Cash Game Help Needed
 

The game I find myself playing a lot of lately is .50/$1 NLHE. I try my best to maintain a tight/aggressive image, but I'm not afraid to mix it up from time to time. What I've really been working on lately is trying to read the other players. This has resulted in winning more pots when I'm fairly sure I didn't have the best hand.

The problem I'm running into now, at least I think it's the problem, is that I'm always playing against the same people. And I think they're starting to catch on to any moves I make. Several of these players have told me that they have a horrible time getting a good read on me. I try very hard to always go through the same motions and act the same way when I have a hand or not. What's happening now though is these same players have decided to start calling me down when they've caught any peice of the flop. In a way this is a good thing, but it is forcing me to play a more straight-forward form of poker. As a result, my winning sessions haven't been as nice as they've been in the past. In fact, over my last four sessions I've only managed to break even.

So how do you approach a game in which you've played a lot against most of the other players and it seems that they have figured you out?

Re: Cash Game Help Needed
 

Remember, you get to see them play all the time too. Pay attention at the table and think about how you can exploit each player at the table.

Re: Cash Game Help Needed
 

This is a normal progression to making money in n/l.

You used to wait for a hand to bet and weren't getting paid off enough to make much money. So smartly, you started betting at pots you didn't hit and were getting folds, ending up in a profit. After a lag period, now they are calling, so now you adjust to that and mostly wait for a hand before betting and now they will pay you off (which they weren't doing before), which will end up in a profit. After a lag period they will probably stop paying you off again and then you start betting at alot of pots again.

This can be done repeatedly against players who pay at least a little attention to you but aren't strong enough to defend well against these methods. Weak players have no defense against this, strong players will find ways to adjust.

Re: Cash Game Help Needed
 

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I try my best to maintain a tight/aggressive image, but I'm not afraid to mix it up from time to time.

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"Mixing it up" (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) means changing your play in a hand based on your image in the eyes of the other players in the pot (what you think they think you have). It's a common misconception that "mixing it up" means randomly making aggressive moves for little or no reason. It sounds like this is what you think it means.

If you are playing more straight forward against players who think (or know) you are bluffing a lot, then you are mixing it up. If it hasn't sunk in over 4 sessions that you're now rarely bluffing in their pots, and they're still calling you down with any piece of the flop, this is a good thing for you.

Remember though that everyone at the table doesn't have the same image of you, and most probably don't have any reads at all or just fail to adjust to them, which means mixing it up is pointless against them, and you're better off adjusting your play based only on your image of them.

Re: Cash Game Help Needed
 

[ QUOTE ]
It's a common misconception that "mixing it up" means randomly making aggressive moves for little or no reason. It sounds like this is what you think it means.



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I did not get that vibe from this post at all. He is breaking even at the hundred game if he was donking it up then it would show in results.

Re: Cash Game Help Needed
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It's a common misconception that "mixing it up" means randomly making aggressive moves for little or no reason. It sounds like this is what you think it means.



[/ QUOTE ]

I did not get that vibe from this post at all. He is breaking even at the hundred game if he was donking it up then it would show in results.

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I didn't think he was ever donking it up. Badly worded OP, take "randomly" out..

It just sounded like he was mixing it up before by using a TA or unknown image to buy lots of pots, and now that he has that "bluffer" image, he thinks he can no longer mix it up because "mixing it up" only means aggressive play.