There are a lot of threads out and about, regarding 'bad players' and how 'bad' certain players are and how 'bad' they play... I was one of those players, who classed an opponent as either bad or good, and have just had a brainwave: this is not the way you should approach your views on other players. You can put players into two separate categories of winning players, and losing players (usually and most likely linked are that bad players are losing players, and good players are winning players), but not 'bad' and 'good'. I have found out of late, that it does not matter whether your opponent is commonly categorized as one or the other, but I prefer to view players now as either exploitable or not.
Some of the best hold ‘em players I have faced, I have been able to crush regularly because I have found out ways to exploit they're game, and other incredibly 'bad' losing players have crushed me, as I have not yet found out how to exploit them successfully. There is no 'set way' to play poker, everyone plays differently, and there is no wrong or right way (within reason), the only thing that matters is if you can successfully exploit the opponents you commonly play, and win against them. If you can do this, then it does not matter how technically badly you play, as you are winning. You do not have to play the same way as all the 2+2 forumites think you should play, and any really successful player knows that you have to have your own style of play, not used by anyone else, to make serious money!
Exploiting weakness
Next time you sit at a table with someone who you have tagged as being a huge fish, ask yourself whether you have tagged them as a fish purely because other players have all classed them as a fish and mouthed off about how 'bad' they are, or whether you have tagged them as an easy target because you have found a weakness in their game that you have learnt to exploit. If it was the first, then you should rethink playing them until you find the specific weakness that you can abuse but if it was the latter, then you have found yourself great value.
Once you have played someone enough, you should be able to pick up on a way to exploit them, using weak points in the way they play as a centre point for ripping them apart. If they always three-barrel if you look weak, then this is not necessarily a bad technique that they are implementing, it is just a different technique, and as long as you know how to counter act it, then you can beat them.
If another player has not yet found out a way to counter act this exploitative leak, or indeed not even realised that the opponent has this weakness, then they will forever view the player as a 'bad player’ who somehow manages to win money. What’s funny is how these guys can never beat the 'bad' player, and hence need to prove to themselves that the other player is just running hot...Forever...
Taking on the big boys
A number of players on PKR have tried to take on Beyne, the mighty high stakes cash gamer, and failed. Don't get me wrong, a few players have worked out his weaknesses and exploited these leaks for maximum value and made a lot of money from him playing Heads-up, but in general, most of the chat you hear from the players who cannot beat him is that he is 'nothing more than lucky and will eventually go broke'. If this is the case, then they should be playing him 24/7 as they think he is a losing player, but for some reason they can never win vs him, so do not play him and blame a mega heater on his wins.
The only difference between the players who can beat him and the players who simply blame luck as the factor is that the winning players have found ways to exploit him. This does not mean he is a bad player, or indeed a good player, it just means that they can beat him because of a flaw in his game, a weakness that when applied pressure to in the correct way, can cripple him. This winning player vs Beyne, does not then instantly make them a 'good player', as they might not be able to find the weaknesses to exploit in the biggest fish on the site, and therefore lose money to them!
Find your edge
It is a big circle, and to consistently win, you need to be playing the players in which you have that edge, not the ones who (despite being labeled as big donkeys) you have not found out weaknesses in yet. Next time you find yourself losing to a player, who appears to constantly have the nuts, or runs like god, think to yourself not that they are just lucky in life and win everything against you, but that you have not yet found the leak in their game (which everyone possesses), and thus therefore means you are not playing a better game of poker than them until you do. The hunter becomes the hunted! They have found the weakness in YOUR game, and have learnt to exploit YOU... Change your game, and learn to attack your opponents weak link instead!