I have no idea how to play this! - Help please

[Blue Sky]

The room I play in closes at 2 am. Usually around 12.30 or so the game changes from poker to lottery - very loose in other words. For example, last night the table I was on broke and we were re-seated at other tables. The first hand I sat in on was capped on every street only to be won by the blinds 72s runner runner flush. I watched 4 more hands that were similar including one maniac raising completely blind every hand. I admit this is not my type of game, but it happens every night. I normally try to leave before the gamble it up attitudes take over, but I was there last night and have been numerous other times. The other factor that makes me want to learn to play in this situation is that the pots are abnormally large. (2x to 3x's most other pots I see in a night.)

1st question - Because this is not a style of play I excell in, should I leave?

2nd question - If I stay what types of hands should I be playing? Tighten or loosen up?

3rd question - It seems to me that your almost always going to be getting the correct odds to chase almost any hand in these types of games - should you?

Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[ElSapo]

Others can give you better advice, but I'd tighten down, be prepared for wild swings but also look to rake some huge pots when you hit. You'll want to play only your best cards - yeah, you'd have the odds to draw to any kind of draw after the flop but the key, I think, is that it sounds like all mid-suited connectors are off b/c you could easily end up paying four bets for them pre-flop. You need hands which, to quote someone quoting someone quoting one of the books, "can turn into monsters on the flop." Let everyone else go nuts, you play premium hands and make people pay for trying to limp in with crap.

These games are really frustrating, but then again it only takes one hand to see good results.

[Tosh]

I think you have to tighten up quite a lot. Big pocket pairs and big suited cards only. When you make a strong hand you'll get pair off so much that it won't matter you haven't played a hand for an hour.

[CORed]

Just a guess: Are you playing in Colorado?

I don't have a lot of experience playing in loose agressive games, so my advise is mostly theoretical. These games can be profitable, but the variance will be high. If you see the flop, you will have the pot odds to play some pretty ridiculous draws, but it could be a long time before you show a profit, because you will be winning big pots infrequently. How you play depends on how much fluctuation you are willing to tolerate. If you want to minimize your fluctuation, at the cost of a lower long term hourly rate, play very tight pre-flop. fold anything but big pocket pairs and big suited cards. Even these hands will lose quite frequently, even if the flop hits them, but they are your best chance. You are looking for sets, straights and flushes (or draws to straights and flushes). Top pair-good kicker or an overpair isn't all that strong in big multi-way pots, although you should probably play past the flop with them if there aren't too many raises and the board isn't too scary. They will win big pots when they do hold up.


If you are willing to tolerate more fluctuation, you can add mid pocket pairs and mid sutied conncctors. and maybe AKo and AQo.

If your bankroll is small, or you just don't want to deal with a lot of fluctuation, leaving before "closing time mass-tilt" sets in may be your best option.

Also, if you want practice playing in this kind of game with no risk, try the play money online games. The type of play you describe is the norm.

[brian0729]

1. On your own on this one, you have to know which games you can play in, prepare for bankroll swings.

2. Tighten up like Kenny's hood, big pairs and big suits

3. Not sure, want to see what other think

[brian0729]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, if you want practice playing in this kind of game with no risk, try the play money online games. The type of play you describe is the norm.

[/ QUOTE ]

Great point

[johnb]

The other posters are right on point about the wild fluctuations and tightening up. Skalansky and Malmuth state in HFAP page 214"...if you wait for aces, kings, queens, and aks, you must win."

An important factor to add is that you must be prepared mentally for these type of games. It is easy in theory to say “Ok, I understand that there will be high fluctuations in this game; and I understand that I need to tighten up.” It is much more difficult to put it into practice. If you only play the hands Skalansky and Malmuth recommend, will you be patient enough to throw away hand after hand after hand? You probably realize you get drawn out on a lot in games like this. It is TOUGH though in practice when your trip aces lose to that 7-2s that went runner-runner flush. Can you handle it without going on tilt?

You are right about getting correct odds to chase. Remember though that this SIGNIFICANTLY will increase your fluctuations in bankroll and win.

[ResidentParanoid]

You have to play much tighter.

You have to expect larger swings.

Basically, a 2-4 game is going to cost you like a 8-16 game for the first couple of betting rounds. You have to have a much larger bankroll to handle the variance. And your drawing hands go way down in value pre-flop.