Why so small?

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NewbSaibot United States. Feb 02 2013 13:19. Posts 4946

That was the question of the night, when I adjusted my preflop raise strategy to always consist of 3.5BB+1/limper. I recently asked for some advice on how to deal with preflop overbetting in loose live games. Anyone who has played live surely knows what I'm talking about, as it is a very common occurrence. Basically fish have evolved to open 8-10BB's on average to try and limit how many players actually call them. They're trying to "weed out the rift raft" as they often put it, as they only want good hands to call them. That way when they lose they dont feel bad about being sucked out on, cuz "hey, at least you had a good hand". I started doing it too, albeit only because I expected to get massive value out of inferior hands. But it just never worked out right. So I said fuck it and played like I would online.

I ended up running $200 up to $1100 in 6 hours. It was like nothing. Sure I got a few extra callers at times, but really nothing that made life difficult for me. And now I'm not investing 40BB's every fucking hand I play. I even got a few jabs when people were like "lol, why are you raising so small, this isnt like last night". The greatest was raising $8 utg and being told "wow I didnt put you on aces with such a small raise" after I stacked one guy. And then 5 hands later stacking someone again with 24s when I raised $7 in the CO (guy tried to slowplay me in the BB with AA). While it might seem silly to balance your range vs fish, they do sorta notice what you're doing a little bit. They dont really adjust their ranges vs you, they just adjust their calling frequency.

What I found really advantageous about using online betsizing is that it allowed mt to raise speculative hands preflop like suited connectors and all my PP's. I could never raise $20 utg with 44 previously, but $7? Sure. And it works out great that 6 people call because thats exactly what I want with 44 anyway. And if I have AK and flop top pair, chances are it's the best hand anyhow and most of the table will fold to a cbet, and the 1-2 people who call are dominated as usual. So getting the pot HU doesnt really seem to serve any great purpose, since their ranges are all garbage in the first place. Online isolation is much more relevant since you actually expect callers and limpers to have playable hands. You really arent happy with AK when you raise $8 vs a bunch of regs and get 3 callers. But live it's fuckin ez peezy, because there's really no threat other than blatant suckouts which are far and few between.

Ultimately, I just felt so much more comfortable, like I was playing online more or less. The SPR was always fitting, I wasnt overcommitted to hands, everything just clicked since I felt like I was in control of every hand I played. Going to keep up this strat for awhile and make sure I wasnt just running hot.

0 votes

bye now

Last edit: 02/02/2013 13:22

LemOn[5thF] Czech Republic. Feb 02 2013 13:30. Posts 15163

live players adjust like motherfuckers, only in a retarded way

93% Sure!

Endo United States. Feb 02 2013 13:51. Posts 953

lol, just raise 20 bb with premiums. It's easy game.

Highcard Canada. Feb 02 2013 13:56. Posts 5428

Live poker is easier because you can see their soul

I have learned from poker that being at the table is not a grind, the grind is living and poker is how I pass the time

Shenny Canada. Feb 02 2013 14:03. Posts 1514

What was their reaction to standard cbets?

And lol at the 6 way set mining action. So profitable.

"I can't fold to that open, not when I'm holding a queen."

Mariuslol Norway. Feb 02 2013 15:44. Posts 4742

Awh, what a let down. I saw the title and thought you had a horrible experience with a girl or something =[

uuu

aernout Netherlands. Feb 02 2013 17:13. Posts 161

On February 02 2013 14:44 Mariuslol wrote:
Awh, what a let down. I saw the title and thought you had a horrible experience with a girl or something =[

uuu

lol'd

Naib Hungary. Feb 03 2013 09:21. Posts 968

This, basically, is the core of how I play live poker (I try to adjust to specific villains when I start to know them though). It's weird that I'm halfway across the globe from you in Europe, yet fish are almost exactly the same... "why such small raises" "I didn't expect you to have AA here" (after opening 4 bb). That's kinda funny.

My favourite line is Bet/Fold. I bet, you fold.

Funktion Australia. Feb 03 2013 09:50. Posts 1638

On February 02 2013 12:19 NewbSaibot wrote:
They're trying to "weed out the rift raft" as they often put it

No one puts it like that because it's actually riff-raff.

MARSHALL28 United States. Feb 04 2013 03:07. Posts 1897

youre welcome

Last edit: 04/02/2013 03:07