As I move into higher stakes games, I’m constantly reminded of a poker principle that’s been important all along: you make most of your money from playing with bad players. When I sit in a 25/50 game, it’s because there’s someone at the table (or more than one someone, if I’m really lucky) who is going to lose money.
It follows from this, then, that you should make efforts to play pots with that person. I’m not at the table to tangle with the other players, some of whom are better than I am and all of whom are at least pretty good. I came to play with the fish, and that means that I’m going to target him with my play.
Here’s a great example:
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Seat 0: FISH ($4238.75) – 
Seat 1: Broberts06 ($4800)
Seat 2: Matate ($1022)
Seat 3: mad00house ($8603)
Seat 4: HERO ($5050) – 
Seat 5: Xeric ($5496) – 
PRE-FLOP:
Xeric posts small blind $25
FISH posts BIG blind $50
Dealt To: HERO
FOLD Broberts06
FOLD Matate
RAISE mad00house ($175)
CALL HERO ($175)
FOLD Xeric
CALL FISH ($175)
FLOP:
Pot: $600
CHECK FISH
BET mad00house ($500)
CALL HERO ($500)
CALL FISH ($500)
TURN:
Pot: $2100 
CHECK FISH
CHECK mad00house
BET HERO ($1125)
RAISE FISH ($3563.75)
FOLD mad00house
CALL HERO ($3563.75)
RIVER:
Pot: $10352.5 
SHOWDOWN:
FISH:
HERO:
HERO collected $9174.5 from main pot with flush, ace high
SUMMARY:
Total pot: $9177.50 Rake: $3
Final Board:
Seat 0: Tc Td 3c 8s 3s: two pair, tens and threes. – Net Gain/Loss: ($-4238.75)
Seat 4: 5c Ac 3c 7c 2c: flush, ace high. – Net Gain/Loss: ($4935.75)
In a vaccuum, I’ve got a lot of options for how to play this hand. Facing a raise from a good, aggressive player on the CO, a re-raise, a call, or a fold would all be defensible plays with A5s on the Button. But remember, I’m not here to play pots with a guy who plays 25/50 NLHE heads up day in and day out against anyone who will sit with him. I’m here to play with the fish, who happens to be in the big blind.
If I fold, I obviously won’t get to play with him. If I reraise, I probably won’t get to play with him either. So I call, and now he’s getting a good price to come along, and that’s just what he does.
Then on the flop I once again have some options. With the nut flush draw, I’m almost always willing to get the money in on the flop. I’ve got very good equity when called, so I don’t have to get a fold very often to make a raise profitable.
But in this case, the pre-flop raiser is betting into two people on a fairly coordinated board, suggesting he probably has a strong hand he’s not folding. A raise would still be OK, but it’s not automatic.
What really swings my decision is the fish. By just calling, I give him a chance to stay in the hand. I don’t know what he needs to call with here, but if he comes along with a pair or a worse draw, then I’m set up well to win a big pot if I hit.
And that’s just what happens. Instead of making a marginal raise pre-flop or on the flop and pushing a small, maybe non-existent edge against a strong player, I get 70 BB’s in against a player who’s drawing dead.