I play regularly in a home game with friends (acquaintances) which has become pretty high stakes. Where it differs from some games is that the blinds are pretty much irrelevant. You'll see from the numbers below. (All figures are in USD)

Average players at a table: 7
Blinds: 5/10
Average Stack Size: 6000 (Minimum 2000, Maximum around 15000)
Average pre-flop raise: 150-300
Average pot size: 3000

Everyone's VPIP ranges from 40-60% (Which makes us maniacs, I know but VPIP isn't a fair indication here because with blinds being so small compared to pot size, it makes sense to just call the big blind in the hope it's a family pot - which rarely happens)

Most of the players are LAGs, some tighter than others and some more Maniacs than LAGs.

I'm , by default, a LAG player and have done pretty well at tournaments over the last 10 years or so, but cash games have never been my strong suit!

How do you think I should play these games? I've tried playing tighter but the amount of bad beats is very high on a table with 6 other loose players - someone hits something most times! (The more I type, the more I feel Manaics as opposed to LAGs)

Anyway, what would be the best strategy traditionally to play at this table?

A couple of things to keep in mind:

More than a couple players tend to go on a bit of a tilt after bad beats or busting out, which makes them even more aggressive than normal.

We play on weekly credit and though everyone clears their dues the following week, there's just something about playing on credit that makes people play looser and more aggressive.

Play tighter and an exploitable value heavy style

Of course like all home games you need to give some action and make some -EV plays to continue to get invited but I tend to get that gamble image by doing other stuff (red black, flips, betting on whatever game is on tv) that’s neutral EV

This.

You can play nauseatingly straight forward and at some point they'll level themselves into thinking your raise on a dry board doesn't make sense against their range.

And it's generally okay to bet large on the river when you have a high degree of confidence you have the best hand. They'll fold a lot but at some point this starts to look bluffy.

People are curious and they hate to fold. Sooner or later they'll look you up.

+1

Based on pf open sizing, it seems like it plays like a 25/50 or even 50/100 game with some short to mid stacks. Most of your game is going to be preflop. You're going to have to be very tight and accept tons and tons of swings. Try searching this forum and the micro-full ring for short stack strat & apply that. It'll be boring, and you'll be boring to play with. Maybe the second half of diskoteque's reply can help with that.

The blinds are always relevant, because that's the cost you pay to see hands.

Unless this is one of those ante games where the antes are larger than the blinds, of course.

So the first two main things about beating a game like this is as follows:

1) Play tight. Not tighter than usual, just... play tight like usual. If you're someone who self describes as a LAG and thinks "blinds aren't relevant" and because raises at to 150-300 therefore preflop doesn't matter, then you're probably playing way too loose. You're also probably bad at poker, so you should probably fix that too.

2) Raise and reraise 30%+ of your continue range. Limp reraise your entire value range EP if it doesn't get limped through that often.

You say everyone's VPIP is 40% - 60%, but then "just call the big blind in the hope it's a family pot - which rarely happens"

Say more. Are most pots multi-way limp fests? Multi-way raise/call fests? Ram and jam fests that end up HU or 3-way? HU or 3-way raise/call?

It matters a lot. The appropriate counter depends on how many see the typical flop and for how much.

Cliffs:
Limp fest or multi-way raise/call fests if SPRs are still big: play lots of speculative hands: SCs, S1Gs, suited aces, PP. You're looking to flop a well-disguised monster and win a huge pot. You'll limp pre and fold the flop a ton. Be careful with your big PP and broadways. You probably can't raise enough to get good SPRs, so you're going to have to play these defensively to prevent someone else from making a well disguised monster and winning a big pot from you. They're still profitable, of course, but be aware of RIO and SPR.

Raise/reraise fests. Play ultra tight. Like 99+ and AQ+ or something like that. Get lots of money in pre so that SPR is small. Shove if you can reasonably do so. If you can't shove pre, hit the flop, put monies in.

Raise/ HU or 3-way. Play good, deep stacked poker. Raise a suitable selection of premiums and some others for balance. Hand read better than your opponents; find good bluffing spots and good value spots. Fold when they have a better hand. Easy peasy lemon squeazey.