SSH's loose game PF guidelines

[chopchoi]

I notice that SSH recommends it's loose guideline for tables with 6-8 players avg. per flop. I usually play at party and Pokerroom. I never see a flop percentage over 60% at Pokerroom. I don't know about party, because they don't post flop percentage, but I think it is very rare to find a game this high. I mean, some hands might have 6-7 players, but I rarely see a game where it is atleast 6-7 players most hands.

So, if loose games are so rare, isn't it senseless for Miller recommend making this the default setting. Do any of you find any use for his loose gam pf strategy? I just can't bring myself to loosen up that much.

[kirkt]

It's uncommon but not unheard of to see one that is usually 6+ on the flop. I've also seen it a lot at the lowest limit B+M tables. At 3/6 in the Mirage in Vegas I'd say it's between four and seven (half the pots meet the second set of hands' requirements) on a flop and comparable in some other cardrooms I've played around the Seattle area. The looser hand selection works pretty well there. It also works at loose, passive tables with half blinds- for example 4/8 with 1/2 blinds.

I make a point of playing the expanded list of hands if I see three or four people limp in ahead of me at party. However, I am still on the steep part of the learning curve for these hands after the flop. Over-applying loose game strategy has been a major problem for me lately, so I definitely I wish I had been as skeptcal of it as you are now when I first wrapped my brain around SSH. My first instinct is to clobber the field on any flop I have a piece of and a lot of these looser hands make that less strategy less profitable.

Also keep in mind that ALL of these starting hand recommendations are for loose tables and Sklansky and Malmuth's HFAP starting hand guide has very key differences. In that little tome, unsuited AQ is frequently a call.