I have taken lately to playing a bigger game on occasion because they play is simply terrible. My risk of ruin is a bit higher, but I've only had one losing session in the past couple of months and the play is just too bad to ignore.
Essentially, the trend is that these guys are playing with more money, but that just means they try to bluff bigger (so there is some variance inherent in the game because you may catch a bluff or a well-timed value bet). Knowledge of poker fundamentals is not necessarily any higher than the smaller games.
I am not 100% sure what my table image is at this game, but it must be pretty loose, as I can bet my big hands big and get paid off each and every time (that is also a function of players in this game being willing to "keep you honest" for larger sums as well). I can't bluff as much as a result (I can only semibluff), but it does allow me to engage in my favorite play style -- loose preflop, tight postflop.
And that is a style that a lot of players just don't get.
I remember when I was just starting to play, I believed that I was best served by playing my big hands big and just being angry at folks who played stupid hands to a raise and caught on me. Of course, here's the reality -- they had called a relatively small portion of their stack and my stack, and then allowed me to bet off the rest of my stack drawing very slim. I had read about implied odds, but I didn't really get it. Now that I have a better understanding, my preferred play style is to raise a lot of hands in position, call a lot of raises in position in multi-way pots, and be willing to gamble pre-flop against players who will give me their stacks by overplaying big pairs, AK, etc. Pretty basic strategy, but I'm just happy to have a strategy!
The other benefit of playing like this is that I play a few more hands, which protects me from my innate tendency to get bored -- it keeps me sharp. Unless I hit something, or see an opportunity to bluff, I am done with the hand. All you really need is a couple of players in the game who will overplay their big hands, and this is a profitable strategy.
When you combine that with a bit of luck, however, you get a 4 buy-in night like I had Friday night.
I had started at the smaller game and had played pretty well, but also getting lucky by having a few draws hit to get up a buyin plus (no real hands of note, just getting one pair to call a value bet on the river a few times and winning a race or two).
I was called for the big game, and could get nothing going for about an hour. When I raise I missed the flop, and when I called I missed the flop. I was down a bit, and just staying even with continuation bets.
Part of the problem was the 1 seat -- I hate that seat. I can never see the cards or the action like I would like, and it really messes with my rhythm. When I was able to move to the 5 seat, things vastly improved.
First, I made a semi-bluff raise on the turn in a large pot with the nut flush draw, and got called by a lesser flush draw. The result was me winning a side pot that was larger than the main, and kept me afloat. That was all luck, but I don't hate semi-bluffing the turn there. Based on betting and calling patterns, I was pretty sure that my opponent was on a draw, and I wanted to isolate my all-in opponent. Not sure that was brilliant, but it worked out -- luck is fine, and it fed the table image I was discussing earlier which paid off in two more huge hands.
When I had been playing at the smaller game, I saw a player named "Josh." He has a stylized hat on, and appeared to have a "crew" with him. Unfortunately, while he seemed to be a somewhat solid player, he was very tiltable and could not handle the type of loose that you see at a live cash game (as opposed to the Internet, where it seemed clear he had won some money).
My two biggest scores for the evening I owe to Josh.
Thanks Josh.
He followed me to the bigger game -- he had been ahead of me in the list, but had lost two buy ins and waited until he made some back. At the big game, he was doing pretty well for himself -- he started to make money by playing very aggressively on the flop and after -- he was only raising premium hands, and going crazy with them with bets going forward. And while that's not a bad play style, it became clear that he was not always sure where he was in hands, and became increasingly frustrated with the gunslinging style of the players around him. He actually commented that all of us "would play any two cards," in a very Hellmuthian fashion.
He was in the two seat, and raise 6x. I look down at pocket Aces one off the button. Normally this is an instant reraise for me, especially given my image -- but I was in late position, and I though that if I could get heads up with Josh I could beat him up given the right flop. I knew he had a good hand (99+, AQ+), and I hoped he would pay me off.
The flop is three rags, 6 high rainbow. He did not improve. He bet out pot anyway, so I was sure that he had nines or better. So I raised. He immediately pushed over the top (he had me covered), and I immediately called. His Tens did not improve.
Now I am advocate of not overplaying one pair, but I was very confident of my read. And now that I am reading better, and since I had been playing with this guy for hours to justify the read, I went with it and it paid off.
It also paid off because Josh went absolutely insane. He really went nuts -- he started overbetting preflop, pushing 60x preflop, and just melting down. The only reason he had chip was that when he was called he had the other player covered (like when he got 60x in with 45o against AK).
The result was not just that Josh was losing money, but also that he was working the other players into playing crazy. Which paid off great for me thanks to another bit of luck!
I raise in early/middle position to 6x with AKs, one caller in the SB. Josh reraises all of his chips (27x) out of the BB, and I call. SB, surprisingly, calls. Flop comes rags with two spades. I really want to play the rest of this hand against Josh and Josh alone, as I think he has a small pair or nothing based on his meltdown and his general demeanor. So I push with what I believe to be 15 outs twice (I have twice his remaining stack) -- he checked the flop and I read him for weak.
SB hems and haws, says "All in? Really? Well I 'm ready to go home. OK, I call."
I die a little inside. That kind of a speech must mean a monster, and I am going to have to catch my spade -- somehow I missed my read. BAD PUSH, BAD!!
I flip over AKs, he says "not what I wanted to see" and flips over 910s. What?
Josh indeed had nothing (J7h), and my Ace high takes a 360x pot.
Was I lucky all night? Heck yes. But I also feel like I am learning to play an image and trust my reads. My moves worked out, and I avoided suckouts when my reads were correct.
I will need to calm down with overplaying my big draws in the future -- these guys will remember that next week.....(HAAA -- I said almost the same thing back in August -- when will I learn!)
I sincerely hope I'll always have Josh. I love Josh. Not as much as his crew buddy who kept buying in short to the small game wearing a poker hat and sunglasses, but hey.
And, no, I don't know if I am posting on this thing regularly again. Vegas Year inspired me.
