Extremely Successful Player Raises EVERY hand...

[Francis]

Greg, [ QUOTE ]
Regarding your comments about raising every hand, I am sorry, I did not mean he raised every hand, I said he raised every hand he played, big difference.


[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry, I misunderstood, I thought you meant raised PF every hand.

Interesting. I'll follow this thread to see if I can learn something. I'd assumed someone being so ultra agressive would get busted in short order, but apparrantly not. I'm still the one in the kiddie pool, so I'll shut up and read. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Gregg777]

Thanks for the reply Guru, that helps [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I am fairly new to the higher limits, so forgive me if my assumptions are just poker 101 [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

I only win about 3 BB/100 right now and I am trying to increase it by adjusting to a more aggressive style at the higher limits.

Regarding my assumption about his being willing to play marginal hands like Qxs in late position, the raise actually helps him out a great deal in reading his opponents, yes?

Obviously it reduces the number of holdings, but it also allows him to get a much better read on his opponent for the particular hand.

For example, above a couple of people said they would call him with premium hands and bust him. But let's say you limped from EP with AK, and he raised 4BB on the button (you and 1 other limper in front), which knocked out the limper and the blinds, while you call.

At NL 5/10, this would put the pot at $115. Whereas if there had been 3 limpers and the BB, (SB folded), it would have only been $45 in the pot.

The flop comes J38 and you know the button might have anything, so pot betting without a decent hand out of position would be extremely difficult.

Say everyone checks and the turn is a blank, you and 2nd player check, the button pot bets. He might have something, might not, but you are much less likely to call the $115 than $45 on the turn with just ace high, correct?

Let's change the hands. Say you have KQs from MP. You know it is extremely likely he has Ax on the button, so you really can't call a bet on the river if you don't hit anything, correct? (He loves Ax on the button).

So his strategy clarifies his opponent's holdings, and clarifies their strength on any given flop. If you make a weak bet he is coming over the top, many times with nothing. I know because he loves showing his play.

One note about this though, he comes over the top with nothing much more often when his opponent is the one who raised preflop. If he raised preflop and his opponent called, and then his opponent raised on the flop, he gives them much more credit and does not try to be as tricky.

Hopefully my description does not make him sound like a wreckless LAG, he is far from it. Many times people don't give him credit for a hand and he doubles up.

He does not simply raise every chance he gets. Although he doesn't call much, he does check quite a bit, either to get more info or trying to hit something.

Also, knowing how frequently he raises, it also makes it more difficult for players to try and limp in front with marginal hands because they know there is a good chance of a raise.

Does any of this sound close? Am I on the right track? Any tips? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[thenlguru]

You are on right track. One of the best parts of playing loose is that it give you lot od advertise-value. But what is extremely important in this style is to learn pick-up your opponents betting-patterns, so you can sometimes be 100% sure by betting the pot you get the pot without contest.

So three important things:
- Reading your opponent well.
- POSITION
- Making sure you get good value with your actually good holdings.

You might wanna look in ultimatebet 25/50nl for mahatma/spirit rock and in prima high NL games for Dared and Grandiose.

Those three are best examples how to use this style very well.

Good luck with your game!

[img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[Gregg777]

Thanks for the replies Guru, your input has been extremely helpful.

There is one last question that really has me stumped though.

When this guy's VPIP is over 40%, I would expect to see a much higher percentage of marginal hands in his statistics, yet I really don't. There are a few, so I know he does it, but not as many as the VPIP would indicate.

For example, when I look at his known hands on the button, except for Ax, they really follow the same pattern as most of the tighter players: AA-22, AK-A9, KQ-K9, QJs-76s, and a few medium one gappers.

How is that? Occassionally his trash would have to hit, so it should show up. There are winning players as high as 55% VPIP and their holdings are similar. Where are they getting the hands? What are they doing with them? How can they just raise that trash and then throw it away and still be such a winning player?

The only thing I can guess is that they are trying to break even on marginal hands without ever showing. Which obviously gives them more action on their better hands.

Is that about right? Trying to break even or a bit ahead on trash hands without ever showing? I can't get the percentages to add up any other way.

[Wake up CALL]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, knowing how frequently he raises, it also makes it more difficult for players to try and limp in front with marginal hands because they know there is a good chance of a raise.


[/ QUOTE ]

So in other words his style forces others to either play more correctly (not limping in with a marginal hand) or have the opportunity to reraise him with their premium hands( the result is him being forced off his hand).

Hmmmmmmm.........

[Gregg777]

Wakeup,

If he could play a raised pot against only premium hands while he is on the button, he would take that all day, every day.

As far as raising with premium hands, I have played thousands of hands with him, if you don't have AA or KK, my money is on him every time. How often is he going to be up against AA or KK? In terms of percentages, he is way ahead.

And the few times you do reraise with AA or KK, he is a very smart player and will get out of the way with certain hands, but will stay in and bust you with PPs and suited connectors when possible.

I think he really loves your reraises, it nails you down pretty tightly, which he then uses to his advantage.

The trick with this guy is you can't analyze any single aspect and apply it to general poker theory. It is his overall game that makes him so successful, which is what I am trying to figure out [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] For some players forcing other players to play better hands would be a bad thing, but he works it to his advantage...

Again, this guy is one of the highest winning players both in amount won and BB/100. So he knows what he is doing. He knows what most of us are doing, lol.

[AngryCola]

Your sample size is too small. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

[Gregg777]

I have 40,000+ hands over a 6 month period on the person in question. And the win rate and BB/100 is the same. My comment about 8,300 hands was in reference to answering a specific question about him only limping twice. In that case I was using the hands I had personally played with him. Having said that, I do not know of any other times he limped in the other 35,000 hands [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[scotty34]

If you knew he was raising with marginal hands, and you had a premium hand, would it not be better to just push PF to his raise? This does not give him any opportunity to outplay you post flop. Overall this should leave you as a net winner. You can begin to notice which hands he will fold, and which ones he will call with, and that will start to give you a better idea of what he is going to play, and what you should push against him with. I don't really know much at all about higher limits, so I could be way off base. Maybe people aren't as willing to put that much into a pot PF, but in a lower limit game, if I saw a guy with 40% VP$IP that raised every time, I would throw my $25 or so in everytime with ATo, TT, KJs etc, and probably come out a net winner.

[Lawrence Ng]

Could you post a screenshot including his PFR % please?

Thanks

Lawrence