Hey all,

I have posted sporadically whenever I get a chance to play live poker in Brisbane like twice a year. I play online think theoretically I know the game better than the average, but in live poker I have so much to make up for.
The game is 2/5 (only on offer apart from 5/5) and the game is super passive not many full stacks alot of 30-50bb stacks, high limp low pfrs. Some casino regulars (from what I see of their interactions with casino staff) but whilst I think their live play is miles ahead of me I think theoretically I know equal to if not more on most aspects.

So there was a tonne of hands I recorded but I chose this one as my most discussed by myself to see what you thought. I know theres a tonne of mistakes so be brutal if need be cause I can take it and I love to learn and mistakes=opportunity for growth and you are my fertilizers to aide my growth. (sorry hh isnt great)

Hero Button Ad4c (250 effective lost big pot and didnt reload because even 50bb table I was like 2nd biggest stack)
Action is 5 limpers I call and blinds call pot is $40
Flop AsJd5c LJ V1 (young taggish talks like he knows the game but seems to be a nervous live player like me) bets 25, HJ V2 calls (LAG looser calling side from what I have seen but capable of barreling etc), I call, all else fold pot is $115
Turn 6d V1 checks, V2 bets quickly 65, I call, V1 folds pot is 245
River Ts V2 quickly bets 120 not looking at his chips too much I call


My thoughts
Preflop: I usually fold, I dont think I have fold equity to raise here vs 5 limpers who have wide limpflatting ranges so even if I raise 8bbs I know I get 1 or 2 callers and A4o multi even in position I was not comfortable. I decided to flat cause at least it shows players I'm not a super nit and can be playing still
Flop: I flop TPWK so I know I haven't smashed it but I know I have a decent piece with no significant draws out there. When I see the V1 bet and call I think whilst he has an A in range I have seen him bet because of passive opponents so he has a lot of bluff combos here too, V2 calling I think calls all Js in his range and even some 99-55, I call which I thought and think is fine.
Turn: When V1 checks I think my assessment of his range and he has a bluff, this is where I go into my stupidly overthinking mode or at least part of it. V2 betting here has all his Jx, still has some Ax, has some 2pair+ but I think he has some fd combos that bluff and maybe gutshots, the thing is I have the Ad which I thought blocked him having some Ax combos, blocked an out if he had the FD and therefore from gameplay I thought he had enough bluffs:value here. What I also thought was if I call here and V1 folds he is going to barrel river, so when I call turn I also had a plan to call all non J and diamond rivers. Thoughts


Questions about general live play (I know long post but thought better than flooding with multiple threads)

1. I lost a cooler favorite (standard) no tilt cause I knew EV was sky high so with 50bb I was still 2nd/3rd at table and because I covered most I thought better than reloading. What do you guys think? Always 100bb so I can have better playability and avoid meh situations where my stack gets dwindled through blinds and calling a couple hands?

2. I had an old asian lady casino regular, play style passive weak and loose, could not stop talking about how anyone who didn't play poker her way was a donkey. I thought it was awesome it brought a character to the game which I was trying to analyse. She spouted a bunch of like fake psudeo-poker maths, the deck was trending to **** cards so she had to play **** cards etc etc etc. My thoughts is that I immediately think well no over a sample of 20 if 90% of flops are low it doesnt mean **** its just short term but then cause I dont know live maybe I need to expand my thinking. Either way I'm fist bumping because if I can get my live nervousness and any tells under check I'm smashing her range vs range all day of the week. Question here do I need to expand my live thinking beyond just numbers over the long term or am I fine ?

3. I think I was fairly nitty, so I was thinking in live poker passive table that loves to limp is it fair to limp along with marginal hands (sc SOGs low pp weak Ax etc) or should I stick to a tighter VPIP PFR game ?

I know this is super long not many will read but for the 1 or 2 thanks in advance. I know my ev for my life will be fine so not fussed with a loss here or there, but just thinking about how I can improve everytime I play. IE last night I have a stance I go into when thinking but inadvertantly I move my eyes up to look at the opponents stack and from that I gave off a weak tell which was awesome. I learn a weakness that I can improve/use to my advantage.

Weak ax offsuit hands are basically the nut low for multiway limped pots - you should always fold this pre

We should be trying to reduce vpip in the way of limps due to the insane rake in our games

Your game to me sounds like a dream. Short stack limpers who we can abuse by raising large pre to isolate to get a very low Spr and stackoff when we hit tp+.

If you believe you are the best player at the table, you want to play as deep as possible. You should be reloading whenever you lose some of your stack. Pro tip: Buy another $200 in chips to keep in your pocket. That way you can reload without having to bother the dealer to get more chips.

Poker is more than equity calculations and pot odds. Getting your villains to play the way you want them to play is skill. The older woman in your room likes to play bingo poker. Play a lot of hands and see who wins at show down. The last thing she wants is some player who isn't contributing to the pots regularly and coming in with hands that are a favorite. She's pretty effective since she has you thinking about playing her way.

Therefore, you have to decide what your goal is in poker. If it is to socialize, then you play a lot of pots like most everyone else. Just keep in mind that most everyone else loses money in poker. If you want to make money, you'll need to tighten up your game, especially in EP and do more raising.

Oh yes, and fold pf.

Im there to play my best game and focus on firstly learning (cause im so inexperienced) how to improve myself, look at others and their styles, make money and obviously all whilst trying to focus on my EV rather than any short term results.

I dont know how to requore someone else but when we raise pre to isolate and dont hit I felt when I was cbetting they call super wide and me barrelling makes his turn decision a shove or fold. Are you raising pre not hitting and checking back or if oop checking still rather than cbetting into a small stack with low spr?

I didn't read the entire OP carefully, but it sounds like you're adjusting to a loose-passive game by playing loose-passive. That's not likely to be profitable.

TLDR: exactly what you said.

SO as I was playing I was thinking about ten different levels at the same time. But it generally flowed on from exactly what you were saying me going loose passive to match was just -ev. SO next time I get a chance I will be going tight aggressive with eyes open to opportunites and making my next session a real chance to learn doing that instead of adjusting to the loose passive meh style

I've been in these games so many times I can't count, the best way to win in my experience is patience. Just wait for a decent hand and play ABC poker honestly, value bet a little or even a lot higher than normal and you're good to go. Btw, that Ad4c hand is awful no offense, it's a big leak in my opinion, folding pre and all streets unless I have some kind of soul read on villain.

Yeah I from review hated my call down and deep down playing I was like surely this has to be a fold. PRE was that where I made the mistake of being drawn into the game going in loose and passive. I think flop is fine once ive called but turn river probably a fold. Ah well this is how we add to my experience pocket.