I've been playing in a loose game which looks good on paper, but I keep getting crushed. Maybe I run bad, and maybe I'm bad after the first few streets. But I keep reading and keep studying, so hopefully something will click.

Anyway, I normally only play good low hands, non raggedy (I throw away 872 type hands). I also dump low pairs and high pairs except for AAx. It seems I am never dealt a playable hand. It also seems that players in my game are playing ALL pairs, even medium ones, and will raise with QQJ, etc. I read that hands like QQJ are horrible. Am I wrong, or is everyone else wrong??? And should I be seeing more playable hands? Thanks

Heh, I've come thiiiiiissss close to putting 'Does Stud/8 require more patience than any other game?' in the LC thread. It's not so much that a particular hand is horrible in general as what it's worth under the circumstances. But, generally speaking, I've been playing in a half 08/Stud8 when it's good which means the pots are enormous and I just sit and wait. I'm not as tight as you are (for example I'll play a hand like (4-4)7 if live and multi-way and see what I hit on fourth. The point is is that when you DO make a big hand you're going to have a really nice pay-off in a loose game but you have to wait for it and know when to fold if you've gone beyond third. There are a LOT of players at low/mid-stakes that make horrible fourth street peels, imo, don't be one of them.

OTOH, there is a case to be made for loosening up in a very loose game just not quite as loose as the rest of the table. I prefer to avoid the swings and could very well be missing out on value.

yeah. as Howard Beale stated, a loose game will require massive patience. i happen to play in a very loose game that also plays nine or ten handed at times. that means you can be dealt a seemingly decent starting hand only to look around and notice that all of your outs are gone. as with most poker, if you get impatient and try to make things happen when you're in a bad spot, you will lose.

stay patient, pay attention to what is going on in the game and wait to win those giant pots because if players are making bad plays on 4th and 5th, those pots WILL be giant.

on your worst nights you may go home down a little. on your best nights you will crush the game.

Thanks. But today I lost 400 in 3.5 hours.

Try to take some notes (assuming live play) and post some hands along w/ the stakes. Don't worry about looking like you're taking the game seriously, they don't care.

Yeah I'll do that. I want to like the game...

KK/QQ are often playable. Sometimes worse high pps are, but not in a loose game.

It's good to read that one must learn patience in a loose game. I think it applies to my forays into razz, where on a bad day I'm folding fourth and fifth streets in multiway pots and getting chased and caught on sixth and seventh.

Pechorin, Lermontov fan?

Nice spot. I like playing heads up on cliff edges. How did you come by the novel?

Randomly. It caught my eye at a hotel and I read it. I'm a Russian literature fan in general, especially tolstoy. I'm looking to read Oblomov soon.

44/7 is not that playable.
I say you should still play tight, follow ray zee book for starting hand
you simply make money on your good hand.
marginal hand (even if caught good), still got easily draw out.
You really dont wanna go tilt in a good loose passive game which might afr playfect you

ORLY?

+1. I only play a23 suited and rolled AAA. Sure I lose a lot of antes waiting around for a premium hand, but I almost make up for it when I finally complete on 3rd and everyone folds. Yeah some fish will chase me all the way down so I can win enough antes to fold the next 25 hands, but somehow it doesn't seem to happen that often.

44 is too small, 774 is better than 447 if you really wanna play, you have a good chance to lost to player miss a low and accidentally make a pair on seven street