I apologize for all of the questions in one thread but I haven't posted in several weeks and these are the questions I've come up with so far playing live. I've been reading my a$$ off on low stakes play trying to learn the basic concepts of live play. After playing at a few different places I have some questions. I was winning pretty good at 50 NL online for long time and had just moved up to 100nl full time online. (any good references to good threads etc. to read on online vs live is much appreciated. I've read a lot on here but I may have missed some)

Basically looking for bet size questions vs lots of 50bb stacks etc. and iso thoughts.

1. First off I'm playing a lot of 2-5 at a small casino in the middle of nowhere and it's about a 1 hour drive. One table of no limit all others are limit. Lots of bad players, occasional drunks etc., couple of regs but not really anyone who I've noticed to be exceptional. No one ever buys in full EVER!. So I'm playing lots of $100,$200 and maybe an occasional $300 stacks unless someone has chipped up. I've done pretty well so far but I'm wondering if this is going to be worth the drive. I've only been a couple of times and won around $1,000 which isn't sustainable I'm sure (I've just had hands vs drunks or really bad players). They rake a buck out of each pot. Also they only have no limit on one or two days a week. There's a guy who will call if one pops up.

2. Lets assume the average stack is $250 at a 2-5 what would you recommend as the typical open size. Seems like $15-20 is common. Ive been reading that some places 6bb or even higher is the norm.

3. I'm trying to test out late position Iso's as well. Seems like if 1 or 2 people are in they will fold if I raise to $25 but if lots are in most will call. Is this burning money (KQ , TT etc) ?


4. If villain opens to 3bb or $15 bucks in 2-5 what would be your 3bet amount if villain had a 50bb stack or like $250 or so.

5. Are we still cbetting 3/4 pot usually even though most at table have smaller stacks.

6. Is it pretty common to stack off TPGK or overpair vs a 50 BB stack in a non 3bet pot. (Kind of seems like lame question as online its a no brainer but these people when they shove always have big hand cuz so weak passive).

7. TT in the blinds and 5 people limp ahead. Iso? Seems like most will fold if I raise to 7 or 8 bb but isn't that bloating pot with medium strength hand.

I'm still trying to get used to the fact that the pots in dollars are much higher than what I'm used to. I know that it is bb but when I'm all in vs an opponent sometimes its $600 or $700 bucks which is way more than my typical all in online.

Sounds a rubbish game. Isn't there somewhere else u can go? Short stack shoves fests make it hard to do anything but get it in and cross ur fingers.

You should never look at the money aspect in terms of dollars$ You need to be aware of effective stacks in BBs.

50bb for a good player you will never be 3betting with out a good hand JJ+. When you raise a 50bb stack your basically committing yourself before the flop, with TPGK+, TPTK is good enough 60% of the time.

Bad thing about the effective stack game plan. Is your opponents won't be using it. They will be playing all their trash hands.

I would really find a another casino. Or play super tight until the table gets deep. 100bbs effective is when you can 3bet and 4bet pre. A.K.A "iso".

Have you looked through this thread yet? Good stuff: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...games-1023860/

On the c-bet sizing, you can go considerably lower, as many of these players view bet amounts in absolute dollar numbers, rather than fractions of the pot.

Iso'ing is not really profitable in most circumstances in the game you're describing, as you have to pump it up to a ludicrous percentage of effective stacks to avoid going multi-way.

2) It basically depends on how many people you think will call, and how many people you WANT to call. AA? You want 5 or so people in the hand, raise accordingly. 8d9d? You want as many as possible. KQo? Raise enough to push the play down to 2-3 people, but not so much that KT folds.

3) See #2. TT is not a good hand vs 4 players. A decent hand vs 7 people bc of sets, and a great hand vs 1 person. Raise/limp accordingly. If 6 players limp around to you on the button, you may as well make a small bet with 7c8c; no one will fold and it gets more money in the pot when you are in position.

4) Most tables react to 3betting very strangly live. Everyone puts you on AQ at worst. So, don't 3bet with AK/AQ/KQ because they will put you on your hand exactly. Besides that, how much to 3bet is table specific, and point #2 applies. It's more difficult to figure out though, because some people will never call 3bets without premium hands, and some people have no reservation about it.

5) Yes, against good players. Against bad players, it depends on their specific shortcomings. Against call stations? Don't bet without a made hand, ever. Don't even semibluff.

6) Yeah, stacking off is fine. Against some people you can get away from it. For instance, they may be deathly afraid of flushes and would never put money in unless they had a flush themselves. Keep in mind though, just because an old man is weak/passive, doesn't mean he is afraid to put his money in the pot with a ****ty hand.

7) No. You just have to accept that TT is a mediocre hand at loose tabless. You are hoping for a set, or the board to all be lower than ten. If the board comes 9d7d3c, you want as many people in the pot as possible, to increase the chance of being paid off by tp or a draw. If you iso, and the only guy remain in the post has AJ, you make much less money.

After awhile you get used to the bigger $ issue.

This game actually sounds a bit juicy.... the rake is great and the players are bad.... but you can't really put too many moves on anyone in these games.
You need to wait for good hands, and sometimes that hardly ever happens. So there will be slow nights, weeks, or months.
I think ABC poker wins in games like this, its just boring to play. You will need infinite patience.
You will suffer bad beats too, but i guess you get that anywhere.
Figure out the regular players.
Become the mayor of value town.

Rather than answer all of your questions, I'm going to suggest that to improve you need to go back to the fundamentals of NL poker. What I mean is that rather than trying to come up with a generic game that is going to allow you to beat your opponents, you're going to have to go back to basic questions that you'll have to answer for each table you play and each player you're up against.

So for example, when you raise, what do you want to accomplish? You'll have to experiment with raise sizes to see what size raise gets the result you want. Then bet that. Over the course of an hour and a half, I've been at a table where a $15 open is enough to fold everyone, while later $35 isn't enough to prevent 4 people from calling. You'll have to learn to recognize when the conditions occur and adjust.

Probably the biggest thing holding back on-line players is trying to replicate the conditions of mass tabling and playing one style game. Once you get over that, you'll most likely destroy the game you play. That said, you may want to consider whether you want to do that or not.

ya I went through that thread but you're right it was extremely helpful. Just seemed that people were full stacked in all of the samples. I read the blog of mooremoney19 and it was awesome. I'm not sure the games he is playing in are anything like mine cuz your can't rep anything people just wont get what story you are trying to tell them and no one has a full stack.
Just don't think bluffing or betting draws seems to accomplish anything in the games I'm playing. If they call on the flop they are calling the turn no matter what.

Yes! Now you got it! There is no reason to bet a draw when the villain will call with anything anyway! Poker 101: A villain has a made hand. He checks. You have a draw. How do you punish his mistake? Check behind! Play any speculative hand against him, because you know you get to see at least the turn for free.