I have a weekly 1/2 NLHE home game that is full of extremely loose players. For example, I'll bet 3bet AK and have 4 callers. Then, I cbet and all 4 will call. This undermines the value if AK because a big part of its value is fold equity. Even if I make the top pair/top kicker, it will almost never be good since the pot is five ways.

I've been having trouble in this game. The last two games, I've been trying a new preflop tight/passive strategy. I've narrowed my hand selection to hands that can make boats, straights, flushes (pocket pairs, connecting and suited cards). I've been limping virtually all of these hands. If I smash the flop, I've been aggressive and getting paid off with nut-type hands.

So far, the results have been good. Is this a viable strategy for beating these types of games or is it just variance.

In these types of games, even though it is extremely transparent, you can usually get away with a very unbalanced strategy, as they never adjust.

PF, see flops cheap with speculative hands, as you mentioned above. Limping them is fine if you can still get stacks in post flop if you hit.

With premiums, bet as much as the traffic will bear for fat value pre-flop. I've often got away with making my raise as big as 15x pre in these games. Do this with AK and AQ, maybe AJs, not just PPs. You'll often be able to get stacks in with TPTK and be good, as they can't resist seeing a flop with A4s and then get married to the aces. The trick is, don't c-bet air multi-way. Only continue if you flop TPGK+, or sometimes if you actually got HU PF. I know it seems counter-intuitive, but you want to get money in when you're ahead and stop putting money in when its not so clear. Smart Vs would recognize this pattern quickly and would start bluffing post with ATC, but in these types of games that is just super rare. Until they finally start adjusting (if ever) this strategy will print money.

I can already see that you have some mentality leaks.

Like yeah it’s great when we 3 bet and someone folds their 2 live cards and we get the blinds + the open. But if the guy opens and you 3 bet and 3 people cold call, then there’s an obvious solution: make it more expensive.

Like let’s say dude opens to 10. You normally make it 30. Why not make it 40? Maybe even 50? Now if you hit top pair, you comfortably pile it all in by the turn. If you don’t, you don’t.

The same as preflop. If you can limp 44 and expect to see a flop cheap, you go for it.

Essentially your entire game is the same story; focus on fat value. Take it preflop, take it postflop. If they want to mortgage their home in order to see a flop with A5, by all means give them the chance to


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+1

Also, great excuse to steam like Hellmuth. I mean use Hellmuth's strategy that he's been using for over 20 years to dominate the cash games.

If I make the bets more expensive, do I just accept that I'd basically be playing for stacks if I have a hand like AK? If I 3bet to 25BB, I'd basically be committing a significant portion of my stack.

No. You are getting in as much money as possible when you almost certainly have the best hand and making them commit to playing for stacks if you both hit TP. As for you, you're not committed post flop unless you want to be. So on A49r and they check to you, yeah, you're committed. On 9TJss, not putting in another dollar unless we hit our Q and it's off-suit. You won't believe how often they'll let you check it down if they missed too, but if anyone bets on a board like that, see ya!

Yup. Exactly.

Like I’ve had this out with GG on multiple occasions. He seems to think he’s committing his aces and Kings and they’re going to play perfect against him.

Like, when you have a big hand, you aren’t just making pots bigger for immediate value. You’re making pots bigger so that if things work out favorably for you, you can make them stack off.

If the stack to pot ratio is low, you can comfortably get in top pair strong kicker and feel as though you’re value betting. But if it’s 50 in the middle 5 ways and you have 350 left and have AK on A94, it gets a lot dicier than if it was like 200 with 320 left.


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This game sets up perfectly for ABC tight-aggressive poker. You gain in EV more than you lose when your range is stronger than the other players, and if you're hammering the pot when you have range advantages, you will flop stronger more often than any other player, even if you're a dog to the field you will likely have a plurality of equity.

If they wanna get silly with you, let them make silly calls given the odds you offer. This field of players is often the easiest to play against, even though it will be relatively high variance. No bluffing until you identify a specific reason to do so.

I should say, if this isn't the normal flop bingo passive game, and the players are both loose and aggressive over multiple streets, then you should consider taking more passive lines with hands as weak as top pair good kicker, on appropriate boards, and in position if possible to let players blast off into you.

It's my experience, however, that these types of players will both play fit-or-fold postflop, as well as exhibiting significant bet-size tells on later streets that correspond with the absolute (rather than relative) strength of their hands.

That makes sense to me. I'll continue to try different styles in order to beat this game. I've tried ABC poker, LAG poker, tight-passive. I do well online and I do ok in live casino games. For the life of me, I can't figure this game out.

best game for you. but you need to learn the proper bet sizing for the different hands and when and not to bet or call.
when you get a good hand you cant play it like they would.

This sounds like a mostly MUBS thread. It's true that you should increase your open size to capitalize on this but only to a point. Dont go raising 25BB preflop hoping to isolate 1 player. Having 4 callers every time is not that bad. Sure you might end up a 25% favorite but guess what, they're all gonna be like 2% favorite. I'll take that any day of the week. They're not calling the flop with nothing. You need to feel them out, learn what kind of textures are good for them and what are good for you. Hitting TPTK in a 5 way pot on a 2A9 board and getting 4 callers when you cbet IS A GOOD THING. Sure the turn peels with a Q and then some guy donkbets and MP flats and you dont know wtf is going on anymore. It's live, **** is gonna get random sometimes. You're gonna lose some big pots on occasion. Run that scenario 10 times over the course of a session and you'll be a huge winner. Dont just freeze because you start having flashbacks of the guy who felted you earlier with Q9 or floated with 56 to hit the backdoor flush. I promise you that you will do just fine playing a classic value oriented game consisting of making TP or better via strong preflop raises (but not crazy outlandish raises) or around 10BB or so.

And you *can* limp all those weakling hands if you want, but most people dont fight for big pots without there having been a raise in there. If nobody is raising and you're just sneaking in with 44 and such you probably arent going to felt anyone.