Super-loose NL game - general strategy question

[mak1277]

I played in a mega-loose live NL game not long ago and found myself struggling to adjust strategically to the play. This game was $1/$2 blind NL, with a max buy in of $300.

My question/problem, relates to the preflop play is this game. In general it was very loose (at least in my experience) for a NL game. It was not uncommon for an early position player to raise $20 or $30 (10-15x the big blind) and get 4 or 5 callers.

Now most of my NL play is restricted to online, where a raise of 10x the BB pre-flop means you're usually looking at AA, KK, etc. This game had numerous occasions of people making $20 or $30 pre-flop raises with Ax suited, baby pocket pairs, KQ offsuit and other mediocre hands.

My question is how should I play in this game. I took the approach of tightening up and waiting for a monster to pound everyone with, really hoping to get a limp/reraise from early position or to make a big re-raise from late position with a big PP or AK.

Is this thinking correct, or do I need to actually relax my starting requirements in this situation? For instance, if I have 44 or KQ suited on the button, should I be calling a
$20 or $30 raise for big pot odds if there are 3 or 4 other callers? That seems right, but if I miss the flop, that gets pretty expensive (10% of my stack pre-flop with average hands...I don't like that.

[GFunk911]

It would depend what percentage of pots are being raised liek this. What you describe is not just loose, but loose and overbetting. If 50% of pots are limped around, and all the players are fairly loose postflop as well, then you should be limping all kinds of hands, anything with speculative potential. Even if half of your hands have to go into the muck after paying 2 bucks, half of the hands will be able to see a flop for an average of 4 bucks. Playing agianst players with ~300 bucks who are loose, that's fantastic.

If most hands, say 80% are being raised like this, then you can still play your better speculative hands and just toss them in the muck to a big raise, but tightening up in general would be a winning strategy. This isn't to say that you can't definitely be a winner by player loose-ish, but not as loose as them, I'm just saying that tightening up and only playing your premium hands will be a winning strategy. Since overbetting is the norm, you'll be able to overbet with your big hands and get action, a dream scenario.

The one exception here, in my mind, is pocket pairs. If it is raised to 20 bucks, but you see that you'll be getting 4 or more way action, and the possibility of a reraise behind you is very slim, you can definitely play your pocket pairs for set value. You're 7:1 against hitting the set, and of course you have some reverse implied odds (flopping a set and losing to a bigger hand), but getting 4:1 straight pot odds just to see a flop with huge implied odds if you hit you can certainly see some flops with your pocket pairs. That said, depending on how the action looks on the flop, (aside from pocket pairs) I would be wary of seeing a raised flop anything but the very best speculative hands, if any.

[vegas]

Another variable would be how do they play after the flop? If after the flop they are passive then I think you can loosen yep a little bit. If they are pretty aggressive after the flop stay tight you shouldn’t be in many pots.

[mak1277]

I would say that 60-70% of the hands were raised to at least $10 pre-flop. I knew the game was going to be wild when I raised UTG to $15 with AKs and got 7 callers.

I agree that limping with a ton of different hands (when possible) is ideal. Just wasn't often possible in this game

[SpeakEasy]

Fold everything but the premium hands in early position. Loosen up PF in late positions, tighten up on the flop. Play position more aggressively.

Or, if you're uncomfortable, leave and come back some other time.

I wonder, in this type of game, whether some aggressive PF re-raises in position would simmer things down. "Raise. Your 20, and 150 more."

[Kaz The Original]

Your first concern in this game is definitely to get your opponents to play better. That's how you make the big bucks.

Err...

Seriously, your most important job at the table is to keep the action rolling. After every HUGE pot say "THATS A HUGE POT!" and things like that to keep the gamblers dreaming. When someone raises large preflop I like to say "He's got cajones"... keep up a friendly raport with the tables. These guys are here to PLAY.