So, it has been a long absence for me from poker. A combination of a new job, a new city, and other focuses have kept me away from the tables. I am planning to ease back in. Because I am in SoCal I am planning to play Limit Holdem (in the past I focused mostly on NL.)

I was hoping for some thoughts on how best to ease back in the LA area. What games I should consider and what I should know about them, etc.

My plan as it stands right now is to play the 8/16 and Hollywood Park and at Commerce for awhile and focus on getting back in the groove and rebuilding my bankroll before taking on bigger games again; in the past when I played here I focused on what was at the time a 25/50 Limit game at Hustler but I don't feel quite ready to jump back into those waters (that was 2006-2007.)

Any thoughts people have or things I should be aware of would be incredibly useful.

looks like a good plan to me. 8-16 good place to resume after having some experience. Conventional wisdom on 'correct' flhe strat has changed plenty since 06-07, so just keep playing, studying, posting, watching, reading, listening, etc. GL

Been a while since I've played much in LA, but I would suggest ditching HoPo and playing at Commerce.

8/16b is big enough to beat the rake if you pick your games. play extra tight for awhile till you get what you want to know.

Don't know why you would say that. I haven't played either recently, but I heard that HP may have a really great cashback program, possibly as much as $5 per hour, for the same rake.

Never understood why some people are so big on Commerce. They are the LA casino I like the least, and the games never seem to be any better there than at the other places.

Hawaiian Gardens has 100k jackpot every odd hour from 11am-1159pm.

Thanks for the thoughts everyone. I played Hustler tonight, it was my first day back. I picked Hustler because it was where I played a lot back in '07. The reason HP is a target for me, if the games are good, is that it by far the closest to where I am living currently so it is easy during the week.

It was a good first night back. I played a short session, about 3 hours, and had a nice run of cards. I played pretty tight (definitely tighter than I used to and probably tighter than was strictly appropriate.) It went well though, and more importantly felt pretty good from a play perspective.

I saw one poster say that conventional wisdom has changed a lot since the last time I was playing Limit Holdem seriously. Any thoughts on specific things I should be reading up on?

Thanks for the thoughts everyone! I will continue to post as I work my way back into things.

Don't get me wrong, Commerce is a *^#%hole and is far more worthwhile for its $20/$40 or $40/$80 than to play lower games. I just don't want to get stabbed in the HoPo parking lot.

Could you provide just one or two examples on this? Obviously it's a very broad statement, but I am just curious on some trends you might be able to share. Thanks!

Does anyone have any information on HP's cashback program, or if there are any promotions in SoCal that would make me choose one casino over another?

Here's a couple:

Generally, good players are at least somewhat closer to LAG or LAGTAG preflop than prevailing poker theory 10 years ago would have told them to be. For instance, I suspect most good players these days would open-raise 77 or QJ suited from any position in a full ring game; those hands probably get listed as limps or folds in early position a lot of older starting hand charts.

Another example is that blind stealing and defense ranges have probably gotten wider over time.

There's more of an emphasis on balance, even if you don't play GTO, in shorthanded and heads-up situations, especially against halfway decent players. So, you might call your entire range pre-flop heads up rather than re-raising or capping, and you might delay raising your entire range, or a good portion of it, until the turn for the same reason.

Those are a few. I am sure there are others.

I have noticed that a lot of the things that "felt correct" to me a few years ago have become more commonplace now. What is funny is that I am being a bit more selective now than I was in the past despite the success I had playing a wider hand range in the 06-07 era. {examples would be folding QJs UTG last night and folding KQo to a raise from UTG+2 last night.}

I think the first fold was probably wrong and the second fold was probably still correct, but I would not have made either of them 7 years ago.

call the different casinos' poker rooms, and ask about their current promos? or check their websites

'small stakes holdem' will still be reasonably applicable to 8/16 and lower stakes, and some of the time for 20/40 too. but i think the average fish these days is more aggressive than several years ago. you'll see more awareness of blind stealing these days, and wider 3betting preflop. 8/16 anywhere is going to be soft but depending on rake may not be very beatable. but it's a better place to start than 20/40 if you're getting back into things. you might consider playing online as well - it's a good way to get lots of hands in at lower money stakes in tougher games. good practice.

welcome (back) the forum.

Thanks for the welcome back

I am definitely going to stick to live 8/16 for awhile. I have no desire to return to the online game though. It would be nice for seeing lots of hands again but I have always found that I become the worst version of me when I play online poker.

FWIW I raise the QJ suited and 3-bet the KQ unless the initial raiser has a very narrow range.

What range do you put UTG+2 on to 3-bet with KQo?

most live games kq isnt the best hand when a fairly early player raises it ahead of you. and then three betting him with many players behind. that doesnt work well in full games.

As long as the early raiser's range contains hands like AT, AJ, and 88-JJ, I actually think it's wonderful to 3 bet and get 4 fish calling from behind.

Now if the raiser's range is AQ+, JJ+, I would fold. But it rarely is.

With KQo??

Who are you and what have you done with lawdude?

Just to be clear, I don't necessarily oppose it, but this is pretty LAGgy even for me.

Like normally I'm the one who's like, "3-bet it, it'll be fun," and you're the one who's like, "you're overestimating your postflop abilities, fold pre."

You've got 40% equity when you 3-bet so there's a pretty steep hill to climb. And KQo is better HU than 6-way.

Equilator says that against a raiser with 77+, AT+, KJ+, and 4 fish with typically fishy calling ranges, we have about 18.8 percent equity in a 6-way pot (16.7 percent is our fair share). Even if we get just 1 cold-caller plus the big blind, we are at 26 percent (25 percent is our fair share). Heads up we are 41 percent but have initiative, and we are only putting in 40 percent of the pot anyway because of the dead money.

Plus, the hand is pretty easy to play in position against the initial raiser.

I likes me the king-queen, unless the initial raiser is pretty tight.

This is such an interesting conversation to me. When I was playing full time or nearly so (from 2004 - 2007,) I was often being told I was too loose and aggressive in these situations. I didn't have the stats to back it up as Lawldude does but I often pointed to the wide range a potential raiser was likely to have as good reason for this sort of play...

That being said, at least at this point, I would rather play a bit too tight than a bit too loose.

People were super duper loose passive in the poker boom SSLHE games. A lot of things made sense back then that don't anymore - so few people raised AJo and ATo that AQo was not a slam dunk 3-bet like it is now, for instance.

You should definitely err on the tight side until you feel confident. Then widen up gradually.

I don't disagree with you on any of this (except maybe that you're not separating KJs and KJo) but it just surprises me that you're willing to accept and even advocate this argument for 3-betting KQo against an EP raiser with people behind but you were one of the notable opponents of raising, say, 98s in late position after multiple limpers.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's good that you're willing to step out there with a razor thin edge and try to make it work. It just surprises me.