Hello everyone,

So I am playing in a 5-5 game in my currency which is equivalent to prob 1.5$-1.5$.

Game is constantly straddled or double straddled, chopped pots etc.

Thing is - Standard raise pre is 75 , which is 15bb.

I usually buy in for 100bb-200bb and feel like a shortstack as there are a few regs that buy in pretty deep (400bb+) and just go at it with those 15bb raises, they do it with a very wide range, call wide vs each other etc. They do it with stuff as ridicolous as 94os and flat vs each other pre with any paint card, any kind of connected hand and whatever basically.

I am trying to figure out ALL the strategies available to me and constructing range vs them IP and OOP, obviously nitting it up is one way to go about it but on top of it , what do you all think? How do you approach this overly aggressive games that make effective stacks and SPRS drop like that?

if raise sizes are actually consistently that large then the game is effectively larger: closer to a 10/20 in your currency, which makes your 100-200bb stack a 25-50bb stack, negating much of your advantage as a skilled player. i would save up until i have the bankroll to play 10/20 and buy in deep. sounds like a great game.

there is actually one player that plays at 1-2 who consistently will raise up to 12 dollars with like 30 percent of hands, basically his entire range. like if its limped to him and he is in the bb or the straddle and he has a a top 30 percent hand he is making it 12 and most limpers with call (sometimes some will fold). so when he is in the game we constistly have hands where there is 65 dollars in preflop and non one has shown much strength in the hand, cuz he is raising with such a wide range and everyone else just calls him. so i was thinking about shoving over the top of this with some of my stronger limp range.

problem is the strongest hands i over limp with are like a-j off or pocket 9s.

and randos limp with some weird hands. but it does kind of seem like a good spot to rip it every once in a while. no idea how he would defend his range vs this play.

Is 75 the standard opening size regardless of a straddle?
I would advise creating a fairly wide limp-raising/shoving strategy to punish the overly loose play. Buckle up and enjoy the high variance. You should be printing in this game. Also once you get deeper from either getting doubled up or taking down one or two pots pre without showdown and you can't really limp-shove. I suggest making very large raises like 5-6x the initial raise with a slightly tighter range to try to get pot HU or simply take down the pots pre.

A solid short stack strat would kill in this game. Boring af but still. Open tighter than normal, 3b wider than normal, use larger sizing when value betting and don't bluff. Print $

8o8 - Yes it is indeed a great game, unfortunately the only game that runs and available to me so right now I'm working on flashing out a strategy and perhaps taking a shot with a few deeper buy ins

mrdestiny - Yes , 75 is the standard , although sometimes if there's a straddle and a few cold callers it easily goes to 125-175.

So yeah, it's pretty much like a 10-25 game

the dude- You are right, and my wins were coming from basically playing a boring solid short stack strat however once I win a few buyins and get deeper with these mfs I am not confident with my ranges vs them that's why I am posting this.

It seems like I should buy in deeper and develop stronger 3betting ranges and better flatting ranges vs them which is pretty much what I am trying to figure out how to do right now

Mr destiny - Also, Yeah, I do employ a limp/shove range however I am not sure how wide I can go with it. Currently it's a pretty standard linear value range of like TT+/AQ+, not too sure how to widen it from here. Sometimes hands do get to the flop after being limped around but that's less common.

Anyway, I am really trying to figure out how to construct ranges and strategy with a stack size of let's say *real* 100bb (which would be like 400bb of what it actually is)

Grunch:
Buy in for ~100bb and play it like it's a 20bb stack, ie. decrease your flatting range and reshove wider over opens with a lineair range. I dont think you don't even have to nit up that much. Based on your description KJo seems like a profitable reshove in most spots. Gotta learn to ride the variance train though.

Either that or find someone to stake you, buy in to cover all stacks and play it like it's a 10-20 game, ldo.

Just my 2 cents worth but: if you do progress to playing it deep - be careful!

This is something I've tried to learn how to do in my game when it gets crazy late at night (multiple 1,000bb stacks, everyone doing their best Duuuuur and Phil Ivey impersonations).

I got suckered in to playing too loose and put myself in too many tough spots for lots and lots of money. Consequently lost £2,500 over 50 hours in a 1/1 game quite unnecessarily. I'm sure you won't be as foolish as me but I consider myself a careful and competent amateur and was really surprised at just how badly I was capable of messing things up deep-stacked LOL!

What I do now is focus most on position and I'm very careful with who I mess with in big pots mega deepstacked. There's absolutely no shame to admitting that some opponents are better at reading hands or reading people than you such that even though their play is wildly suboptimal they can still pose a very real danger to your stack/roll.

Keep your ego in check and pick the best spots, in position vs the weakest opponents before wagering 400bb+ stacks. Ease yourself into it nittiest foot first and expand your range gradually as you become more accustomed to the strange things that happen in these types of games.

Thanks guys, reading your responses and the COTM regarding playing with maniacs is definetely giving me food for thought.

- Reduce a flatting range that is mostly going to be hero calling as much as possible, especially oop (DUH!)
- Take these hands into 3bet land
- Widen value 3bet range overall


- Buy in deeper


BTW, I also noticed that the maniacs in this game really lower their aggression once the flop comes they check alot of flops and a decent amount of turns/rivers. So basically I was able to rep alot of high card boards with my tight image but I definetely need to look more into how I play vs their postflop tendencies especially when I get deeper.