Betting Into Loose-Passive Players

My regular 4-8 game (like most) is notoriously loose-passive.  There is lots of pre-flop limping, often 5 or 6 players seeing the turn.  Most of the players play too many hands and check and call far too much.  This style of play invites disaster as it basically rolls out the red carpet for opponents to draw out on you.  Why wouldn't I play 5-7 suited on the button for one bet with three limpers in front.  What gets me is when the player in early position with AQ complains about being drawn out on in this situation.

Another of my poker gurus, Ed Miller, suggests that betting and raising is always going to be the profitable play against loose passive players because it exploits their weaknesses so well.  Loose-passive players call too often with weak hands and don't press their quality hands with bets and raises.  So, you get paid off by them more often when you win and are minimally penalized when you loose.  Yes, you do get drawn out on now and then but in the long run the money made by pressing hands you normally wouldn't against better players will more than make up for the few times your opponent gets lucky.

Many players complain about loose-passive players that they can't hand read with them.  They say, "How was I to know he had a set?  He never raised!"  They change their game play and get timid whenever their opponent calls.  The truth is loose-passive players call with all kinds of hands.  They call with worse hands than you can possibly imagine.  God knows why the do it, but they do.  What that means is that I must press my good hands and even bet my marginal hands for value in spots I normally wouldn't.

An example is making 2nd pair with a decent kicker on the button and it gets checked around to you and you bet.  The board cooperates but you get called down all the way to the river by the loose-passive player at your table.  Against a normal player the best play might be to check back on the river thinking you will only get called by better in that spot.  But, again, loose passive players play all kinds of hands and their calls don't mean much.  The better play is to bet medium strength hands for value.  Those sort of adjustments made to specific game situations are what makes all the difference in limit hold'em.  They all add up in the end and separate the winners and losers.