How to beat a table full of drunks?

If you’re close to 50-50 about a call,

I’d call because alcohol is liquid courage. Makes people bluff more. Can also set bigger traps, slowplay more.

Act weak possum. Then unleash your inner shark.

Edit: btw great thread idea.

Im a former perfessional and have won piles in these types of games. Generally speaking when im working i dont drink. However there are exceptions, and this is 1 of those. I monitor very closely how much im consuming and want to stay sharp. I also bring my drink with me when I leave the table to go to the mens room and dump a large percentage. Beer in a dark bottle works very well (this requires attention to detail. I dont want to leave with it 100% full. when I grab it to leave I want to obscure the level of fullness with my hand as I grab it and walk away). Putting on a show requires commitment and practice as well as thought about what exactly you are trying to accomplish

My first goal when arriving at a table like this is to be part of the party. I want to foster a gambling and party atmosphere and I want the party goers to stay until they run out of chips. I also dont want other pros to come into the game. So when I pull up I say what are we drinking and I get one. I also ask who is in for a shot of fireball. I will do a big cheers and clink shot glasses and slam that bad boy. I will then partake in some 0 ev wagering. I will ask my neighbor if they are down with some red/black on the flop gambling. I will also ask who is down for a round of straddles.

When I start I am playing a very standard tag game but looking like a total sport thats not only willing but looking to gambool. Different drunks have different styles. Some are playing passive bingo. Some want to be table captian. Some want to win every hand they play. Its pretty straight foreword building profiles and acting accordingly. In this type of game I am exceptionally value heavy but I can also make some insanely light calldowns v the opponent that wants to win every hand. Its really important imo to have a solid bead on the 2-3 guys to your left - can you iso raise them out, do they have a threshold for calling isos cold, will they try to take it away if checked to, etc. All of this info can be used against them big time

I believe this is a strong starting point to a very broad question

eta: before poker I was a high stakes blackjack pro. I am not an extrovert but in order to get down with the games I had to show the casino exactly what they "needed to see". I have had an absolute shitload of practice being the center of attention and playing a part. It is hard and I felt silly at first. But with practice it becomes second nature. When I was a vegas pro I have had numerous whales come to my table at the poker room when they roll into town asking where the good action was because they remembered me from a table full of drunks and I was "leading the charge"

Amazing post, Squid

Tuma - I have been out of gambling for a few years now, its unlikely I will ever place a wager again. I have spent far too many hours in a casino. That being said I absolutely love thinking about and discussing these softer aspects of poker that in blackjack we called getting down with with the game.

It absolutely blows my mind how easy it is to combat a card counter from a game protection standpoint. BUT with some thought, a little misdirection, some well placed 0 to slightly -EV bets its possible to get the casino let you win piles.

My blackjack partners and I would spend countless hours figuring out different ways to convince the casinos that our blackjack action was legit. This behind the scenes work on these soft skills were some of the most valuable time I spent in my gambling career and payed massive dividends - I believe it helped my live poker game immensly.

When I moved into poker from blackjack I created a persona that I used for my entire live career that I felt disarmed my opponents and gave me a massive edge that they could not see (I got into their head waay before they could get into mine).

At this point I have no secrets (in poker) and am more than happy to discuss any aspects of poker/gambling that may help. I do have some NDA's wrt specific aspects of 21 and some other gambling activities which I cant discuss but will not impact this topic.

I had an issue heads up against a drunk because I couldn't believe he could play the way he many times did. My antidote is to use GTO more heavily.

I have found an adjustment that has been helpful for myself in these late-night drunken games has been playing more of a value-centric overall strategy. Not going to be necessary in remaining balanced w/ bluffs for the c/r flop, bet turn jam line vs someone not in the mood for folding. Also leaning towards more of a purely linear 3bet strategy with the expectation players will be under folding, which is great for our bottom line.

Observing pre-flop sizing tells with hands that go to showdown when not involved in the hand - even a drunk player w/ VPIP 70% if he randomly significantly increases open size and shows down KK is a useful point to note for later in the session in case he does it again. Have seen some regs who may not be cognizant of what this larger open size indicates and just fixated on the the fact it is an active whale open and end up isolating too loose and get stuck facing the immediate top of range 4bet.

Also from just a mental game perspective, not trying to force an extreme marginal raise spot with the desire to get involved due to having the maniacs in there. Will still isolate appropriately but want to be careful not to do it.

@Squid - I am a long-term lurker, have lot of respect for your posts and seem to be a seasoned live poker gamer. Curious based on your long-term sample how drastic/roughly of an hourly difference you experienced with late-night vs day-time games. Planning to make more of an active effort to structure more hours for the late-night gaming. Honestly it is a little silly but one of my hesitations to switching over is food-related lol. Tend to avoid casino food like the plague and just less quality food options overall available during the wee hours of the night. Think the obvious answer is just eat at home but can get little lazy late night post-session sometimes wanting to avoiding meal prep before just eating then passing out. Would be interested for any food/additional late night poker insight if you had anything to share 😀

Hey humble grind - The game quality between late night and and day time games is stark. I found (especially vegas) that something happens late night where a switch just seems to flip and people incinerate money by making insanely bad choices. Several years back I switched and played almost an exclusively late night schedule and my w/r was significantly higher.

The larger your opponents mistakes the more $ you are going to win. Playing at 3 am with a bunch of drunks who are throwing hail mary's is going to be rock and roll (variance) and significantly more profitible than bullying the weak tight crowd at 10 am on a tuesday.

I gambled as my sole source of income for the better part of 30 years. I did my best to maintain a life balance. The casino is a massive energy/life suck. So I tried to balance that out with my love of the outdoors. When I switched to late night gambling my life balance got completely out of whack and my overall mental health took a hit. For me the pay bump was not worth the cost.

Thanks for the insight Squid. The hourly trade-off vs a better quality life balance looks to be an important factor for me that I am still adjusting on my journey.