Beating weak players

One of the truly great ironies of poker is that it can often be easier to beat a semi-good player than a bad player. This is a struggle I find myself having. I know how to beat good players. Play the opposite of them - if they're tight, play loose. If they're loose, play tight. If they're aggressive, let them hang themselves and play back at them intermittently. Bluffs work. You can figure out where you are in a hand.

All that is out the window against a weak player. But what is a weak player? I won't go into the definitions of a weak player (calling station, weak/tight, supertight, etc), but I'll cover the type I hate the most and why I have trouble beating him. He is the guesser who has no vision outside of his own hand.

He's the kind of player that will call bets with second pair wondering if it's good. Or he will reraise you before the flop with pocket 7s. He doesn't understand the strength of his own hand so he often overvalues it - but that's what creates so much confusion. I can't put these people on hands because THEY don't know what they have.

I guess the answer is to identify these players and play closer to the vest. Less semi-bluffing and bluffing. More value betting and raising when you feel your hand is good.

I guess it's easier to handle these players at a full table. I've been playing so much heads up recently that when I'm at a table with one of these players, and they have no idea what they're doing, it drives my insane. You have to do so much more bluffing and semi-bluffing that it becomes more apparent that it's a bad strategy against these types of players.