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09-05-2010 , 12:14 PM
I have played up to 50NL but mostly 25NL and low-stakes SNGs, but have not won a ton because I lack dedication to grinding over the past two years. I also played in some $1/2 and $5/5 private games in my town, and about 2 months ago several guys who run the games started backing me in these super soft games that run up to 5 day/nights a week with the profits split 70/30 but no makeup.

I am fairly unsure of what the correct strategy is for these games, and am looking to move from being a decent winner to destroying them. There is very little aggresion preflop and light 3-betting is rare, and the standard raise pf is $25 (in the $5/5) but tons of limping from every position 7-10 handed. The players buy in generally for $200-300 on their first bullet and there are some 1-2 bullet fish and some rich guys who will go off for 5k in the game.

I raise pf to $25 (or $40 if there is a $10 button straddle) with a pretty tight range (10-15%ish?) and get lots of callers pf, many pots multiway so I c-bet accordingly. I sometimes raise, but usually limp small pp's and suited connectors. There are a few winners who play pretty good (think Doyle on HSP) who limp and occasionally trap with big hands, but the fish are mostly stations who let you know when they have a hand. Is there a better strategy that I could be using?

Generally, I tend to pick up tons pots without showdown but am sometimes pretty spewy. I have a hard time objectively analyzing my play live and not being results oriented. So, any advice on this would be really helpful.
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09-05-2010 , 06:47 PM
Sounds like you're on track. Continue limping with small PP and SC. Play for value. Be patient and grind it out. Work on reading opponents and try to get a feel for individuals and what it takes to get them off a hand and/or what it takes to keep them in a hand. As you get more experienced and build more of a solid/fear me image, get intermittantly more aggressive and build from there.

When you spew, take a moment and write down the circumstances and when you get home review it. Maybe write them in a big log at home and read it before you go out and play. As you do this over and over you'll spew less.
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09-05-2010 , 07:41 PM
One of the best things you can do is learn to push thin value on the river. This was something I had a hard time with when I first started live play. Spew and pushing thin value are different things which I think with some experience you'll be able to conquer.

We know that villains in these type of games will call down light and have a hard time giving credit for hands bigger than theirs. We can usually find a few good spots to raise or value bet in these games that we couldn't find against solid TAG's online.
I'll give an example of a hand that I played a few months ago in Biloxi.

Hero was in the BB with KQ

Folds around to CO who makes it $9

Folds to me, I call.

Flop comes 56Q

I check

Villain fires $15

I call

Pot $34

Turn J

I lead for $25

Villain thinks and calls

River 2

At this point I wasn't really worried about the spades and I figured villain might have some other type of Q. I was debating whether to check / call or bet / fold but I decided to check call even if I was initially giving up some value.

After I checked villain bet out $25 which was quite small in relation to the pot. At this point I pegged him for some type of jack that he picked up after Cbetting the flop and hit it on the turn. I decided to make a very thin value raise to $70 and he snap called with AJ. I was initially giving up some value by not going for a value bet but by pushing thin value in a spot villain thought I might be bluffing I was able to make much more on the river than I would by just value betting.

This was just one example of how you can sometimes push thin value, even with TPGK.

Last edited by mercuryPoison; 09-05-2010 at 08:01 PM.
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09-06-2010 , 12:04 AM
I'm going to guess that your backers/game runners don't want you to destroy the game. Their goal should be to keep bleeding money out of the game through rake/entry fees.

Your arrangement is unusual. 70/30 is great if you're getting the 70 without make up. If you're getting the 30, you're probably better off playing with your own money. Do the organizers play in the game, too?
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09-08-2010 , 03:31 PM
Thanks for the replies, appreciate the input on sort of what to think about to exploit different edges in these games.

Also, no it is 70 them/30 me, and I would play my own money but I am currently semi-broke because Im in college and have degen tendencies. Should I ask for a higher percentage if I have been winning consistantly? I was under the impression that 70/30 was std. for deals with no make-up, but if that isn't the case I will try to get a better deal.

Well, there are several games, run by multiple people who play in each other's games and bring others to support each other's games that run approx. 5 times a week. Each person hosts the game one or two of those nights, and I am backed by one of them. Like 3 organizers who do play in the games, a steady 25ish recreational fish, and randoms that come and go.

Last edited by nolebeezy; 09-08-2010 at 03:49 PM.
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09-08-2010 , 04:32 PM
Play your own money asap. Also, isolate more when possible with weak holdings when you can take the pot postflop. If not possible, be keen on seeing more flops and getting good implied odds. That's mostly it. Learn to pot control and call down instead of betting if you hit a marginal hand. Try to play more 2-3 way pots and fewer family pots.
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