Hey guys,
I need some help.
I am not a pro player. I have a part time job but also play around 20 hours a week.

I am not very good. I play low stakes and the games I play in South America used to be very soft a few years ago and I used to make decent money just being a nit. However where there is easy money the market changes, the past 12 months there is a bunch of super nits in the games. 3-4 on every table in a 9 handed game. The fish are still there especially on weekends however with so many tight players around its just a lottery on who is flopping sets/flushes and gets to stack the fish as soon as possible.

I am trying to find other ways to make money, play more pots in position against weak ranges and attack pots where no one is that interested however I am not good at this type of poker and just spewing away at the moment. For example:

$1/$3 game
Hero has a tight image. Has only shown down good hands.

SB seems like a rec player

everyone has $400+


UTG is a old regular usually decent but on big tilt after taking a few beats. He opens blind for $20.


Everyone folds. Hero calls with 89 on button SB also calls

Thinking here I have a awful hand but UTG has just opened raised without looking at his cards. No one else is interested and I have position.


Flop is (Pot is $60)
KK3

SB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $25, SB calls, UTG shrug throws in $25 (he is not one to slowplay)

Turn (Pot is $125)
T
SB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $80, SB calls $80, UTG folds

I have no hand no draw but no one is showing any strength and this is the sort of spot where ranges are wide and a bet on the turn will make them believe I have the king

River (Pot is $285)
River is Q
SB checks, Hero bets $125 to fold SB draws

SB calls with Q3 after some thought




I know I probably played it awful but I don't know how to improve without trying stuff like this. There is 1 or 2 lags making alright money, the other nits will just keep struggling more and more unless they run good

You dont "open your game up" by calling raises (let alone 7x raises) with 98 off suit. I dont care what position you are in. When you do that all you do is become a fish.

You dont expand your game by going after people on tilt either.

First, don't open up your game by calling. If you Raise this hand to 60, SB more than likely lets go of Q3 and you get heads up with the blind open. Dream flop for a 1/2 PSB, say $65 and probably takes it down. If he calls you have to follow thru on the turn. By raising pre you should have plenty of Ks in your range. By just calling a competent player will know you have far fewer Ks in your range. GL

Damn! Got slow ponied by Mike.

Id just echo what Mike/Cowboy outlined. Don't start flatting opens with trash hands, even in position. Just because you watch high stakes pros play very wide ranges in some spots, it doesn't mean you should be doing it with no rhyme or reason in a LLS game.

These games are still about value, but if you want to open up your game then take some solid hands that you're normally playing as a flat call and start mixing in some 3! with them. Then you can start taking down pots post flop on boards that favor your 3! range, even if they don't connect with your exact holdings. When playing with nittier types, they're mostly going to be playing fit or fold postflop, especially when you have the preflop initiative.

I'll play this wide IP sometimes, but not for that big of a raise.

To answer your general question, you need to open raise wider, barrel more often, and understand that more of your money will come from several small pots rather than 1-2 big ones a session.

Nits aren't just going to start 3 betting you wide. Loosen up your raising range and take advantage of nits' fit or fold nature on the flop. If they show aggression, get out of their way. It should be a very rare occurrence to call a nit's raise.

You need to go back to the very basics of the game and learn them. You don't have a good understanding of them now. For example, I'm not sure you have a good definition of what a "nit" is. In live terms, a nit is playing less than 1 hand per orbit. They aren't a problem because most of the time they have folded. They will leave the fish to the slightly looser player who is playing 1-2 hands per orbit.

98o is a top 50% hand. However, it has less than 50% equity against a random hand. You should be able to explain why this is.

The worst thing to do is to try things at the table and decide whether they are good or not by the results. Many of the right plays in poker feel wrong. If you actually had a tight image at the table (are the players even paying attention and if so, think you aren't playing many hands), you can occasionally play 98o in this situation with a 3bet. The SB would have folded and clearly the UTG would have folded by the turn because they would have believed you had AK.

Note that is occasionally. To me it means making a move like this every 90 minutes or so. Start doing this 1-2 times an orbit and you won't be considered a tight player.