I have been playing poker for about 3 years now and have been taking it serious for about 2 years. I play 2/5 nolimit on a regular basis and usually buy in for 6 or 700. I have came a long way in my experience, but just wanted to ask you guys for some advice. There is a guy I have played with literally 100s of times and he always seems to do well too. He doesn't win all the time, but he comes out ahead most of the time. He is a complete rock. He doesn't run any plays, but he bets big when he has it and usually gets paid off, because we play with a BUNCH of calling stations. They are the biggest idiots and don't realize he hasn't raised in 2 hours yet they call his bet anyway and call all his bets with top pair. Or he will just limp in with a pocket pair and go set mining. Just very tight straight forward poker. I play with a lot of top pair donkeys. I dont know where they make their money and I dont ask. Anyway he always does pretty good because he gets paid off a good bit.

My style is the complete opposite. I am a loose super aggressive player. I SEMIbluff like there is no tomorrow. I over bet a ton as well. For instance is there is 25 in the pot and a player leads out with 20 and I will often reraise it to 120 with just a straight or flush draw. But I do the same thing with my real hands as well. I try my best to make the players at the table as uncomfortable as possible. I want them to know that if they are in a pot with me they better be willing to get all their money in the pot. I had quite a few people tell me they don't like playing poker with me and I love to hear that. I know I need to calm down with my aggression, but my strategy has worked quite well for me the past year. I won 3,000 in a tourney on fulltilt about a year ago and just played cash games since black friday and have really built up my bankroll. In the past 4 months I have won 5100, 4000, and 3500 in live poker tournaments. In the past year I have profited close to 30,000 playing poker so I know my strategy is a good one but I know it can be better.

Having said all that in the past month I have lost about 2,500 playing my regular home cash game and I have always been a consistent winner. I guess people are starting to figure out when I reraise it doesnt mean I have it at all where they use to just fold unless they had the nuts. Last night I flopped a nut flush draw and a gut shot and I wasn't going anywhere. I had 4bet it with AJ hearts and both the original raiser and 3better flat called me. and the flop came 10h Kd. and 6h. There was already close to 350 in the middle because I had made it 110 preflop. They both check to me and I push all in with for 505. Would absolutely love for them to fold and let me take the pot right there. But the original raiser quickly went all in and the 3 better folded AK faceup. The turn and river were both blanks and neither of us has shown our cards yet and I told him you got it. He showed me A10 off and I told him it was good and mucked. The guy who folded AK was mad and that whats I like to do to people. I want everyone to go on tilt. Having said all that I want to hear what all I should change about my style of play. I know if I changed gears and played supertight I could easily make money because my image is horrible right now. BUT my style has put a lot of money in my pocket this past year. I know something needs to change and I should always be evolving as a poker player, but I want you guys to give me a little feedback. Should I continue what has worked for me or should I play old school straight forward poker for a little while. Thanks for reading

Playing LAG against calling stations is bad. You've just been lucky.

As for the AJ hand in your home game

1) don't try to tilt people in home games. it's just bad form
2) You learned a pretty good lesson about playing LAG against calling stations. A guy who flats a 4-bet for 1/4 of his stack pre-flop with AT and then calls a shove with second pair is NOT someone you want to get fancy with.

I don't think I have just been lucky. I have been a consistent winner for about 2 years now as I have moved up in stakes.
I say its a home game, but its what I consider my home game. I know most of the people there, but I am not there to make friends. Its played in the back of an amvets bar. Me and my good friend go up there on a regular basis and everyone else is just an acquaintance. I am 22 and he is 23 and there are a couple young guys there but most people are 40+ that play. But the guy who beat me in that hand is imo in the worst player up there. I have saw him make some horrible calls with top pair but never middle pair in a big pot when I was trying to represent a monster. About 2 hours before that. I dont know if he was there or not. I shoved in a similar situation with Aces and showed. I could have value bet the guy, but thats my style. I'll overbet and show when I had the best hand and I will overbet my draws as well. Thats just how I play. I want them to be uncomfortable in a pot against me or avoid me entirely.

Look man, there is no way the style you're talking about is going to be a long term winner against the opponents you describe. So go back over your post, and fix what's wrong/embellished/exxagerated and let us know.

The player you're talking about, is a loose passive calling station. It doesn't matter how big your bets are, he is (at least eventually) going to call you down with marginal holdings and catch your admittedly frequent bluffs.

By your own admission, you're making bets larger than necessary to achieve the results you want. You're deliberately passing up value with strong hands so that you can "rep" a strong hand later. What exactly do you expect to happen?

You're obviously posting this for a reason, so just take the advice. If you're going to sit there and talk about how "this is just how you play" and "you're a winner for 2 years" take it over to BBV. If you want feedback, you got it.

PS: The style you're talking about is probably going to work a little better in tournaments as opposed to cash games. Based on your accounting of your winnings, I'm guessing that could be part of your perceived success

Not all of them are calling stations but there is a lot of them up there. Thats why I learned to overbet. They will call standard sized reraises or bets, but not many will call overbets. I dont know many people willing to call an extra hundred with top pair and J kicker. I can't tell you all the times I have reraised people and they show me top pair and then fold and of course I usually tell them good fold and never show unless I know I was ahead.

I also NEVER show my bluffs. I will occasionally show 7-2 with a preflop bet, but I have never showed a bluff after the flop. Also, I always show my strong hands. I always show my Aces or Kings because I like letting people know and want them to think I always have it.

But what I am asking is should I continue what has worked so well for me or really just take my game back down to ABC poker while I am there. Thats why I love playing in Biloxi so much. I recognize a few people and I am sure they recognize me as well, but there is so many people down there they have no idea how I play. Theres no "well he can't have it everytime" mess.

I have won a little more in cash games than tournaments. I have had some decent cashes and I think I have played in 11 340-550 buyin tournaments if I am not mistaken. I am up a few thousand in tournaments and just one decent win will cover 10 buyins or so.

have you read angel largay's book? i liked the bits about different player types, their psychology, and different ways of manipulating them horribly, and from the sounds of things i think you might enjoy it too?

No I havent read that, but I will look into it. About a year ago I bought 30+ poker books from some guy on craigslist for only $50. I read most of them, but I quickly realized experience was much more important. The first poker book I ever read was Phil Gordons little green book and that one helped me the most when I first started playing. Thanks for suggesting that though.

np, gl

OP,

you started a thread in hopes to receive advice regarding your current strategy and whether or not you should change it up. when you received advice from ninjabri, you basically argued that "no, my strategy is the best." If you already know that you aren't going to change it up and that your strategy is best, why ask?

also, i usually disagree with ninjabri but in this case i feel like he is spot-on. in any cash game with typically loose/passive players a laggy style is optimal almost never.