Small stakes poker is pure chaos

I know this is probably obvious to people who play these games all the time, but small stakes poker is pure chaos some sessions.

I went in thinking the basics would still work pretty much the same. Bet good hands for value, let people make bad calls, and over time that should be fine. I still think it is, but at the table it can get messy fast. People do things that make no sense to me, then the hand goes somewhere I wasn't expecting.

Someone will limp call with junk, call along on boards where I’d expect them to get out, then show up on the river with two pair or a backdoor hand. Another time they call down with bottom pair like they decided before the flop they weren't folding, then fold straight away the next hand when they have a much better reason to continue. Hard to put someone on a hand when they might have anything.

I keep going back and forth on whether I should tighten up or just value bet harder and let them call too much. I can tell myself their ranges are wide and that their mistakes are good for me, but then I’m in another pot wondering what they’re even doing. Not complaining about bad beats here, it’s more that the decisions in the hands can be all over the place.

Bluffs don't seem to get much respect either unless the spot is really obvious. People want to look you up, and if they have any piece they stick around. So I try to value bet more, but their bet sizes and lines are hard to read too. A small bet can be a strong hand or nothing, same with an overbet. I get that this is poker, but it does make it hard to settle into a plan.

How much should you actually cut back on bluffs in games like this, and just focus on getting value when you have it? I don’t want to end up playing every hand passively because I’ve seen a few people call too wide, but I’m not sure how much to change.

Maybe small stakes are just this messy and you make the most of it by being patient. I agree the games can be soft, but that doesn’t mean they’re always straightforward. It’s harder to get comfortable than I expected. thanks in advance