Quote:
Originally Posted by AsianNit
As a tight player, many of the huge pots I win tend to have another player having initiative in the hand. Maybe you are being too aggressive preflop.
This is exactly what I was thinking.
tl/dr: Basically limp and call IP with wide speculative ranges to hit more monsters in multiway pots and help yourself blend in with the loose/bad players.
I play preflop very tight at the 1/2 games I play but only when facing a decent sized raise or when I'm in EP.
When I raise in EP I expect most of the table to know I have a strong hand. I don't expect to win stacks without coolering someone when im raising from these positions. The purpose of these raises is just to make the most of the decent hands when OOP by trying to get it headsup and win a small pot to help me stem the loss of chips via the blinds.
All my big pots that I can remember have occurred when I've been in later positions (hijack+). Many of them I am not the preflop aggressor or if I am I have raised small vs limpers to build a pot (gives away hand strength but I don't do it when observant players are in the pot).
You have to embrace limping behind and calling small raises behind in LP with speculative hands. These multiway pots are where you can more easily get paid and where, IMO, the profit at loose and bad low stakes games is most reliably found.
Now, you have to be careful, you aren't looking to flop top pair and get paid multiple streets of value in a six way pot. You are going to throw a lot of those mid strength hands away or play them very cautiously. You are looking to flop the nuts or close to it and stack someone or, ideally, multiple players. This won't happen often but you win so much it keeps you in chips for a very long time!
Basically your preflop hand selection and flop continuing range could be hamstringing your ability to hit the kind of hands in the right situations to get paid.
I'll give you my basic strategy for loose bad tables and you can compare and contrast it with yours to see if you are too tight or too aggressive preflop.
EP (utg, utg+1, utg+2, utg+3):
Open raise to 5bb-8bb: 77+ AQ+ AQs-ATs KQs-KTs, QJs QTs JTs, and occasionally mid suited connectors (T9s-76s J9s-86s).
Isolate limpers 5bb-8bb +1bb per limper: 99+ AQ+ ATs+ KQs
Limp behind limpers if a big raise behind me is unlikely: 88-55 QJs-76s KJs-86s
Limp behind limpers if a big raise behind me is likely: 99+ AQ+ ATs+ KQs and I will fold, flat the raise or 3bet depending on my hand and the situation.
LP (HJ, CO, BTN):
Open raise to 3bb-5bb: 22+ AT+ A2s+ KJ+ K2s+ QJ JT T9 98 87s-32s QTs-42s Q9s J8s
Isolate limpers 5bb-8bb +1bb per limper: 99+ ATo+
Limp behind limpers if big raise behind is unlikely: 88-55 AKs-A2s KQ-32 KJ-86 KT-Q9
Limp behind limpers if a big raise behind or in blinds is likely: 55+ AJ+ ATs KQ KTs+ QJs-98s QTs-T8s
Blinds:
I play tight. I only completing the SB vs limpers with 88-55 and isolating 99+ AQ+ ATs+KQs. If the table folds to LP regularly and LP steal wide then you aren't in a loose bad game and need to change your whole strategy including adding proper blinds defence.
Facing a raise preflop:
Big raise (4bb+) no limpers or callers and I'm in any position behind the opener: I just get out of the way unless villain is very lose. Vs a tight player I will just flat 77+ AK AQs KQs-98s IP and see if I can win a mid sized pot with my 1-pair hands, force a fold by semibluffing draws or take advantage of x/f tendancies by floating preflop or on flop. Obviously I also want to stack him with monsters but this will very rarely happen.
Big raise 1+ callers/limpers I'm in EP: Now I will be very cautious and pretty much 3bet only with TT+ AK intending to only gii preflop with AA unless I think villain can 4bet wider than KK+ (most can't). If I think my call will trigger a lot of other callers but 3bets are unlikely and effective stacks with raiser are 100bb+ I will set mine JJ-55 and sometimes flat AK AQs AJs KQs if I think players behind me won't get fancy and aggro postflop too often.
Big raise 1+ callers/limpers I'm in LP: Now, if effective stacks are 100bb+ (ideally 150bb+) I will start to call quite wide: Pretty much any hand that has a reasonable chance of making the nuts. 55+ A2s+ KQs-32s KJs-64s KTs-96s. In addition I will 3bet QQ+ and AKo, again only intending gii preflop with AA unless villain can 4bet > KK+
Small raise <4bb: I tend to treat these similar to limps if the raiser is loose but if he is tight I treat them like a big raise. The smaller the raise, the looser the raiser, the more callers and the later my position the wider I'm going to call right up to my LP limp behind range.
You'll notice I'm really opening and isolating pretty tight except for opening HJ, CO and BTN and actually BTN is very tight because I'm just not expecting to have tons of fold equity vs the blinds or much need to bother stealing when there are so many limped pots to profit from. I'm also limping behind and calling behind progressively wider as I get later in position. I'm taking a lot of cheap passive lines preflop which accomplishes two things:
1) I blend in better with the looser, more gambling players.
2) I get many, cheaper opportunities to hit the board hard in multiway pots.
It is very important to realise I have a totally different mindset on multiway flops as compared to headsup flops. I cbet-bluff, bet my draws, bet pot, x/r and generally use my tight raising image to take down as many headsup pots as I can. However, when it is multiway I tighten up massively and take more passive lines until I think someone has a strong enough hand to play for atacks vs my monster.
Multiway I throw away a lot of one-pair hands and I only continue draws to the nuts and TPTK+ unless flop is very inexpensive compared to the pot and effective stacks. If it is seriously multi way and there is heavy action I am completely happy throwing away TPTK and overpairs. I find, if I observe my opponents carefully, i can get a pretty good idea of how heated the action on any given flop is going to get before I act. I've frequently check/folded TPTK+ or folded to a small donk bet having observed interest in wet boards from later position players and then watched as people gii vs flopped monsters. Good tip: Watch the players behind you watching the flop. You don't need to watch the players infront so much since they have to act before you anyway.
Basically multiway I'm trying to avoid losing chips on mid strength hands while looking to trap loose players postflop with flopped or turned monsters when they have mid strength hands. If they consider 2nd pair good that's great I will stack them frequently. If they only think 2-pair+ is good then it is lucky for me there are 3+ of them in the pot otherwise id have to wait all week to stack anyone.