Posting in between is the neon sign of nittery IMO only

At Bellagio there seem to be a few people who always wait to post inbetween, but also a lot of people who will not post inbetween even if they arrive then, and wait to post behind. I think most of these guys have some reason other than EV though. or some kind of mistaken calculation of it.

My money is on the latter, based on conversations I've heard about it. They are snug and nitty, and do what they think is most +EV since there are a constant stream of tourists filling in 50% of the table who they think don't catch on.

How does the average rec player adjust when someone posts in between vs. regular small blind/big blind? Do some people have a theory that they lose less in the blinds overall by putting all the money in on one hand instead of two. Might let them often be HU OOP against an aggressive player.

Posting inbetween is only posting the big blind, and there is also a regular SB and BB, so there are 3 blinds for a hand, it's much less likely to be headsup.

Maybe what you suggest could happen when someone buys the button, but almost no one does that when coming into a game.

Nobody buys the button to come into a game. But if this is meant as a critique of buying the button more generally, at most, this would be a concern in tight games.

And here's the thing-- I still think in such games buying the button is better than posting behind, for two reasons. First of all, you get 2 extra hands, including the button, the best position. And second of all, in that same tight game, it may get folded around to you in the cut-off and as a poster, you will be basically forced to raise 100 percent of your range, which means you are going to be playing some dogcrap hands for 2 bets.

If it gets folded to you in the cutoff, that's a huge win.

Also I'm guessing the cost is partially negated by the converse. If you buy the button and it folds to the CO you're going to get raised more since there's only one blind

this thread is long. i haven't read it b/c there's only 1 correct answer here which is the REALISTIC one of:

a) DONT BE A FREAKING NIT,
b) you want to let people know you're not a nit (Esp fish), so
----> c) post as soon as you possibly can to play. if you sit down UTG, just post on your bb. if you sit down in the sb, buy the button. if you sit down on the button, ask if you can throw an extra sb in and play the button, then when they say no, post when the button passes and lament that you missed your extra hand.

people like people who like to gamble and came to play. be one of those people. don't be a nit.

there should seriously be red hats w/ white block font from some politician that say "Make America LAG Again" and "Don't Be a Nit". i'd vote for that candidate for sure. he knows what's up.

Sitting at the table not playing is definitely bad. But you can use that time more effectively. Walk, stretch, schmooz management, eat a granola bar without worrying if its your turn to act. Forcing yourself to take a lengthier break isn't so bad.

I think this is wrong in a way I think few posts on 2+2 are wrong.

Basically, it suffers from a fundamental misunderstanding of poker. I will call it the "observant fish fallacy".

The observant fish fallacy has an extremely weird conception of bad players. Basically, it says that bad players watch the game and gather reads just like good players do. Indeed, they are basically just like good players, with one exception-- they are bad and don't play their hands correctly.

Good players who believe in the observant fish fallacy obsess about their table image. They obsess about people discussing strategy at the tables. They obsess about players making table and seat changes. Their whole philosophy of playing poker is that your winrate comes in not tipping the fish off that you are good, because then they will either morph into good players or at least leave.

This is completely wrong.

Fish have varied reasons for playing poker, and varied strategies. But in general, they don't do ANY of the things as well as good players do. In other words, they don't just play bad strategies. They also fail at the other things. They don't control tilt as well. They don't manage their bankrolls as well.

And, yes, they-- wait for it!-- DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO THE GAME.

The fish aren't observant. They don't care if you post in between or post behind. They don't care if you buy the button, or if you wait for the next round. And they are not going to pick up and leave the casino even if they do think you are a nit-- where are they going to go? They came to gamble! They want to gamble!

Just don't worry about what the fish think. If you want to lose a bit of money by being impatient and you are too undisciplined to watch a few hands before getting involved, post immediately. If you want to do the sensible thing, don't post immediately unless you are in a favorable situation. But in neither case should you justify your decision based on what the fish will observe. More than likely, the fish won't observe a thing.

Not really.

You have two choices. Have a checking range or don't have a checking range.

If you have a checking range, you are ridiculously exploitable, especially by the player on the button, who can raise you extremely light and bleed your chips.

If you have no checking range (which is what most decent players I know do), then you are compounding the cost of your posting-- not only are you going to have to put in 1 small bet every time you are dealt a bad hand, but now you are going to have to put in 2. And, of course, you are still exploitable by 3 bettors to your left.

Posting in the cut-off isn't this incredibly advantageous situation that some people think it is. I'm not saying it's horrible-- it's a lot better than posting in the positions farther from the button and the blinds. But it's not +EV, and I think the "getting 1 more hand" issue far outweighs any positional advantage in the posting with respect to whether you should come in between.

i, and many others, have first hand evidence to the contrary. i've seen fish call out people who don't post immediately quite a few times in many different ways. maybe it's a function of the limit (15/30 to 80/160 is what i'm talking about here), or maybe it's a function of where you play.

ofc i agree fish don't tend to observe what your flop kr range is and they're not looking at the showdown to see if you kr'd your flush draw that time. but many fish do notice when somebody has an option to play by posting and they don't.

i've personally (and many others have as well) seen this happen where a guy sat down and didn't post and the fish noticed and straight up called him out on it.

how much does this error cost me? i'll eat that small amount and post at the first opportunity usually (ofc there are exceptions). and in actuality, i've posted less and less at the first opportunity over time. once people have a read or opinion on or about you they're probably not going to change it. so in my "home base" casinos, i will be much more likely to wait (depending on who's at the table).

so we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Not every button knows just how wide their 3-betting range should be here, but when they do you get kinda owned yea

Fish are definitely observant. As a group, they play way better than they did ten years ago even though most of them have done almost no homework outside of the table to improve their game.