The best scenario for most poker players involves being blessed with a bunch of fish at your table, and being able to exploit them all. Unfortunately, the latter part of this dream can prove to be difficult for those who are used to playing against better competition. For example, those who typically play against regulars might have difficulty handling a table full of people who call pot-sized raises on the flop in nearly every instance, and/or limp into pots with J-9, then call a 5X the big blind raise. And when bad players keep calling with terrible hands and hitting two and three outers, it can be really frustrating.
Fortunately, you can combat these problems and avoid the old "micro stakes are unbeatable" adage. You just need to make some slight adjustments, and focus on what these players are doing differently than the regs.
The main thing you need to do is a no-brainer in that you should tighten up your range big-time. Now this doesn't mean you should only play aces, kings, queens and AK, but you need to look at the table and assess the range of hands you can play. For instance, in the $0.05/$0.10 stakes or lower, you'll occasionally be dealing with maniacs who shove preflop every time they get a pair. Assuming this is the case, you may have to wait for AA through JJ to deal with these players (depending on the range they play).
On the other hand, some shorthanded tables might allow you to limp into pots from early position with drawing hands, which is normally a big no-no on stronger tables. However, if you can get away with limping from early position with a decent drawing hand like Qc-Jc, and there are too many calling stations on the table, limping might be your best option.
Moving along, another key point when playing against horrid players is to make big value bets when you think that you're ahead. For example, if you are holding two pair against somebody who overvalues top pair on a board of Ac-Js-Th, this is an excellent time to put out a huge value bet in hopes that they have aces. Bad players are excellent targets for value bets, and you can really extract great value from good hands in these situations.
On the other hand, if you don't have a made hand, it's a good idea to avoid bluffing bad players because they are normally only focused on their hand. And if a fish has aces in the aforementioned scenario, you probably won't be able to push them off the hand, and you'll merely be giving them value by making big bets that they're going to call anyways.
Above all, don't try to pull off any fancy moves or "outplay" anybody when dealing with poor players. Instead, be patient and let the hands come to you, then make big value bets based on what you've seen. In a sense, the biggest skill to beating a table full of fish is the ability to remain patient.
