Just to keep the thread going...

Again people, teach me not to lol-slowplay (I usually don't but have found everytime I do, I do it with too weak hands and in poor situations) and to fold on bad rivers.

Massive stationy drooler opens, I call KQsooted-of-the-clubs, a few others call.

KQT

Drooler checks, I bet, folds to drooler, he min-CR. I see he has 400bb behind (I have 200) and decide to pop him on the turn and go for stacks there.

J Drooler checks. Sucky card. I check.

9 Drooler bets pot. Sucky. Shoulda popped him earlier

3betting flop would he horrendous this deep

Yeah I am not the most excited to get 200bb in with this hand on this flop, but how deep do stacks need to be to play top two passively? At some point I think a raise needs to be put in (obviously not on this particular turn, but in general), but 3 betting the min-cr on this flop definitely seems suicidal as well. And then raising the turn just accomplishes the same thing but allows opponent a card in addition, doesn't it? So if an argument can be made for raising a blank turn than an argument can me made for raising flop, and I don't like a flop raise...

In my experience Droolers are rarely check raising flop here without a monster, esp the min-raise. My typical drooler has hands in his range that you beat on the flop, but some-many of them that you may have been beating on the flop get there on the turn. With a drooler 400 BB deep I don't mind playing a smallish pot here on this board with his action and the confidence that he will spew it off in another hand where you can more easily commit your stack.

This was my exact thinking the other night in a similar situaiton. 1-2 game and drooler and I both have approx $400 to start the hand. I open raised in EP with AKo and drooler flats. Flop is AQT and I bet/call Droolers min-raise. I check/fold to a PSB on a blank turn, and Drooler showed me AK. My thought at the time was I didn't want to play a huge pot there given his range on that board where I thought I could more easily get his chips later. Fortunately, it worked out this particular night ....... an hour or so later I raise in EP with JJ and drooler calls in LP. Flop is AJT rainbow. I lead and Drooler raises. I decided to shove and he calls off his stack with AT. Another hour pases and this time same drooler has about $125. I limp utg with 33 and call drooler's raise to 10. Flop is 3A8 rainbow. I check/call drooler's shove. Not thinly veiled brag, but rather a very recent illustration of my main point above regarding posted hand.

As always, open to criticisms/discussions of these hands. I play in several low stakes and mid-stakes games (1-2 to 5-10) and look forward to being a contributor to this forum.

I agree with your points and they make plenty of cents...the only question I have is do you feel you should be sacrificing spots where you have maybe a 5% edge over a drooler with a big stack to wait for a theoretical time when you may have something more like a 20%+ edge to stack them? I always say if you have the bankroll and the cash and patience to push every + edge you have, but your ideas make sense too; if you can't buy in to cover, are you losing some edge by possibly losing a 5% + ev spot and being forced to rebuy for 1/2 your previous stack? I am not sure what is the right play myself, and I am sure it depends on a wide variety of factors that I can't quite quantify off the top of my head, though I guess it's something like

a)how much can you rebuy for
b)how deep are/were you and how deep are the worst players
c)do they look like they are leaving anytime soon
d)what is your relative position
e)how loose and spewy are they
f)are all other players targeting the drooler(s) or are they playing equally against most other players

As a rule of thumb playing in a sslnl game, when you have top pair/two pair/set on a all broadway flop and you get resistance you are almost always beat by a straight.

Going by that rule of thumb, I am trying to see a showdown cheap and with any luck improve and stack the villain.

when villain check/minraises this flop as pfr I am crying and hoping to somehow get to sd for as little as possible

If he's a drooler, you got to call the raise on the flop and get to the river cheap. He can show up with KT or QT enough of the time.

My thought process in this regard has changed/evolved some. I used to be more of the mindset that I needed to push all edges. You mention patience as a factor to push all edges, but my view now is that I have to exercise greater patience to NOT not push the more marginal spots WHEN the DROOLER is DEEP and especially so when I have position and I feel like he/she will be at the table for a while. It is always somewhat of a challenge to get the drooler's $ before someone else does it. And sometimes you don't. It is generally the case at lower stakes, especially 1-2, that there are not more than a few good players at most who you have to worry about specifically targetting the big fish. These situations sometimes create good opportunities, however...for example, when a good player iso raises the fish you can 3-bet a pretty wide range.

Where do you play and what are the minimum and maximum buy-ins/rebuy amounts?

quick question, what do people here do to track live results while they are in the cardroom. Do you jot down key hands while at/near the table, or do you just do it all later? I record the actual results... I.e profit of 59 10pm-1am, but dont record hands... What do others do...

There are lots of smartphone apps out there. Google is your friend. Your choice will be based on what you need/want to track.

Myself I only really care about the monthly figures which I use a spread sheet. My tracking is strictly for tax reasons.

Just got back from Vegas. I have never seen that many nitty 1/2 games before. People are finally figuring out that it doesn't cost them anything to sit there waiting for lock hands. Even Bally's, the secret atm had tight games.

Not saying they were unbeatable, but they aren't what they used to be.

I sat into maybe a dozen 1/2, 1/3, and 2/5 tables in Vegas last week. I only asked for a table change once. At least 3 of the tables were *great*.

I wonder why we had such different experiences? I mainly played 2pm to 2am at Aria, Venetian, Wynn, Golden Nugget, and a session each at Orleans and O'Sheas. The one bad table was at Venetian (but there was enough running I could easily hop around), and the one table I would qualify as "nitty but beatable" was at Orleans.

Maybe I just don't remember what they used to be....

Live Question:

We all know the guys that bring their girls to the tables while they play. anyone think hitting on the girl would be a good way to get the guy to tilt? or is it just asking to get your butt kicked?

No need because those guys are fish anyway. Just be real nice to both if you want an outside shot at her.

I have had my gf sit and watch me play cards a few times. I'm thinking go ahead and hit on her if you want - I'm going home with the girl and your money, lol.

Agreed in general though saw a few exceptions. The "know when to walk away" rule applies big time. So does the "know when to fold 'em." Basically two ways to make money: 1) play raised pots in position against locals/tighties, and 2) wait for the totally clueless tourists to sit down. Skin 'em, and wait again. It's a horrible thing.

Yeah but you run good/

Well, if you were James Bond or Bond18, you might have a slight chance of it working. The most likely result is that you'd look like a complete loser and people would start running over you because they believe you're a loser.

I would just call her out on sitting there while not actually playing, and yell at her "You're a phony! A great big phony!"

wooooooooooooooo

i love this sub forum. i learned poker playing live. 2 years later im beating 2/2 and playing 3/5 as much as i can when my finances are right.

its funny how the game is the same but there is a difference between live and online.

just wanted to say hi and ill be posting here quite often now.

live reporting from australia.....

2/3. A limper, then a raise to 10. 3ish calls, hero calls in sb with AT. Limper limp/shoves for 34... Lots of callers, i squeeze to 205 total. Everyone folds to button, who calls off 110 more, 150 total with k7, and makes a boat to beat qq and me, he has since lost half of his stack, but not to me....

And this is why the games survive with rake AND time in Australia. lol

yeah, they actually upped our rake to 10% capped at 12 yesterday, no time charge in perth. however, social poker players pay no tax on windfalls, tipping to dealers is banned etc... So its better then it sounds. For the record i had a solidish win for the night, but didnt get any money from mr k7 because he got 100bb in pre with 9T s00ted vs qq.....

It was cool this weekend, I found something truly rare, a live TAG! He was running good and playing well. Must have racked out +1K for the night. Seen the infamous b/f line, the difficult thin value call with K high to win, and several thin value bets. Was something to see.

Got to play some dealers choice too. We played some 2x5 PLO and PLO8, some S8 too. Was fun. Now if I could just learn to run as well in NL as I do in 2x5 PLO games.