I know this post is long, but I'm interested in everyone's opinion about strategies for playing at these types of tables and the color helps lay the groundwork. The day had a happy ending. The hand may or may not have. I'll reveal both if this thread gets some good discussion.
The Table
Saturday afternoon at a Metro Detroit Charity room. The best way I can describe this table is Spastic - Shovey. The ring leader of this circus sits in seat 7, with $1,200. Mr. Spastic here is Mid-20's, earplugs, sunglasses. While not a direct villain in this hand, his antics drove adjustments across the table. Except for the few times he chose to sing along to his iPod, he was very talkative. Blab blab blab. He has a number of policies. He hoards the $1 chips - a full rack by now at three hours into the table. Doesn't tip the dealers when he wins a hand. "It's my policy to take care of my dealers at the end. Whatever's here goes to them at the end," he says pointing to his little fortress of $1 chips. He 3-bets or 4-bets all button straddles "as a matter of policy," telling the table he'll come over the top on any straddle with any two. He loves the call pre / shove flop line (Oddly he's shows up with a hand more time than not). When AI, he often offers to give his opponent "a little bit of help" Jamie Gold style by telling them what he has. Saved me a bundle when he shoved into my $350 stack.
"You wanna little help," he says.
"Sure," I say
"You should fold."
"Why"
"I have two pair"
"Show me"
He shows 42; I fold AQ. Really easy game.
Having taken me under his wing, Mr. Spastic explains to me that he'll play ATC pre, provided he's facing less than one raise. "Until the flop comes, any two cards can win at this game. People need to understand that more."
The supporting actor in this little play is in Seat 5, and actually is a V in the hand below. Nice guy and, in prior sessions we've played together, he's been generally careful and a little creative. Today, however, he's elected to adjust to Mr. Spastic by open-raising blind pre almost every hand, so we now have a $1-2-10 or $1-2-15 game. Many hands end with a large post flop bet by S5, folds around, and then the GREAT REVEAL, where S5 dramatically flips his rags one card at a time. S5 is sitting on about $500.
The rest of the table is pretty bad. There are a number of deep spots at the table with most stacks over $300. Over the past 45 minutes, a few players bought into (or re-bought into) for more than the table cap of $200. This was done with the blessing of the table (but not necessarily the floor, who, when he saw it, stopped it). There is a lot of calling into Mr. Blind and Mr. Spastic, followed by either calling down light or bailing to post-flop aggression. S4 is the exception. He's quiet, patient.
How would you play against this table? What if you're deep? What if you're not due to the $200 cap (when enforced)?
The hand
V1, S4 (Mr. Patient, $600): Seems competent. With all the antics between Mr. Blind and Mr. Spastic, I haven't gotten a lot of specific reads on this player, except that he has won most of the few hands he has entered.
V2, S5 (Mr. Blind; $500):
Hero, Button, S9 ($190): Me? I'm stuck with $600 invested in this session so far. After an early win getting three streets of value with TPTK against a calling station, I moved to S9 to get position on Mr. Spastic. I lost two good pots where the V rivered the winner, and a few others where I bailed to post flop aggression with no hand. I've been working on playing a very disciplined pre-flop game and hand reading. I'm in lock-down mode, believing there is essentially no fold equity pre-flop and, admittedly focused a bit on not spew/tilting, since I am stuck two buy-ins. I'm playing only premium hands OOP and only playing speculative hands IP with the right odds. I've haven't played a hand in maybe 45 minutes. My metal self-talk right now is "value, value, value."
Pre-flop
Two limpers, Mr. Blind bets $15 blind. S6 calls, Mr. S (S7) folds, fold, and I call OTB with A9s. SB and BB call. Five to the flop.
With only $175 behind after my call, is the call okay? I'm OTB, and with position, I'm generally open raising or over-limping this. Calling a raise is situational, but considering the dynamics of the table (including the fact the open raiser hasn't seen his cards) makes this a call IMO. With Mr. Spastic not in the hand, I'm thinking post flop may play more normal. My plan is bet flop for value with most aces or nines on a nine high board. With position, I'll try to see the turn with the nut-flush draw without too much invested.
Flop ($75)
KQJr
Three checks, Mr. Patient (S4) bets $35. Mr. Blind looks at his cards and calls.
Hero?
That flop hits a lot of hands. I see a lot of TPTK, and two pair hands that have me beat. TPWK is also ahead and I wouldn't be surprised to see KXs, Q8+ at this table. AT (straight), a set of Jacks, OESD and SDs are also possible. Only S5 could have QQ+, so I'm not too that worried about that. I have two to act behind me, so it's not clear if a call would get through. There is $145 in the pot giving me 4.1:1 pot odds on the call. I'm not sure what I'd do with an A on the turn because it'll make two pair for many of the hands that continue here. I'm 11:1 against hitting a ten OTT, so I'd need to get a lot more money in the pot after making the nut straight, and I think the T would shut down the table (four to the straight, with Aces very likely). These are my arguments for a fold.
On the other hand, the table has been very loose and stationy. While better players may not pay off the nut straight holding AT or 89, this table would. An Ace may slow the better enough to allow me to showdown a pair of aces. S1 and S2 have not been that aggressive, so I'm not as worried about a 3-bet as I would if Mr. Blind or Mr. Spastic were there. These are my arguments for a call.
So what about a shove? I have $175. I'm 5.25:1 (about 16%, using 4x rule) to hit a T by the river. I don't think my Ace is any good with callers, because the very worst hand to call here is maybe TPTK, which would make two pair with the ace. Even if all four players call, it's -EV (EV= [(5x$175)+75]x16%]-175=-$23) and with fewer callers, it's even worse. I think the probability of getting exactly zero callers is exactly zero. I'm simply not deep enough to get four players to fold. I think a shove it bad.
Hero ?
