Loose Style

I sit down Sunday night to a 4-8 table where everyone plays bad. Everyone is loose and so passive. I sit down and play the tightest I've ever played. I lost $400. There were a couple of bad beats but that wasn't really the problem.


So I go home, shell-shocked, and try and figure out why I can't make money on a loose table. I've been on an extended winning streak and most of it was that I could get people heads-up at will, get free cards at will, etc.


Well here's how it went today. I sit down to play 4-8 and *everyone* is loose-passive again. Noone is playing actual 'poker'.


So I'm in BB with 6s4s. There is one caller and one late raiser. The button and both blinds call. I don't usually call this weak, but this is one of my adjustments. The raiser looks at us and says "respect!" I say "O I respect--I just don't care!" A couple of people at the table laugh at this, but not the raiser. Well the flop is A64. I checkraise him and the button. There is a cold caller and the raiser and button call. The turn is a 6 and I bet out. Everyone calls. The river is some blank and I bet and everyone calls. One idiot has 77. The raiser had JJ. I'm thinking: "You want respect and you raised my blinds with that s***?" But that's just on the surface. Inside I'm thinking: "You went to the river?"


A little later, some new guy sits down at our table and raises. He is solid preflop and he must have AA-QQ or AK. I have Kh9h. There is a caller in between. Usually I dump this hand without a thought. Not today! I call! So seven see the flop. The flop is Ah8d7h. The raiser bets and I raise and now only 6 see the turn. The turn gives me nut hearts. The raiser bets, there are cold callers after I raise (!) and only 4 of us see the river. I have to bet the river myself and all 3 of the others call. Some guy shows off, out of turn, some nasty straight that he rivers. The raiser had AK, of course. But I have the nuts.


And I think I've finally solved this type of game for myself. But there's no way this game is poker.

You're right it's odds. Your good odds and their bad plays. jmo

In your first point, you said you had lost $400 and you played as tight as you ever had. I’ve had an experience similar to this. To make a long story short, I was playing “tight” and still lost money. This happened for a couple sessions and it drove me nuts. The answer to my problem is that some how I got word “tight” distorted a little. I did not play many hands but I was calling too much. For a couple of days I became a passive tight player and ended up the way most of them do. In conclusion, I called my money away slowly and painfully. Don’t make this mistake. You might want to look for this in your play.

There is no reason that you should win every time you play. This is just too much to ask. I'd say if you had a loosing session every 3-5 times, you are still doing very well. It sux to play your game and make adjustments and still lose, but that is just going to happen from time to time. Sometimes you play well and lose, that is poker. You made some money at that weak table, played a good game and won. I disagree with you . . . that is poker, embrace that table, as it will often be the most profitable.

It has been posted repeatedly how tight players lose in loose game like you described. I have experienced in several occasions losing in similar games where, I KNEW I am the best player on the table and yet, these morons keep beating me hand after hand. I make some adjustments also in my starting requirements but not to the extent of the 2 hands you described. It is possible that you stay longer in draws you should have folded earlier or you are not aware that you are on tilt.


The 2 hands you described above are good examples. No matter how much I have been losing I would NEVER made a call on those hands. You just got lucky. If you keep this up, your subconscious may tell you that they are normally acceptable plays, then it becomes a habit, and you wind up to be on the lower rung of the poker food chain.


When I get in games as you describe, I take a break of a round or 2 or wait for dealer change and reassess the situation, go back to the table and stick to my game plans. If nothing change in another half hour, I accept the fact that it is one of those nights and leave, thereby minimizing my loss. After all, it is all one long session, as the saying goes. JMO

this is one of those tables, where you can sometimes make a bad pre call, and theyre not gonna charge ya much for it. the trick is the flop play. and winning with crap does wonders for the image at this table. but then id tighten up abit. your gonna get action on your better hands now. to play too many hands this way could prove very costly though....


just some ideas..


b

I never trully understood why the pros always say "it depends". I'm now starting to. Poker is a game of adjustments and adjusting your play according to your opponents and the game texture on any give night and at any given point in time.


When I can't adjust and exploit it's a difficult game for me. And as Ironwood and Bernie have mentioned, adjusting your starting hand requirements is not a long-term wining proposition. I find I need to adjust my play, pre-flop, flop, turn & river. As you/someone mentioned turning into a calling station really sucks and hurts the bankroll.


I had an earlier post where I played one hand in one session that I normally wouldn't play. That helped set the table for my good/strong hands and allowed me to play a little differently. But playing that junk over time is a leak, even on a loose table, IMO.