I am in my mid 40s and only play about 300 hours a year of 1/2. I do take the game serious and spend lots of time studying and watching strategy videos. Getting myself ready for a 200 hour challenge in July and think I either have an image leak or some kind of tell.

I present myself at the table like I am a blue collar worker that plays tight and doesn't really know a lot about the game. I very seldom limp and make an effort to nit it up on the button and in the SB where I think my tightness will be more obvious. I tend to play aggressive when involved. I would assume I appear to be pretty TAG these days. I do have a wide opening range that I do not believe is apparent since I go out of my way to not overlimp.

My prob is that I am not getting paid off with big hands on the river. I assume that I should be bluffing more (don't get caught often but most of my bluffs are double barrels on the turn when I opened wide and missed). However, at this level I'm not sure how much I should be bluffing since most people are stations.

2 examples. I open QTs in late pos to $8. Older reg lady 3! To $19 from button. We are $350 effective and I call. Flop is AJ3 with my suit. Check, bet $25, call. Turn is 8. Check, bet $40, call. The river is a K. I lead for $55. She snap folds 2 pair.

I open 57s to $12 from cutoff and younger aggro-ish guy calls on button. $400 effective. Flop A46 rainbow. I lead for $18 and he raises to $42 I call. Turn is a T. Check, bet $50, call. On the turn I am thinking he is strong and plan to check raise river if I hit (prob makes this a fold since I plan to give up if I don't). I bink river, check, bet $65, shove and he tank folds 2 pair. He had about $140 behind.

Old lady said she put me on a straight and he said he thought I had a set. FWIW I didn't show either hand.

After 90 hours this year I am just under $20 an hour. These 2 hands and a couple others tho have really got me thinking. I feel like I am leaving something on the table but still think I am playing pretty well.

I dont neccesearily think you have an image problem. Maybe the problem is what kind of line you choose to take against different kind of villains? Its more important than anything to choose lines that in the best way use each villains weaknesses against them.

In the 5-7 hand you get decent value with a decent sized river bet, when you ship the river like this you cant expect to get the max every time either. Sometimes you do, and sometimes you dont and thats ok.

In the straight hand Q10 suited, i would consider checking the river against old reg (probably tight/maybe nitty and scared money lady). Just because the check-call twice line on broadway cards boards and then donklead the river with a meaningful bet looks awfully strong and nutted. Against these types of opponents you need to be willing to take more tricky lines sometimes to max out your value, and be happy with what you can manage to squeeze out if you know what i mean. Sure, if your villain here is a drunken calling station-by all means go ahead and lead with a big bet.

Why would you tighten up on the button?

Anyway if people are folding strong hands to you consistently you are probably playing too passively with non-nut hands. It sounds like you should have a lot of fold equity. The QTs hand for instance you could take a different line like x/r the flop. The 75s hand you can bet the turn.

Try experimenting with more aggressive lines. When I encounter players who are tight and passive only raising with nutted hands I don't pay them off either.

Bluff as much as you can get away with. Your opponents can't both be stations and folding 2p. If they're folding 2p you should have many profitable river bluffs for example on a double suited turn you can value bet if you hit your FD and bluff if the other FD comes in. Straightening 3-flush cards make particularly good bluffs when you put your opponent on a made hand (assuming they're capable of folding 1p or 2p hands which it sounds like they are)

I guess its a combination of not wanting to put myself in tough spots later in the hand, trying to avoid playing too many hands, and it seems to be going against the norm where I play.

That being said, I was really referring to over limping the button. In a multi way limped pot I will usually raise the button with any hand I play. I think I get more credit than I deserve and would rather play against fewer players. So I'll raise some suited connectors and mid pairs on the button when it seems most are just calling.

I guess I really only limp behind with small pairs and weak suited aces. I do loosen up my limping range when deeper tho.

Thanks for the feedback.

Sounds like you just got unlucky those times you hit river and they folded. If the game is playing so tight on the river then you can probably turn some of those two barrels into three barrel bluffs and show a nice return. I three barrel fish that aren't curious/sticky/degen all the time, people fold often enough if the line makes sense for big hand.

Also I'm not a fan of opening 57s in CO for $12. Just too expensive and 57s sucks. If you're going to include 57s raise for less pf.

Seems like a standard open from CO with 75s. Agree 12 probably too much (assuming no limpers ahead of us) but 8 to 10 is fine.

Whenever I'm in CO or HJ (anywhere really but those positions in particular) I look for folding tells from the players in position behind me. If you have tight players on your left and they give away when they're going to fold, as so many players do in LLSNL, we can basically use our button opening range from the CO and sometimes HJ. Could possibly do it from earlier positions but it's hard to catch say 4 players all going to fold and leaking that info.

I’m guessing it’s just variance if you are having trouble getting paid off. But, if for whatever reason you are playing in tight games or you are perceived as tight, just start over bluffing.

I'd open it in some cases but obviously not a standard open and closer to borderline. Doing it in earlier positions is pretty terrible imo.

Why do you say "obviously not a standard open"? AFAIK it's completely standard from the CO and basically every hand chart ever would support this.

From earlier positions I did say only with folding tells thinning the field.

I’ve seen charts that have it as a fold like upswing. Janda has it as an open but that’s online where people are opening to 2.5x.

Whether or not I open it depends on what I think about the players in the blinds.

I would not use the words "standard open" either when it comes to 7-5,even suited. Its a pretty weak hand, and i would categorize it as a pretty wide open with 100 BB stacks in 1/2 games where people calls preflop raises all the time with all sorts of hands having 7-5 in trouble. Playability goes down because we often flop second best hands, and players get stubborn with midpairs, top pair no kicker and whatnot=players is generally callhappy, wich lowers our playability aka fold equity with such a garbage hand.

Its not my intention to keep the tread slightly off topic- but as the topic is brought up i think players sometimes overestimate how wide they can open profitably.

Yes i would open 7-5 suited from late position if the conditions are perfect: tight nits or faceup old man coffee in the blinds who plays their range faceup, we have a winning image, deep stacks and everything, but i mean is a pretty decent stretch as far as i can see to categorize it as a completely standard open from the CO with 200 stacks. My instant guess right from my backbone is that such an open is a -EV play at alot of 1/2 tables, even though i know many posters in this forum tells themself otherwise.

57s is pretty trashy, especially if they're dropping $1 down the chute for a jackpot or whatever. I'd have to have perfect opponents in the blinds who never bluff and whose fold to cb is extremely high to warrant raising. Also the OP mentioned the BTN was a younger agro-ish guy, making the preflop open a spew.

Just curious what you recommend opening from the CO then. If 75s doesn't make the cut I'm guessing similar hands like Q8s K7s T9o etc. don't make it. How much is left after cutting the "trash"?

1) Why do you think we have to open garbage like K7 suited and 10-9 off in a 1/2 game with 100 BB stacks? Like, where do that idea come from in the first place?

2)K7 is definetely spew to open, same with 10-9 off. Q8 suited is decent enough (but still a wide open, but can be ok in some lineups), and the cards is connected little bit more for Q8s wich adds to the playability of the hand- but i mean, if you are opening this wide with 100 BB stacks at a regular basis you are having some leaks i your game.

These are the worst hands in my CO open range. Where I play it's typically deeper, 150BB to 250BB or more, depending on the time, but I'm rarely playing 100BB effective. I want to open more hands in position for obvious reasons. There just aren't enough premiums to open nothing but premiums and get max value. I feel my skill edge is large enough I'm fine playing a hand like Q8s or T9o or K7s or 75s in position. And I'm sure I have leaks but opening too wide is not one of them.

These hands are all recommended opens (with some minor differences like Q8s may be listed in one but not T9o or vice versa) on CLP, Ed Miller's "The Course", Jonathan Little's "Strategies for Beating Small Stakes Poker Cash Games", Janda's "No Limit Hold 'Em For Advanced Players", and many more books or websites suggest similar ranges, and in some cases much wider. Not like I'm just making this stuff up.

OP has an image problem where he's perceived as a nit. Playing even more nitty is not going to help that IMO. I think he should indeed be opening hands like 75s but playing them less passively.

FWIW, $20/hr at 1/2 is crushing the game. At the same time, forget that you are looking like just an average player. As soon as you start raising most of the time pf, people know you know how to play.

I wouldn't change all that much. The only advice I can really give is to start taking shots at 2/5. Sounds like you're ready.

With deeper stacks the opens you listed is a little bit better, but i still believe its too wide to open K7s and 10-9 off. I guess we have to agree to disagreeing. Also static preflop charts without context from various sources, training sites and people that dont really play low stakes at a regular basis doesent cut it for me.

What we do agree on is that it can be benefical for OP to play more hands aggressively in the future due to the nit labelling he feels he is struggling with. But i dont think he needs to open as wide as 7-5 suited in order to tune his game and range in a more constructive manner and battle the nit image. Open hands like 7-8s,8-9s,9-10s and 10-J suited as well as some suited A wheel hands from various positions is more than enough hands to achieve what we want. Often its not big differences needed to sharpen your game in the right direction, if you have a solid base with good fundamentals to start off with.


Edit: Venice, sure 10 bigs an hour is crushing the game- but i mean 90 hours is a totally lol samplesize and isnt worth much at all.

Read the specific examples you gave.

In the first hand there are no natural bluffs, if he had 64 or A4 he beats no value and it’s hard for you to have a bluff. Your bluffing frequency there after he check raised you and went bet bet is probably close to zero. That’s fine, exploitatively it probably should be pretty low in that spot, but you likely just ran into a thinking player. You said you planned to give up with 7 high if you missed, so it’s pretty damn unlikely you are turning AJ into a bluff. I would fold A4 if I were villain.

The other was against an old lady who I never expect to call down light.

90 hours is a small sample size but you shouldn’t be expecting to make more than 20/hr at 1/2 anyway, that’s an exceptionally high winrate.

I think you're trying too hard to manipulate your own image. FWIW I would never try to get a TAG image, I want to look like an idiot. That being said, if you have a TAG image I'm not sure why you are surprised to get folds. If your image is TAG you exploit that by opening up more & bluffing more.

I think you should focus more on reacting to the image you actually have, instead of trying to create/manipulate the image. The image can vary by player, as well--that's important to keep in mind.

These two are contradictory. Being first-in with raises is a sign someone's experienced about the game and somewhat loose with openings. True nits only opens QQ+, AQ+.

Put on a hoodie, some headphones,don't drink and only talk about Game Theory or Bitcoin.....BOOM!, no more folds.

This.

Just be aware of what people think of you and how they change their play based on their assumptions and what you have to do to exploit these adjustments they make.

If you have a TAG image, you need to bluff more. If you have a loose image, start value betting more thinly in spots you would usually check.

Also know that image can change from hand-to-hand, orbit-to-orbit. Know how your actions look to other people. They don't know what you have.

$20/hr is a great win rate for 1/2. It sounds like you're playing very well overall.

Perhaps there are a few nits in your game that give you too much respect though. My advice is to start semi-bluffing these particular players more. But don't change your overall strategy against the player pool, since it's currently working out well for you.

An example could be: if you flop a gutshot, an OESD or a FD, then try going for a x/r on the flop or turn. Experiment and see how they react to these plays. Try going for large river bluffs too (only against the nits). Whilst the majority of 1/2 players out there are too stationy, there are certainly a few that will overfold against big turn or river bets/raises.

Yea I can see that. I guess I should say I look like scarred money and a guy who may overplay big pairs.

Appreciate all the thoughts itt.

A few points:

1. I actually have constructed an opening hand range chart for myself. Try to have a mix of what I call "value" hands and "bluffy" hands. I tend to pick small suited connectors and gappers over hands like K9s, Q8s, A7s suited because I am more comfortable playing them post flop. The only time I raise with complete junk pre is in the blinds and when I think table dynamics are good.

2. During this last trip I was experimenting with randomizing my opens. Put me in some weird spots for sure. Opened $8 with AA utg and $12 with some of my "trash" in later position. It was interesting for sure.

3. It may be I am trying too hard with the image manipulation. Again, this was kind of an experiment. Just giving myself mental tasks while at the table.

4. Have had some life leaks and poker leaks that have hurt me in the past. Part of my image probs are related to the fact I think I play better when viewed as either a decent player or a player who doesn't get out of line. So a lot of my focus is just trying to keep myself together for longer and longer sessions.

5. Yea for sure a lol sample size and I am certainly not confident in myself enough to move up. Where I play it seems that the 2/5 game has some serious players that I'm not ready to tangle with. FWIW I am around $12 an hour for the last few years. Less than 1000 hours and some in over raker home games Im not sure are comparable to the place I prefer. Bad players but lots of money on the table.

6. I like simple post flop decisions. The players I have the most difficulty with are super aggros that play back at me a lot.

7. I see that i really need to find some semi bluff spots. I am playing draws too passive and should be leading/raising more with them.

Thanks again. Much appreciated!

Also want to add that when I am talking about hand I open with we are talking very small sample. In the games I play there are almost always limps utg and utg1 so I tend to be willing to open with my "bluffy" hands since the opportunities present themselves rarely.

Next trip I am going to focus on what hands I raise limpers with. Right now I know I am way too tight, especially with the image I usually have.