I have a TAG image and lately I have been getting in situations where a couple of players (maniacs with $$$) have been yelling out my hands before I roll them over. Granted they are not in the hand but this is definitely a leak in my game that needs filling. At first I thought I would take advantage of my tight image by getting into more pots and playing stronger when reading weakness, but all this lead too was me spewing chips in spots I read wrong and getting called down by relatively weak hands when I held weaker.

When attempting to balance your range this should be done playing garbage hands correct? as opposed to trouble hands? That way its much easier to just utilize b/f strat and if a big hand hits chances are it will not be against another big hand.

Any tips on how to help balance my range is welcomed. Also any SPR advice or any other concept I should be intergrating into balancing my range would be highly appreciated. For example should I be looking for spots against opponents with low/medium/high SPR before playing garbage? I figured medium (7-16) that way there is still enough room I can still b/f the majority of the time while not risking a high amount of $$$ if I become over involved.

Thanks.

Hey Chicken,

The short answer to this questions is absolutely DO NOT start playing garbage. You need to give a more specific example for me to help you completely, but I would guess that you are playing a very ABC poker style which many call "fit or fold." Only betting when you have it, always folding when you dont. Knowing what stakes your playing at would help greatly here or an example of a hand and how you played it and what they called out.

However, if balancing is your issue which i can only assume is because you are playing consistently with all the same players, start incorporating more hands in preflop but only in position and only when not faced with aggression.

Example : If you normally never play KT off suit then continue to not play it, however start to incorporate it into your late position hands and start raising off limpers, if people have already raised, continue to fold it.

Another way to "balance" or "polarize" your hands if your not already doing so....would be to start checking raising your TPTK hands if your normally only value betting, or value betting your strong draws instead of checking them. But the most important thing is to slowly incorporate these changes not to show them how you 3bet 93 off suit like duuurrrr one hand a night. Little adjustments are everything in poker or you will completely throw off your game.

Hope this helps.....If you need more specific insight please post example hands, stakes, how often you play with these players ect....

This.

And this. The above was 1) spot on, and 2) as specific an answer as you can get given the vagueness and multiple questions, so I'll just lock it here and ask you for more limited and specific questions/hands/read next time.