thanks a lot, best thing I have read today.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dunderstron!
Okay, here's my shot at answering such an open-ended question.
Game Plan For Running Over a Super Loose-Passive Table
To take advantage of this sort of table, we need to have a LAGgy style. To make a profit, we need to build pots, and since they aren't building pots, we have to do all of the work. We raise when we have a card advantage, or a positional advantage.
As villains adjust, we will need to change our strategy. As our own conditions change -- our image is hurt because we just lost a big pot, our confidence is shaken because we just lost a big pot, we are getting tired, we actually aren't that much better than this table yet, etc. -- we should also tighten up. This is a general guideline. It's meant to be tweaked, not only away from the table, but also during a session. And please alter it to your own style. If you aren't good at playing suited connectors in raised pots, just limp with them instead of raising in LP.
Table conditions: Preflop, villains limp/call crap. Limped pots are common. Post-flop, villains rarely raise without a big made hand or monster draw. Villains are predictable and straightforward players, either passive calling stations or ABC fit-or-fold.
Truth is, tables like this are rare. But tables that are like this excepting one or two opponents are extremely common. And those one or two good players usually have crap and fold preflop most of the time, so I follow this strategy a lot.
Preflop Ranges
1. In EP/MP, raise 5bb + 1 per limper with a range that is ahead of what people will call with. UTG, this will be 99+, AQ+, KQs. Since my range is so strong UTG, I will often bump up my sizing to 6bb. One before the HJ, this range should transform into 77+, ATo+, A8s+, KQo, KJs. Our raising range should gradually open up from one to the other. If 5bb + 1 doesn't work, we move up 1bb until we find the sweet spot. More on this later.
2. In EP/MP, we limp along with low PP, suited broadways, and suited connectors hoping to flop gin.
3. From the HJ on, the way we are playing changes completely. We raise almost all playable hands, trying to get pots heads up or 3 way. Our range on the HJ should be: 44+, ATo+, QJs+, KJo, KQo+. Our range from the button: 22+, A9o+, 89s+, T8s+, two broadway cards, AXs. If it's working well, add K5s-7s. If people are openly terrified of us, may as well add Q8s-9s. CO is somewhere in between these two ranges.
We begin by raising 5bb + 1bb per limper. (Although on the button, since my range is so wide, I start at 4bb+1). For example, after 4 limps in a 1/3 game, we raise to $27. Is a $27 raise really going to go four ways? If so, we bump it to 6bb+1bb. Still not folding? 7bb+1bb. As we increase our raise size, we should strengthen our range. If we are worried about them limp/calling hands that dominate us, we move the bottom end of that raising range into the limping range. Again, when we limp, we are playing the hand completely differently (trying to flop gin). The rest of this mini-guide deals with the times that we raise big pre, either abusing them with our cards from EP/MP, or abusing them with our position from LP.
Note: when we raise this big, we often take down the pot preflop. Winning $16 preflop (4 limps + $1 + $3 in my game) with AA is fine. That's almost an hour's worth of work for me. Winning $16 preflop with QJo is a huge victory.
4. From LP, we can limp really weak suited stuff like 56s, 79s. Hoping to flop gin.
Flop Play
5. C-bet the flop.
Okay okay, I guess it's not that simple. But seriously, I probably cbet the flop like 80 or 90% against bad players. It shows an automatic profit since they fold too much, and when they call, I make even more money when I actually have/improve to a strong hand.
6. As we watch and play, we categorize opponents into 3 types:
1) fit-or-fold villains
2) villains who peel the flop light but can't take a big turn barrel. It is very important, and easy, to spot these villains. They call the flop all the time and fold to a turn bet. When you see this happen, take note. We make a lot of money double-barreling villains who call the flop with a huge, weak, diluted range, and then find folds on the turn.
3) calling stations
7. We cbet the flop often when it's heads up or 3-way and we are IP. I rarely cbet air OOP into 2 opponents. If the pot went multiway, we do not bluff. Position, flop texture, and our holding matter.
If we have a strong hand, we always cbet (exception: top set on a dry board).
If we have a medium strength hand IP, we cbet wet boards and dry boards. OOP, we are playing real poker with our medium strength hands. Sometimes it's warranted to bet/bet the flop and turn against a calling station with a weak made hand on a wet board.
If we have air IP, we cbet both dry boards and wet boards when against fit-or-fold opponents.
If we have air OOP on a dry board, we cbet all three opponent types. Yes, cbetting calling stations is profitable. Even calling stations will fold like 55% of the time to a 1/2 pot cbet. If he floats us, he's not a calling station and this strategy no longer applies. If we have air OOP on a wet board, we check/fold to all opponents.
8. If we get raised by a passive player from the flop on, we don't pay them off with medium strength hands.
Turn
9. We have now narrowed the field usually. From here on, being IP should push our air strategy towards betting, and being OOP towards giving up. This is true against all opponents on all boards.
If our hand is strong, we continue betting all opponents. If a really nasty scare card came off, I might check it against fit-or-fold opponents to try and get another bet from them on the river, but most of the time I continue to bet.
When holding air against a fit-or-fold opponent, we barrel scare cards and shut down on blanks. If he calls our barrel, we pay close attention to how uncomfortable he is and decide whether to bluff the river.
When we held a medium strength hand and got called on the flop by a fit-or-fold, we may as well have air. So, just like above, we bet scare cards and shut down if the turn is a blank.
Against the most extreme "Type 2" (see above) opponents, I'm barreling almost all turns with almost all hands. Sometimes they will be slowplaying something big, but we get so many folds from them and it's just super profitable. Sometimes they hit the flush we are representing, but they often have middle pair instead and fold it. Sometimes the turn is a blank and they decided to call your flop bet with bottom pair to see what you would do on the turn, and now they will fold it. Again, against certain opponents, we can barrel 99% of turns with 99% of hands. If this opponent calls our turn bet when we have air, we shut down.
Against calling stations ("Type 3"), we just play our hand. If it's relatively strong, we bet. If we have air, we shut down completely. If we have a medium strength hand on a wet board and the turn is a blank, I'm barreling the turn expecting to get called by worse often. If we have a medium strength hand that we cbet on a dry board, I'll slow down, unless they really call down with 2nd or 3rd pair and we can beat those. We do not barrel if we have a draw. Instead, we check for free cards. It's just really stupid for us to put money in on the turn when we are 20 or 30% to hit; this is handing money away. The way I learned this was by triple-barreling a calling station on a KQ board with JT. I was on the button and he was in the blinds. I bet every street huge, ending with a $250 river bet, expecting him to fold top pair. Nope, he called me with K7o (one toppest pair). I realized I should have just checked behind on the turn for a freebie.
River
10. By now, the board has often changed. I'm not going into much detail here, so I'll try and stick to the obvious.
If the top card hasn't changed and we can beat top pair, I'm bet/folding the river most of the time against all opponents. Actually, I forgot to mention it earlier, but against these opponents we are pretty much bet/folding every street.
11. When these opponents get all the way to the river, they usually want to see a showdown and have a hand they like. We shouldn't be bluffing the river much. Two exceptions:
1) a fit-or-fold opponent who hated calling our turn bet (bluff big if the situation/read is right)
2) a type 2 when the board has completely bricked (bluff small to fold out ace high flush draws, etc.)
12. On the other hand, we should be value betting the river a lot. Again, they aren't folding much. We can make a small bet with 2nd pair against a station and get called by worse. If our hand is huge, and we might get payed off by some random two pair, we go for a prison rape against the stations. Yes, I'm advocating our hand strength determining our raise size. They won't notice. If they do, and raise our tiny bets, we can start to play the "induce spazz" game, but now we are beyond the scope of this guide.
* * * *
P.S. This is pretty much how I play when I'm faced with a really loose, weak table and I'm trying to run it over to make a nice profit. Not covered:
stack depth,
any specific hand situations (what is a medium strength hand and what's a strong hand? which boards are wet, which are dry? etc.),
bet sizing (my standard is 2/3rds-3/4th pot, but there are many situations where I deviate from this),
adjusting when opponents adjust (believe me, if I'm playing this LAGgy, I will get glares from my opponents as they fold, and I often get check-raised later),
considering who has position on us,
who is in the blinds,
and who limped,
avoiding bad bets (bets that fold worse and get called by better),
blind raising ranges (hint: very strong),
and many other topics.
The most important points (cliff notes):
1. We almost never slowplay our strong hands. When we are betting so much, we need our betting range to be strong. If we bet weak hands and slowplay strong ones, we are playing anti-poker. Small hand/big pot, big hand/small pot? Yuck.
2. Yes, we can cbet calling stations. Just not more than one. And we are one-and-done with air. Draws too.
3. We must sniff out the players who peel the flop light and then fold the turn (I swear this is where most of my profit comes from these days).
4. We do not pay off these passive players when they raise.
Even if this guide has flaws – and I'm sure it has many – I hope you will find some useful parts, OP.
What amazes me now (after spewing a bunch of ideas out here) is how rich and complex this game is, even against the most straightforward opponents. Once we are up against tricky opponents, we have to consider depolarizing our cbets, checking back medium strength hands, or changing our lines, etc. But even without all those considerations, there's still a million different things to think about. Cool.
Good luck.
