[Bodhi]

Subject pretty much says the main point. I play a lot of limit online and when I play the occasional home game with friends it always takes me a while to adjust. I am generally a tight player and have a reputation for being tight in our home games. Now, a friend of mine who is a successful limit player is also a consistent winner in our NL/PL home games; he doesn't just leave with a little, but usually doubles his buy in or better. What confuses me is that he plays much looser in these home games than he does in a limit game, which seems counterintuitive to me, but then again I may not understand what's going on here. Our home games tend to be very loose and mostly passive, with one or two LAGs. The passive players will frequently cold call with hands like T6s or QTo, and the LAGs will raise or even go all in with a hand like A2o. In other words, our game is highly beatable but I rarely profit as much as my friend who deliberately loosens up.

He's tried explaining to me that implied odds just don't work the same way in NL/PL like they do in limit, which is partly self-evident. For instance, he'll make bottom pair and call the passive players to the river to try to make trips or two pair, then ram and jam if he makes his hand. Me, I fold bottom pair pretty routinely and don't try to suck out. Now, is this strategy profitable in NL/PL? It would only seem profitable if you expect someone to call your big raise when you make your hand, which you won't do very often. The most sense I can make of this is that with a psychological edge and the expectation that bad players will pay you off if you make your long shot, loosening up could be the way to go.

Please don't tell me that I can't possibly make the above inferences because I haven't seen enough hands, or whatever kind of condescending nonsense someone wants to shoot off. I've made these observations over 7-8 months or so and believe me, I would expect someone who plays slightly loose (and aggressive) to lose in the long run, but he's profited more than my modest returns. Explanations or further speculation welcome, thanx.