Metagame Question: How to Adjust to a Pro Who Knows My Game?

When I'm at the table with a friend or frequent opponent who knows my game, I try to sit opposite them. Ideally, there will be the same number of opponents between us on each side.

Part of it is simple courtesy. I wouldn't want him on my left. He probably doesn't want me on his left. Part of it is knowing that if I do sit on his left, he may make an exploitative adjustment that's -EV for me.

I mostly try to stay out of the way of V's who are my friends, or when we know each other's games well. I give their raises more respect, and expect them to do likewise. You should both be looking to exploit the weaker players at the table.

If I think V has a skill advantage on me, I'd generally be tightening my 3B and 4B ranges, looking for spots that favor me post-flop. I don't want to get into a pre-flop raising / leveling war with someone who is better bankrolled than I am, and who may actually be playing tighter, because of how loose the game is.

ETA - good luck in the game. Looking forward to reading about some interesting hands.

Personally, I'd just play my game and try to stay out of pots with him. I'd focus on the other players -- don't change just for him.

I agree with sitting across from him -- that's what I do vs. the guys who know my game. If you are sitting next to him you will focus too much on him!

This

The most important thing is to try to sit on his left (as you should with all the good players whenever possible).

I wouldn't try to "stay out of pots against him". Wouldn't you think he would be easier to play against/read then a bad player? I always prefer to play against the better players at the table because they're much easier to read/play against, but that's just me (thankfully for me).

Also, try not to get coaching or discuss strategy from someone you play against, because it might come back to bite you in the ass for your stack one day.

I also don't think he should be blindly saying "Open AJo from UTG". If he was a good player, he should know that table conditions and the players at the table should be the final determinating factor on whether to open AJo from UTG or not, not a black and white chart.

I would not really focus my game on villain. I would focus on how to exploit the other fish at the table because that's where almost all of your money is going to be coming from.

If you happen to get into a spot w/ villain just play good solid poker. I wouldn't really make any adjustments at all tbh.

As for opening AJo or not UTG in 8/9 handed live low stakes it likely doesn't really matter at all.

But I would not open the hand unless the table is really passive and there are big fish everywhere.

While I that being to a good player's left is ideal, I think if H sits to V's left he'll be thinking about every single hand he's in vs. V and second-guessing himself. It's just too close and distracting.

But I didn't mean sitting next to him just within two or three players to his left whenever possible so adonson doesn't get 3bet/4bet extremely light from someone who knows exactly what his opening/3betting ranges are.

Just don't over think things. If you end up trying to convince yourself that there are seven levels of thinking and you must outsmart him at all costs you're just guessing and stressing. Just play a solid game, don't force things, push your value when you have it, don't be scared of thin value and don't be scared of bluffs but at the same time don't get into a war for the sake of it. He's only one player. If he's better than you then in the long term you'll lose money to him; don't beat yourself up about it, if you can be the second best player at the table then that would still be a fantastic situation.

Got it

My life roll is 20x V’s. Professional poker is a hard life. Someone has to support my friend.

You mean, if I was a good player, I would write what V said better.

Lord help me play good solid poker in a big hand with V.

Lol if I said it once I said it a thousands times, MOST of the full time "pro's" I've played with have wives who work a high paying job (some of them pack their lunches/snacks/bananas for them and tell them to be home by 6) or parents that don't charge them rent, etc. etc. etc.

You don't necessarily need to make big adjustments against pros, though you certainly want to be agressive and focus on your A-game.

Strategy is completely dependent on stack sizes, for example, you can make some anti-pro adjustments like lighter 3! And 4! if they are playing a wide range or using largw sizings to target recs.

In terms of seating, the etiquette is not that complicated, mostly you should not directly sit to someone's left for exploitative reasons. With someone of similar ability you are friendly with, normally neutral seating is preferred. The etiqutte may differ a little bit if you want to sit next to a friend to socialize, based on your own personal preferences.

A couple thoughts, related to all this...

General poker wisdom is that money moves clockwise around the table, and so we should try to sit to the left of the big stacks. My experience has been that the guy with the huge stack isn't letting much money get past him, or away from him, and he's getting most of it from the players to his right. I've found it can be better to sit to that guy's immediate right, so I can catch that money before he does.

It's like fishing on one side of the dam, where the water is deep, rather than on the other side, where there basically is no water.

The point is - I don't want the best player at the table on my direct right, not even just 2-3 seats to my right. I don't see it as a big positional advantage. He's going to be more aggressive pre-flop than the other players at the table, RFI'ing and raising big over limps, putting us in the position of having to decide if we want to play 3B or fold when he's the PFR, or flat-call and invite the fish into the pot behind us.

I don't want him on my direct left, either, but I think it's debatable if that's actually worse, if we're playing TAG pre-flop. He won't like having to decide if he wants to play 3B or fold against us, either.

As for staying out of V's way, and vice-versa - I only meant I wouldn't widen my 3B/4B range to counter V specifically. Instead, I'd tighten that range against him, and widen it against the other, weaker opponents at the table. Those others aren't going to be as adept at responding to a 3B/4B.

Why would we want to go out of our way to tangle with the most dangerous opponent there? Why would he want to get out of line against us, if we're the 2nd most dangerous?

Be aggro with your high equity hands, and in spots where you're leaning folding, take a moment or two and consider "if hero should have a bluffing range in this spot?" This should help you take your mind off of leveling and focus on the respective ranges at play.

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I'd spend more time worrying about the bad players. Also, iit's not people who know what they're doing are playing all that differently from one another. He knows your opening ranges, but you could guess the opening ranges for most people. Don't worry about it.

I agree if there's a big stack at the table who we cover that would definitely over rule trying to have position on the "pro", but I still prefer position over the good players at the table because knowing how wide some of them are we should be able to 3 or 4 bet them that much wider as well, and a lot of them don't like to fold so they call wide pre then we take it down post flop easily, and some of them stop opening that wide when we have position on them so knowing when and how to adjust in these situation is also extremely important (the "meta" game).

First, as playbig wrote, pros are more predictable than bad players. I suspect that few hands with V will be worth posting to the forum. They will mostly be preflop: He open-bets, I fold. I open-bet, he folds. I open-bet, he 3bets, I fold. I open-bet, he 3bets, I fold. If we even see a flop together, it will probably be multiway with the degen or the whale. There's no script on flying into that chaos.

This discussion raised a deeper meta-question: why do we play poker? What do we want to accomplish, and how shall our goals shape our play? The matchup is between two friends with different goals. One rolled himself for life to play poker recreationally. The other rolled himself for poker to reach his dream of playing poker for a living. My goal is to play good poker because excelling in a hobby makes life. His goal is to win money at poker because his other hobbies make his life rich. If I lose a big hand to V, and made the right call or fold, he will probably say, "Well played." If I win a big hand against V, I will tell him how much I respect his skill. Because we are friends, these compliments are genuine, not angles.

I ask this question about player goals to improve reads. What are V's goals? Gambling? Impress his girlfriend with bluffs? Be social, expecting to lose money? Be social, hoping to lose as little as possible? Play solid poker to excel at a hobby? Make a living? We get a better read on V when put their actions in the hand in the context of their goals.

If I mused further on this subject, we would have to move this thread from strategy to the psych one, so I'll stop here.

Work to become as unexploitable as possible. Some guys are just good and you have to revert to as close to GTO as you can manage in heads up pots against them.

I would not advise loosening your reraising ranges against him. It's better to introduce cold calling ranges because you'd rather entice fish into the pot who will make bigger postflop mistakes. If he's behind you, you could introduce a limping range to see if he enters the pot and minimize losses with the weaker parts of your range that you don't want to play against him oop but wouldn't mind playing against the weaker players at the table who may limp behind you.

AJo is pretty marginal utg in a 7+ handed game and it's possible it is a hand that is profitable for a world-crusher to play but not a regular dude.

I’d say just play your game and if you’re clearly better than the other players at the table then you’ll do fine. Don’t become overly nitty and don’t start spewing just because of one player.

He knows you won’t make nearly as many mistakes as the worst players will. I’d say the other players at the table should worry more about him.

this feels like a bit of worry about nothing

it's a 1-2 game

he's just one guy at the table

stakes are low so mistakes are cheap but it should otherwise be a really juicy game - i would trade my left foot to have access to a clean unraked game with only one pro at the table

+1

Perhaps it's because I live in the Bay Area, but I struggle to see how anyone could make enough money at 1/2 to make it a profession.

i was under the impression that the pro didn't normally play 1-2, he just sat in this weekly home game because it was fun/soft

if he's a "1-2 pro" then lol you have nothing to worry about

when i was playing i'd often be at 1-2 game the day after playing 25/50 just because i wanted to play and that was the only home game going on each tuesday

Single kid living in grandma's basement in Oklahoma would be my guess.

Play very tight and straightforward with him. He will level himself on occasion and make mistakes against you.