central city/blackhawk

[chardog]

I lived in Boulder and played there a lot last summer. The advice you have been given is correct. For $2-5spread try to see cheap flops with pairs and suited connectors. When you hit your set/2pair NEVER SLOW PLAY (and hardly ever check raise)! Its tougher to get the correct pot odds to draw post flop because of the $5 flop bet. I limited my preflop $5 raise/re-raise to AA&KK only unless I was at the rare tight table. Obviously this makes you predictable but how many total times do you get AA/KK in a session. I almost aproached it as a NL game, limp limp limp limp, hit the flop hard and pounce.

BTW, the new poker room at the Gilpin in Blackhawk spreads $2/4 and is a nice non-smoking room. Besides that I like MtnHigh, very good dealers.

good luck

[CORed]

You should also be raising preflop with AK, suited or not, AQ, suited or not AJs and KQs. If a $5 raise will thin the field (sometimes it will, sometimes it won't depending on who's playing), raise with KQo and AJo. If you have more than fair share pot equity, you need to raise. Don't give cheap flops with good hands. This will increase your variance, because you will be folding a lot on the flop when you don't connect, or, worse, gettin run down when you do, but the big pots when you win will more than make up for it.

By the same token, by all means take advantage of cheap flops with small pairs, suited connectors and suited aces, and even suited kings and queens and suited one or two gappers in late position, if your opponents are giving them to you. Often, you may be the only player at the table that is raising much preflop. If this is the case, you can play the speculative hands in all positions. If not, you will need to play very tight in early position, and if you limp early and somebody puts in a $5 raise, you will have to fold without seeing the flop, unless there are several callers before it comes back to you.

The $2-5 games are usually very loose-passive, but occasionally turn into LAG-fests, with 5 or six seeing the flop for $17 or more. If the game gets wild, you will need to play very tight, big PP, AKo and suited broadways, only, but if you can take down one or two pots, it can be a very profitable session. There are some decent players there, because there are no higher stakes games for them to play, but they are a small minority. Once in a great while, you will see a somewhat tight game, but these tend to be weak tight, or semi-loose-passive preflop, weak tight postflop. If opening with a maximum raise frequently ends up gettin just the blind, you may want to just put in a $3 raise with AA, KK, AKs, AQs, unless you have limpers in front. Stealing the $2 blind with these hands is not good. Stealing the blind plus some limps is not so bad.

These games are beatable, but probably not for enough to make a living, unless you want to put in 60 hours per week for barely enough money to live on.