@PokahBlows, yeah Galfond is one of the very few teachers that I actually felt added to my game when I watched some of his videos years ago. He got me thinking of balancing and playing against ranges in a much more advanced way than before.

As for trying to look like a fish. We might not keep up the LotGrinder look forever, but we can at least quit chip tricks and poker talk I think. And if you're going to analyse the last hand you can at least try to say something stupid.

Glad to hear abc still wins, but I'm beginning to worry how BF might have ruined the games, especially 2/5.

Naw games are soft as hell. I usually have one good player to 2+2 terms at my table that's good. For the most part its zero.

I don't know how games were before, but pretty much everyone is bad where I play.

The amount of people that have to discuss every poker hand after it is over is lol...

They just give out a wealth of information for free and it's easier to categorize them quickly.

I talk about everything BUT poker at the poker table if I am talking.

The type of nits I play with aren't calling with less than premium hands in that spot. That's an 8x raise. I factored in there were other limpers. I believe the NIT was on tilt and called all the way down with one of the hands I posted earlier.

isoloating = equity goes up

i would rather play heads up for a $50 raise instead of rasing $10 and getting 6 callers.

The guy has pocket 10s or AJ. Its one of those hands both of those hands can't call 3 barrel's.

Maybe not 3 real barrels but they are for sure calling 20 to win 250 with any of those hands, I would have been pretty likely to raise you otr with anything that I thought didnt have any showdown value at all and I would have called with everything else.

You think many people would call $60 on the turn with TT or AJ, then muck for $20 on the river when the 9 comes and not much has changed and he's getting something ridiculous like 13/1? Maybe there are these types of players, hard to know when their cards go in the muck, but I find it hard to believe this is a common line. I can believe that he's on a straight draw and has in his mind the cards he needs for this straight and if he misses it's an insta-muck despite the pair, but I can't believe someone calls off $100 hoping their jacks or tens are good and then folds for $20 on a 9 river.

Your not a nit though. I bet more vs any other player type. I just felt my ace high was a 20 dollar bet. But to how my villain views that bet, "that's a sucker bet he wants a crying call". Meta game, you have to know what your villain will do. A nit is not calling me down with air there. My hand looks like AA/KK his perceived range with my blockers he can't call with any of his range.

Agree, I go by OP's analysis and you have pointed out the discrepancy. Hands with reverse implied odds like 48s and 23s I just fold in any spot on the table, maybe not the button if its multiway limped and trying to flop gin. I fixed this leak and I have saved considerable amounts of money not playing these hands anymore, and this is exactly the reason why.

Sounds more like a rock than a nit, idk. Nit just seems more like a description of weakness than preflop tightness to me. I've probably been reading too much Ed Miller recently.

bump this analysis for convenience

It's a combination of both, tight-passive = nit

Of COURSE people talk about poker and want to discuss the hands. You are sitting at a poker table playing the game. Not talking about the game, especially when something unusual happens, is unnatural. I mean, what do you talk about when you sit down with friends to watch a football game?

This hypersensitivity about talking about poker is overdone, imo. Really, the things you have to be careful about are berating a player so he or she stops having fun, and giving really specific advice that will help them improve their game. But talking about hands? Totally cool and it's what people expect.

I mean, come on- virtually everyone at the table thinks they've got a unique angle and no one sees what they see. If you say something they disagree with, they are going to write you off unless you absolutely pound it into their heads and start talking poker books and 2+2. So don't do that and let them think you are maniac for 3betting TT. Just shrug and say "it's a good hand." You can tell the truth and it won't make a lick of difference because they KNOW TT makes more money if you play for set value.

So yeah, someone asks me if I'd fold 77 from the SB like they did and I'll say "yeah". They have NO IDEA that the reason I'd fold is because the stack sizes were bad for set mining and I don't want to play it OOP. I'd bet a good chunk of my BR that if person asking me that question actually respected my play and thought I was giving good advice, they'd still misapply it because they don't know how to think about the game properly.

Don't get me wrong, I validate loose passive play all the time ("look man, some times you just go broke, if the cards were reversed, you'd have gotten my stack") and I say stupid stuff like "AK is a drawing hand- there are three ways to play jacks and they're all wrong, etc.", but I play poker because it's a fun game, and trying to NOT talk about poker with a bunch of enthusiasts while I'm sitting playing with them for hours is just silly. OF COURSE I, going to talk poker- I just talk on the level of the TV announcer BS, not 2+2 strat.

You do realize you represent the minority of live 1/2 players right?

I dont know who you are so I hate to dispute your claims, but do you have any reputation or evidence to back up what you say? I am a winning 1/2 reg in the home game circuit (no casinos in my state) and the simple fact is that playing tight is all you need to do because players will simply hand you their money.

I really cant agree with this concept that you are going to raise 84s from the CO after 4 players limp, and then manage to take it away with ANY aggression on the flop. Too many players will call, too many will flop random pairs, and too many will snap you down.

There's just no reason to advocate playing like a maniac and taking such marginally EV lines when a little patience does the same trick. You can sit there and mock us for winning a paltry 20BB/100 and make grandiose claims about winning 600BB's per session, but honestly I'm not buying it.

Helping a fish justify his $200.00 call on the turn when there was $200.00 in a pot is sound poker strategy in my opinion. I have no problem with stuff like this.

I have a problem with 2 or 3 guys talking about "max value".."negative ev".."floating"..etc at $2/$5 or $1/$2. I also have a problem with 2 guys talking about how a fish played a hand badly. "How could he call me there with 6/4 off to play me heads up for $15.00? I wonder if he thinks that play is profitable over time."

I guess me getting annoyed at the "if I do xxx would you have done xxx" might be a bit much....

I just don't want anyone at the poker table to think a lot of people are studying the game and be intimidated/possibly go back to playing blackjack.

This is when teaming up to increase tilt factor of fish becomes a good idea too

I agree with this. It's one thing to 'analyze the hand' by reviewing the action, it's another thing to go into depth abut real poker concepts or insult players at the table. The part about 'studying the game' is good though. I'd like people to think that my style and decisions are intuitive and mine, not arrived at through learning and dedication.

Re: image, you don't have to act like a donk. I just act social and talk about anything but poker. Always have a drink in front of me and chat people up. I like doing it anyway and many people are surprisingly interesting.

Also I never said raise 84s. I said if you are deep against someone likely to have a big pair and they are the type to call off their stack with that big pair, call in position to try to bust them.

wow actually a really informative post by OP.

He is right. playing TAG can and will make you money. but you would be leaving money on the table

No playing abc tag is leaving money on the table. If you play tag like galfond, using balance otb and aggro post your playing lag but less hands.

Somebody needs to go into depth, in another post, about this tweak in concept right here. To me, abc Tag....even if a bit on the nitty side....is what we've had pounded into our heads to beat/crush the micros/LLSNL. I have also found the fish aren't quite as fishy as they are talked about. (Could vary by location) They don't pay off with TPGK as frequently as they used to, although some still clearly do.

We are told we don't have any FE at a standard table. But, if fish aren't stacking off with any pair, we do have some FE. We can take advantage of this if we know how by manipulating our ranges a little wider, in position obv. But, the best examples I can find are where we have a cbettable board (texture wise or equity wise) and improve again on the turn (scare card falls or we pick up a little more equity). I know there are other spots, but I can't seem to want to find them because I can "wait for another spot." As I do, I tend to watch my stack dwindle off a bit by raising pre and b/f'ing quite a bit.

There has to be an answer here other than "run better." While I am not running well at the moment, I noticed this before. It was called "not getting paid off like I should."

Anyone care to take a stab at the topic?

Basically you have a good feel for who likes to fold and who doesn't. Also have a sense for when opponents are getting sick of being pushed around, who is on tilt, who needs to leave for dinner soon and dozens of other things. So pay attention and have a good feel for the game.