Not Quite Threadworthy--Low Stress Strat Questions

You protect yourself by doing a lot of checking from OOP. You don't need to worry much about protecting yourself when you're IP because the low stakes pool won't punish you for range betting by aggressively check-raising with a ton of bluffs and thin value.

You can help protect your range OOP in much the same manner, by sometimes checking TP/overpair instead of cbetting it.

In HU pots, this is mostly opponent dependent. The more clueless / calling station / terrible they are, the more we can just play face up and bet/bet/bet (usually to fold). The more aware / aggro / see us us nitty, the more we can lean to a check.

I rarely find myself OOP in multiway raised pots due to my LRR method, but overall we should be playing more cautiously in general since (a) much less chance TP/overpair is good and (b) a cbet into multiple opponents is that much insanely stronger.

GcluelessNLnoobG

1-3 nlhe about 4 hours into a session I showed down my first hand. In fact in the last 9 hours of play I only showed down 4 hands.

Is this too tight? Normal amount tightness?

I think I’m vpiping around 20%. Most of the hands I play are being won preflop.

We're talking 9 hours of poker, stats will be all over the place. Way too short run to learn hardly anything. It means next to nothing.

I once played a 6+ hour session where I never won a hand. All things are possible

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i could be confused but it sounds like you've made mentions of this before - so yes

If you think people perceive you as nitty, you probably are. When I see a nit raise and everyone folds, I'll sometimes tease them by saying they need to work on their table image.

Also... I don't understand why someone would keep track of their own VPIP or how many hands they're showing down if they're winning.

Like, playing too many hands is a leak, but you can't control how many playable hands you're dealt in a session. Playing too aggro with too wide a range in a loose splashy game with calling stations is a leak, but you can't help if your opponents over-fold to any aggression. You can only have more bluffs in your range if you VPIP more pre, or play more aggro post.

I notice when other players VPIP trash hands, and when other players over-fold pre or post, or station, and I adjust my play accordingly. I'll VPIP 70% if opponents are over-folding to aggression. If opponents are stationing the I'll tighten up, bluff less, but go bigger with value.

If you just always have it when you VPIP and barrel, yeah, you're not going to get to showdown very often.

But even if you bluff a ton, you can still not show down many hands. If you're good at bluffing, your opponents should be over-folding to your bluffs.

Last night in a six hour session, I think I showed down a dozen winners and got caught bluffing three times. I'm sure I got at least three times as many bluffs through. Guessing I didn't get to showdown with probably three big hands. Probably gave up on a dozen hands after raising pre and not liking the run-out.

I think I'm probably VPIP'ing around 25%-30% of hands I'm dealt, but I'm playing them aggressively. I'm mostly playing raise or fold.pre. Post flop I'm either giving up early, going for max value, or applying max pressure with my bluffs.

I think opponents notice my aggression more than how many hands I play. To the typical loose-passive type, I probably look maniacal. Especially when I show up with a hand they don't expect.

If you're not VPIP'ing enough to get to showdown, you're probably compensating for weakness in your game by playing too tight.

I was IP in a multi-way unraised pot. V to my immediate right. LLSNL.

I flop middle pair and decide to float Vs flop bet. All others fold. Turn V checks to me and I bet. V mumbles “he hasn’t been out of line all night” and calls.

River goes check check. My third pair beats his bottom pair of twos.

What happened here? I thought a player not being out of line would be a reason to fold not call.

Have you ever bet that a team on a losing streak would win the next one? It seems like statistics and probability would dictate that you must be bluffing at some point. So even with a nitty image, you can sometimes still get value.

Note he didn't pay off a river bet. The river checked through. He may have been planning to check-fold, or occasionally even check-raise.

Always doubt anything said at a poker table.

People do stupid things at poker all the time. I do pretty well, but I'm not a sophisticated poker player. My game depends on the greater fool theory and there seems to be no end of fools who will pay me off "to keep me honest", or, they "just had to see it." Sounds like you might have found one of them.

Maybe he's just a true fish who thought if he spikes another deuce, you'll never see it coming and he'll stack you once you have 2P.

I think you played the hand well assuming you have no history or reads on him. Modest pot for a modest hand and you correctly, IMO, bet into a turn check.

Even though it worked out for us this time, in very multiway limped pots, we should strongly consider folding TP + no draw to a bet, let alone middle pair (TP is dependent on bet sizing, where villain is betting from, how many players are in the hand, how often hitting our kicker completes something, our position, etc., but middle pair should almost exclusively be a fold in a multiway limped pot in the majority of circumstances).

GimoG

There's a lot of missing data here about number of players, stacks, bet sizes, board, etc.

But in general:

• Bad players call too much.
  
• He maybe thought you were polarized, and/or had a draw heavy range.
  

And to echo the goat, "floating" becomes much less of a thing as the number of players increases and just auto calling middle pair in a very multiway limped pot is going to be a bad idea long term.

Also IMO turn bet could be pretty bad or pretty good, depending on the reasons you bet and what you thought would happen.

missing tons of info

in general i hate the call with mid pair multiway unless it was the world's tiniest cbet

very possible he thought you were super happy with your top pair or 2p whatever and if he rivered a set he'd get all of it

I'm waiting on the 2/5 to start and twice the host has polled the room to ask if everyone on the list was committed to the 2/5 game. So everyone at the table knows I'm a 2/5 player. That can be a mixed bag as it makes some people assume I'm playing loose and bluffy, but others seem to fear the 2/5 crowd.

1/2 - card room

I have 33 in the BB. V-EP made it $10, V-MP and V-BU called. All stacks are $250+. I complete on a set mining expedition.

Flop ($40) 246, with a 2 flush. It checks around to V-BU who bets $20. He's definitely someone who will stab from IP at an all checked table. I call and so does V-EP.

Turn is a miracle 5, non flush. I check. V-EP checks. V-BU bets $50.

I have almost nuts behind an unlikely 78 that would have drawn to a gutter, or a 37 that I block. However, there is the FD. Do I raise 3X and risk chasing everyone out or just call hoping to pot build more? It looks like V-EP may call the $50 but I'm not sure.

tough spot, i don't see how anything other than flush draws and 78 call a check raise

think it's either a jam or flat

Sets aren’t folding. 65 might not.

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I think we could have or x/r'd the flop. As played, I think we need to donk or x/r the turn. Would have preferred to donk turn to get some value from the EP PFR before he naturally checks in flow to the BTN.

Probably raising to $200-$250, depending on the actual stack depths. If they're not deep, I probably just jam and hope it looks like I picked up a combo draw.

Yer a compleat iddiot and don't no nuthin bout poker...

but yeah, I was kicking myself when I wrote up this hand as to why I didn't x/r. The odds of a turn card hurting my hand were much greater than helping. Even a turned set would not be a great card.

I tried to get someone to come with me. x/r to $125, all folds. OOP with no redraw, a near idiot ended straight, a FD on the board, it didn't seem right to give a free river. $200 would have been an effective AI. In the light of day, I probably should have jammed and should be glad I wasn't called.

From the responses here, I think I should be happy with the results and I probably got all I could expect.

FWIW if I'm ever getting out of line and betting flop with "air" then 87 is the super nuts of air and is the first thing I'd bet, and the only thing I really don't want to happen is to get x/r.

Good point.

I didn't think he had the look of someone who would make that bluff, but I only had 1 or 2 orbits with him so not enough to bet the farm on that read.

you think they aren't folding to a 4 to a straight board 4 ways?

Somewhat annoying preflop spot with the fish... somewhat new to this table.

1/2, Hero (UTG) opens AKo to 10.

Folds to older gentleman BTN with about $250 in stacks of 10 chips min-raises to 20. Loose-passive SB fish ($180 or so?) calls cold, BB folds.

Hero (covers)...?

$100 seems good with me. I dont think buttons min raising range is something to be afraid of.

This spot would be more of a headache if old guy made a proper 3 bet to like $30 or $40.