I've played for the first time this week in a casino, 1-2NL (9 handed). I expected it to be quite different from online but probably not this much. Lots of limpers, lots of big raises and players playing every hands. I felt like a nit playing what i think was decent hand ranges preflop. Despite this and despite some pretty awfull plays from other players, I've lost approximately a buy-in in each session. The field seems very soft but I lost nonetheless. I'm wondering if I should change my strategy and play many more hands or just continue with conservative hand ranges ? I've also noticed that pots tends to get big very quickly because of the PF raise sizes : this made me unconfortable 3betting and barreling alot postflop. Should I just adopt these agressive strategies nonetheless and be ready to play big pots more often ?

In a game like that it seems like it takes the best cards to win.

Run better.

But surely we can find some spots where calculated aggression is both +EV and a way to play more hands more aggressively?

We can raise more in late position with a wider range.

We can squeeze with a 150% pot bet when a "pot sweetener raise" gets flatted around to us in whatever position we are in. The likely dead money that will fold to our aggression - even if it results only in a breakeven EV - gives us a way to "give action" so our raises with premium hands get called more often.

If we ever DO run good we will want callers.

We can 3-bet wider from late position if we see Villains raising with too wide a range. We might even be ahead, but we can win when in position even if we are not ahead.

Watch what Villains have at showdown. If we can tell from their behaviour when they have a better range we can avoid ringing their bell more on those occasions.

There must be other plays we can make if we pay attention to "who plays what" and "who does what".

Should you play bad because everyone else is bad? No. Could you play more hands than you are? Probably. However, I'd continue to play pretty snug since this game is still unfamiliar to you. As you gain experience you can widen your range. If the table is all limping don't be afraid to limp along with hands that online you may always raise or fold in a similar position. Small/mid pocket pairs are good candidates to limp along with as are suited aces.

It's good to start by being a huge nit. In fact, playing a reasonable online range will make you the tightest player at many tables.

Because pots go multiway, remove a lot of hands that you would iso limpers with online, they're not folding. Raise KJo from the SB into 5 limpers, you will get 4 callers, a bloated pot which you usually miss and when you hit, someone might easily have KQo or AJo.

You can overlimp and overcall way more than online. Try to retain position with the weaker hands. Don't go crazy and flat UTG raises with suited gappers in MP but overlimping 75s on the button is fine.

Max buy in? Average player stacks?

In a game where pots are large and multiple people are involved in every flop, you basically have to hit to continue. So if you miss a lot of flops and/or don't get many playable hands to begin with, you will lose money.

Unlike online you may only see 200 hands in a decent length session so it's possible to sit down and play all day without seeing AA/KK. You'll get days without seeing JJ/QQ/KK/AA, your one big hand is AKo which of course flops like 986 two tone in a 4 way pot.

On the other hand, you get days where you just smash flops for hours or get AA five times or you basically see 2 hands but double up both times against droolers and go home 3 buyins up anyway.

Going to lock this down since it violates our rule against asking, "Tell me in one paragraph how to beat LLSNL poker." The answer is that you have a lot of reading and thinking to do before you can consider yourself a good poker player. The stickies have a ton of information you can look at.

Locked.