Quote:
Originally Posted by JackTen00
Hey y'all,
I've started playing poker again after a ~4 year break, live casino (in the UK), trying to build a bankroll grinding 1/1, 1/2 tables.
Last night I was sat at a 1/1 table with what I believed to be a relatively weak field - mainly rec calling stations who are entering far too wide into pre flop raises (with hands like K7os, J4os). There was however one LAG directly to my left who was constantly raising 20, 35 preflop. He had won several huge pots holding the nuts (or close too) and was sitting on about 1k after only a few hours (max buy in was 200), mainly playing junk cards that kept hitting and using his aggression to bluff out players and also getting calling stations to pay him off in pots they shouldn't be in, with even worse hands than his.
I was card dead the vast majority of the night. I think I had literally one pocket pair all night (44, which I raised and saw a flop with 3 overcards that people bet into) and literally saw only 3 hands approaching premium (AK, AQ, KQ) all night during this 6 hour session. Everything else was literally 10-3os, J3os, 92os etc. The few times I got 78s / 89s I called/raised, with mixed results. Rest of the night I folded, folded, folded.
I ended the night down about 40 and I'm sat here thinking about what I could've done better. Part of me thinks I played ok, that I shouldn't change my strategy and that this is just a natural downswing that I should just play through. Another part thinks I am being too much of a nit, and that if I think this guy is raising junk I should just 3bet him with my 10-2os and just barrell with the right board textures - which immediately seems like a bad idea given his stack size and general stickiness.
Opinions? What are your strategies in these spots?
A couple of thoughts:
1. It looks like you had a bad run of cards. That is going to happen.
2. Variance. Research it. Learn it. Understand it. Variance in poker is a big factor in your results. When you understand variance you will understand that taking the results of one session of poker is almost meaningless. Even the absolute best poker players have losing sessions. You cannot use the results of one session to determine if you played bad or not.
3. I might be wrong, but from what I remember, the rake at most low limit UK casino poker games is absurdly high. Crazy high. The play of the opponents might be bad enough that the games are still beatable, but the effect of the high rake is to drag down win rates. It should also be noted that lower win rates will also increase variance.
If you are looking for feedback on your play, post specific hands. Look for some of the hands that had an outsized influence on your results. Describe the action and why you did what you did.