Re: vulnerable because I fold my AA and KK too easily?
 

Also, with regard to your other posible strategies:

1. This will make you some money, in the short run, but its too obvious and predictable of a play. An intelligent, tricky opponent will catch on after a while. Also, their draws will hit often enough so that you're losing a good amount of the profit you make when they try to bluff.

2. With an overpair, you want to raise, especially if you have position (unless the flop is ridiculously hostile)... you need to get an idea where you're at.

3. No... because if they know you that well, you'll only get a call when you're beaten.

4. Not from EP, but from MP and late position. If you're going to raise a speculative hand, you want to do it in a pot where you have positional advantage. Also not with small pocket pairs... you want plenty of people in the pot in case you flop a set (it just makes too much money when it hits to try to chase people out before the flop)

5. If they figured you out once, theyll figure you out again.

6. You do want to loosen/aggressive up before the flop and on the flop, but you still want to be more selective than they are. Which is to say play looser than you are now (in terms of your standards to raise and or call) but not looser than _they_ are.

Playing and raising with garbage only works when you are against a predictable opponent who is easy to put on a hand (you can back off if you know your beat) -- you say your opponents are intelligent and tricky, so this would be dangerous.

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1) Check a bunch of flops with aces/kings, lose a smaller pot if their crap hits, encourage them to bluff.
2) Randomly call down the tricky dudes when they represent better-than-big-pair.
3) Randomly reraise all-in with just a pair or AK that misses.
4) Start occasionally raising from EP and MP with medium pairs, small suited connectors or one-gappers (86s!) so maybe I'll catch them with an unexpected monster myself.
5) Change nicknames.
6) Start calling all of their preflop raises, limp/reraise them preflop with garbage, play back at them with nothing until they stay out of my pots. (This seems petty and unlikely to work, but it would be satisfying if it did.)

What do you other tightwads/people who play the same opponents regularly recommend?

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Re: vulnerable because I fold my AA and KK too easily?
 

Would it be absurd to allocate half a buy-in to advertising? These guys need to know that you play a new, looser game these days with an arsenal of stone cold check-raise bluffs, wild stabs out of position, pricy gutshot calls, playing Q8o.

Instead of flashing an absurd bluff that works, let the nuts call you once! I'm reminded of Mike Caro's draw section in Super System...

EDIT: Half a buy-in? At least one...

Re: vulnerable because I fold my AA and KK too easily?
 

Sounds like you're playing predictably in an exploitable manner. You have some options, some more favorable than others.

Loosen up. If they act in a predictable manner to certain plays on your part, do the same back at them. Raise more often with slightly worse hands.

Play different opponents! Playing against the same people gives them an advantage and right now they know how to play against your style. You may have holes but they're amplified by playing with people who can read you like a book. Against random Party (or other large site) players, you'll do better.

If you insist on staying, you need to change up your play. Don't try to trap people every time with big pairs. Get all your money in and if 86s decides to call you at that point, awesome. Or limp/call instead, like you would with a worse hand. Trap them by thinking you don't have a big PP because you -so obviously- play them the same way.

However, if you constantly get called down by one or two idiots with your big pairs holding nothing, and not the whole table, then you're golden. If they're taking stabs at you with junk when you raise and blanks come up (and you show weakness), then drop your requirements by a couple notches and checkraise their big bets. You'll lose the ones where they hit big hands, but most of the time they won't make big hands. Sure they might adjust to your new strategy but now you're playing poker again instead of just getting kicked in the teeth.

Re: vulnerable because I fold my AA and KK too easily?
 

Don't bet your big pairs against these folks, just check-and-call. Nail them a couple times getting money you would not have gotten had you bet, and they'll get the message.

- Louie

Re: vulnerable because I fold my AA and KK too easily?
 

Creed:


Imperious is giving you about the best advice you could have gotten. Follow it and you'll beat their butts.

--Lob