Beating Raul
While doing psychological battle with your sharpest opponents may be the most fun and challenging part of poker, it certainly isn't the most profitable. The majority of your profit comes from your weakest opponents--the guys who call every hand to the river, the ones who never raise their good hands and those who bluff like crazy every hand, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they've been caught on 19 of their last 20 tries.

When a particularly poor-playing opponent enters your game, you should adjust your strategy to focus on him. For the next few hours, he will be the primary source of your profit, so make the most of it. Exploit his weaknesses, even if it means playing somewhat less than optimally against the rest of your opponents. His blunders will flood the table with extra cash. Make sure to get more than your share.

You are in Las Vegas, and the brush has just called you and nine others to start a $40-$80 game. You feel a twinge of excitement as the brush calls a name that has become very welcome to you over the past year, "Raul V."

Raul Veltri is a famous (and very wealthy) opera singer, and he likes to sit at the tables when he is in town performing. You have played with him on a few prior occasions, and he is terrible. He plays essentially every hand (though he does unfortunately sit out one or two occasionally to visit the restroom), and he will call to the river if he has any chance to win--no matter how remote. Furthermore, he will raise the flop with any top pair or better (regardless of his kicker) but just call with a smaller pair or any draw. To raise the turn or river, he needs at least two pair. You think he may have bluffed once about eight months ago, but you are not sure.

He usually plays until he loses about $5,000 or $6,000 dollars, and then he wanders off to blow more cash on something else. Don't worry about Raul, though--he makes over $100,000 on every trip to Vegas, so none of his children are at risk of starving.

He seems excited to play today: Upon hearing his name, he bounds over to the table and plops into seat five, directly across from the dealer. He is the first there; the rest of the table is wide open. Where to you sit down?

	A. Seat three or eight, at either end of the table. The end seats give you the best view at the table. You can easily see the board cards and all of your other opponents. This gives you the best chance to pick up tells from your opponents--including Raul.
	B. Seat four, on Raul's right. Raul is no threat to you. He is loose and predictable, so you should put him on your left. That way you will get to see what the other, trickier players do before you must act. You know what Raul will usually do--call.
	C. Seat six, on Raul's left. Putting Raul on your right gives you the first chance to act after he does. If he raises, you can fold any mediocre hands because he raises only with his best hands. Furthermore, if you get heads-up or three-handed against him, you will almost always have position on him.
	D. Seat one or 10, across the table from Raul. Sitting here will give you the best chance to catch any of his tells (though it will make it more difficult to see some of the other players).
	E. It doesn't really matter. The strategic advantages to be gained by sitting in one seat over another are very small. Go wherever you feel most comfortable.

Ed Miller is a professional Hold 'Em player in Las Vegas. His new book, Small Stakes Hold 'Em: Winning Big with Expert Play, co-authored with David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth, is available from Two Plus Two Press. You can contact him on the forums at http://www.twoplustwo.com/.