Is there something wrong with the way I play

[K ALL IN 9]

Hey guys just wanted to get some opinions on something thats been going on the past few weeks.

we play tournaments every tuesday and friday. 10$ or 20$ buyins for a 10k freezeout. nothing crazy or serious, just to have a little fun. this is how its been going the last few weeks:

I'll end up getting tied up in a big hand early on and win a nice pot. then the rest of the night i'll start playing ATC: low suited/unsuited gap/connectors, random stuff like J3os, 10-6os, pretty much everything and i'll start hitting a lot of them too; two pair, 3 of a kind, flushes, whatever. I figure since i have a big stack, i can afford to play cards like that and still maintain the chip lead if i have to fold post flop.

The people i play with are new, unpredictable, loose calling stations. They're familiar with the basic poker strategies, but don't take other things into consideration like pot size, stack size, position, odds etc. They rarely raise preflop to try and push out the weaker hands and if they do, it's usually not enough to push anyone out, especially when its 50/100 and you min raise while i'm sitting behind 20k holding 5-7os in the BB.

So one player who is more experienced than the rest gets frustrated because i keep winning pots with these random garbage hands. But if you min raise with AQ and the board is K5K93 and i'm in the BB with 5-7 and goes check-check all the way to the river, what do you expect to happen. Then he goes on to say "this isn't poker" or "i expect that kind of play from these n00bs but not from you".

He's a good friend of everyone else at the table, including me and we don't mind his comments because we all know that he's super competitive in everything he does so we usually just laugh.

I just want to get some opinions from other experienced players and what you think about me playing like this.

[brdway_blu]

Use your image to your advantage in the future. Are you getting called down frequently because your opponents expect you to be holding garbage?

In the long run, playing those types of hands too often will prob cost you money.

[JM]

Originally Posted by brdway_blu

In the long run, playing those types of hands too often will prob cost you money.

^^This, however playing so-called 'garbage' for the right price in the right situation (e.g. in position, vs a nit, free or cheap from the blinds, etc) can be profitable. Being predictable will be more unprofitable though, like the guy who is complaining about you playing garbage probably only plays 'good' hands which makes it easy to put him on a range and either get away from him cheaply or get a lot of chips out of him.

[Mojo1312]

I am reminded of an interview with the legendary Keith Richards 15+ years ago where the host asked him if there was any truth behind his reported $3,000 a week cocaine habit, and if he felt he had a drug problem. Keith replied non-chalantly: "If I was a surgeon or a doctor making $200,000 a year with a $3,000 a week drug habit I would have a problem. For me? No problem."

The doctor at the table doesn't know the rock star is just having some recreational fun with his easy money. But this does pose a problem. Your care free style of play may be hard to shake when your in a higher stakes tournament against a better set of players. Why not cultivate the poker skills of the cadets in your group by opening up a discussion on certain aspects of the game? Your evenings would be more interesting, if not as entertaining.

[BGinGA]

That ^^^ is a great post.

[K ALL IN 9]

i realize in the long run i would lose money, but the way i play depends on my stack size at the moment. i wouldn't play like that if i had a below average stack. i just loosen up if i'm chip leader or have an above average stack.

[cgraham86]

You can play any way you want. What makes a player a bad one is if they can't interpret other payers strategies and styles and adjust their own play accordingly to exploit weaknesses.

As a player you have to have the ability to shift gears. If you choose to raise in early position with T4o and everyone calls, then you hit two pair, manage to win a huge pot and are forced to show how is that bad play? If you take the pot down preflop then fantastic. If someone re-raises you 50% of your stack and you decide to call....that's a different story, and you're most likely playing badly - depending on luck. If you raise, get reraised, fold, and this becomes a pattern then it's time to change strategies. Following the exact same strategy over and over again is a good way to loose, but IF you're playing with players that pay attention and can interpret your way of playing. Here it sounds like you're in a sea of players that don't do that, so do what works.

Your friend expects everyone to play "ABC poker" and wants to play his hands. Therefore my initial strategy would be to not let him. W/o knowing him better I'd guess he hasn't gotten the point yet, and on the surface is probably the bad player in this scenario. I'm guessing if you played these "garbage" hands early in a tournament and no one has bothered to change their opening ranges and not let you do it then you're in a sea of players that really need to consider improving.

Therefore, it doesn't matter what cards you have, and the general rule of you loosing money over time playing like this really doesn't apply like it normally would. I would continue to use your position, your stack size and your ability to change strategies when you need to in order to continue to win. If that's how you're playing then you're not a bad player.

[jbutler16]

Originally Posted by K ALL IN 9

I'll end up getting tied up in a big hand early on and win a nice pot. then the rest of the night i'll start playing ATC: low suited/unsuited gap/connectors, random stuff like J3os, 10-6os, pretty much everything and i'll start hitting a lot of them too; two pair, 3 of a kind, flushes, whatever. I figure since i have a big stack, i can afford to play cards like that and still maintain the chip lead if i have to fold post flop.

The people i play with are new, unpredictable, loose calling stations. They're familiar with the basic poker strategies, but don't take other things into consideration like pot size, stack size, position, odds etc. They rarely raise preflop to try and push out the weaker hands and if they do, it's usually not enough to push anyone out, especially when its 50/100 and you min raise while i'm sitting behind 20k holding 5-7os in the BB.

So one player who is more experienced than the rest gets frustrated because i keep winning pots with these random garbage hands. But if you min raise with AQ and the board is K5K93 and i'm in the BB with 5-7 and goes check-check all the way to the river, what do you expect to happen. Then he goes on to say "this isn't poker" or "i expect that kind of play from these n00bs but not from you".

a few things:

(1) i can't opine at any real length on the quality of your play when you come in with some of the garbage hands you mention (J3o, T6o, etc.) since you don't into more depth on the individual situations, but it is very, very, very unlikely that you are playing them in such a way as to overcome the strength disadvantage if your 57o hand is any indication.

(2) in that hand in particular, you should have bet the turn or the river. if you're going to call a min-raise from the BB with 57o, you absolutely have to make up the value of that losing call by getting your opponent to call a bet in this rare circumstance where you fall into the best hand.

(3) no one should "raise preflop to try and push out weaker hands". you should raise preflop for value to get weaker hands to call and pay you for your premium hand or with the intention of c-betting to take it down or otherwise outmaneuver the caller post-flop.

(4) consider this: had you known that your opponent had AQ, would you have called with 57o? you are at a mathematical and positional disadvantage and therefore should not. if, knowing your opponent's hand, you would call simply because you have a lot of chips (notwithstanding the fact that effective stacks are much smaller if you are chip leader), that's fine, but you should recognize that you're straight up gambling and not playing a solid game.

i think you have to decide whether you're trying to play a solid game or if you're trying to simply have fun and gamble. the answer to that question will dictate the answer to the question you ask in the subject.