[noelsarchs]

All I can say is that maybe some of these players have little regard for money, so they call hoping to hit big....To some like me, calling a preflop all in of that much money is more than my heart could stand.

I watched a $30/$60 game online the other day and saw bets or calls that I would fold in a 02/04 game!

[MetalSlug3]

Originally Posted by BrettButter

The game that you are referring to is exactly the type of game that's at my house when I can get people together. Most of my friends who play poker are juniors/seniors in high school, so you can throw them playing by the book out the window.

The worst thing you can do is try to bluff someone off of a huge pot. While you can probably get a good player off of top pair good/top kicker, these people will NEVER fold top pair. Never. There could be a four flush and two more overcards on the turn and river, they won't fold.

Try to play small pots with bad hands, and play big pots with monsters. Roll the dice and take a chance that your big hand will stand up. If you can't sit around and wait, try limping in with suited connectors, small-mid connectors to try and hit. Limping with any kind of mid-high King or Ace will probably get you buried, since these players like to play any high card with ANY other card. They'll hit two pair more often then you want to believe with things like K-6 or A-3.

Also beware of draws. If you're in a situation where you know they're on a draw, put your money in. If you're the favorite, the odds will catch up. You'll win more big pots in the long run against idiots drawing to flushes and open-ended straight draws with no pot odds. They like draws, because they're pretty.

I'm not a master poker player by any means, but this is how I play in my games (smaller stakes, but the same kind of players) and I usually end up about 40-50 big blinds up. Good luck!

Excellent advice, Brett. Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Toothpic]

When playing with some of my other buddies, I play one of two ways.
I either play really tight and wait for big hands, or I call a lot of bets to see a flop with marginal connected hands (suited connecters are golden).

One thing I don't do as much is put all my money in to stop a draw after the flop. Sometimes I'll bet hard with a great hand, but won't push until after the turn if I think they are drawing for a straight or flush. I'll bet the flop for about 50-70% of the pot, just to make it more expensive for when they don't hit, but I want to reduce their chances of winning by reducing their cards to draw.

Some of they are too willing to put it in on a draw, and some of them are bound to eventually hit. I want to give myself room to fold if they come alive on board that has obvious draws.

[99%evil]

I agree with Jojo's philosophy. I played in a loose game where people over valued high pair and didn't pay attention to flushes and straights. I busted two guys out with hands that they were extremely upset I called with. It was a .50/1 game and there were a bunch of limped pots, I was in the big blind for $1 with 3d,7d and the guy to my left raised to $3, everyone folded to me and I called looking for a straight or flush draw, I would have walked away from any raise if I didn't catch. Well the flop came 2,7,3 rainbow. I had top two pair and popped it $5, he went all in for about $20 more, I called, figuring it was only $20 and didn't think he'd make that move with a set. I called and he showed A,7os...and he was upset I called a raise...he raised UTG with A,7 and is upset with me? Later I bust out his buddy, I'm in a blind again(have about $70 in chips) with 3s,4s and UTG +1(about $45 in chips) bumps it to $3...well one caller and I call. Flop comes 2s,5c,Qs. I pop $5 into the pot hoping to freeze him from making a big bet, with an open ended draw and a flush draw (albeit a weak one, but no one was playing flushes). He calls and the other guy folds, turn brings a 6h giving me the nuts. I check hoping to incite a bet, he bets $10 which I flat call. River brings an 8c...I bet $15 and he goes all-in. I in no way put him on the better straights 7,9 or 5,7 and call his all in. He has K,K and says he could never put me on those little cards. Table was as easy to read as "See **** and Jane". The guy at the end would bet when he caught and call his draws and check/fold his missed hands. The old guy to my right called everything...everything, with nothing.

[Quads]

Leave "Bluffing" at home.

Leave "TPS" (Tricky Play Syndrome) at home as well. As neither of them will help you in this game.

Bring Trapping along with you to the game, but only pull it out and use it once in a while.

Tighten up your game, and starting hands. Those which you do play, play aggressively. Very aggressively. Rarely check. Never give these type players a free card. They will catch up.

At those stakes, you have to just about show the nuts every hand.

No bluff or over-bet of the pot is going to blow anyone off their hands. So, play the game straight up. Cards only. You can't read or put any value in trying to play off reads and the psychology of poker with people who are reckless at low / mico limits.

[Zentish]

I have sort of similar issues with my Friday night gang. We play $.25/$.50 $10 buy-in (rebuys are ok) with a $6 per player per hand limit - that is once you put $6 total in the pot (or all your remaining chips out) you're "all in". This keeps the games friendly and limits both the loss and the win. It is hard to bluff (but it can be done). You want action and you want the nuts to get that big pot.

The players are really mixed, some are way loose, some are tight, most are somewhat passive, and one guy's is just crazy, crazy and lucky. Often, he wins some big hands early and gets a big pile of chips, but as the evening wears on he fritters them away and ends up sitting out towards the end of the night with no chips in front of him.

I can't say I've cracked that style game yet, but at least I've learned to survive there because I find myself walking away even money almost every week.

Last Friday I flopped 2 pair after limping in on the button, only to find that crazy guy had trips from his pocket pair. He plays so crazy you just never know what he's on about, he'll bet hard on pocket 2's regardless of the board! I didn't mind, and played smart the rest of the evening to make my stake back.

Now I've got to figure out what I need to do to come out more ahead and not just even most nights.

THANKS, great advice here!

[on tilt]

I have exactly the same problem in my home cash game, and am now pretty good at making money.

I agree with Brettbutter and JoJo and many others.

I rarely bluff. I might have a small stab at a pot everyone is cheking if I am in position. The only other time I will bluff is if I have isolated one of the other good players. I never try to bluff the calling stations. Definitely a case of pick your player.

We used to play a 10 cent / 20 cent game with a $20 buyin. The stakes were too low for a decent game as everyone (myself included) was in almost every hand. We now play 25 cent/50 cent with a $50 buyin which has improved things. It makes me more likely to bring my A game.

I also rarely raise preflop because I will usually get 4 or so callers, with paint + crap who will stay in and usually jag 2 pair. If I raise preflop it is usually about 10 x the BB as this is the only sort of raise which is effective.

I also play a lot tighter than I normally would, although if at all possible will limp in with small pockets or suited connectors and hope to get a good flop. If I think I have the best of it after the flop and I put someone on a draw I usually push hard as well. Although it doesn't seem like it the odds do even out and while I lose a few hands, generally win more than I lose.

Just play your best game and don't get disillusioned if you cop bad beats.

[PFunk]

I'll have to go back and read the reply's to check others advice, but my initial advice from reading the first post is to limp in alot of pots, unless you have a monster starting hand to which you should raise 3-4x the blind as ur standard raise, and stick with it for the most part.

Play extremely tight, but of course mix it up in choice spots and see lots of cheap flops (try to) and outplay your opponent on the flop, and extract chips if you hit it big by playing smarter....if you dont, fold to raises...you can't bluff these types of players as they make mistakes by calling when they shouldnt, not folding when they shouldnt.

If your'e not hitting hands in these types of games and your timing is off, from the sounds of it, you'll probably be lucky/happy to get out of there with even money, and just sit back and play a patient game if you dont want to lose money and pick a spot to grab some pots.

Once you get chips, I'd personally tighten up and try to maintain them, not try and bully the table playing table captain, only picking good spots to play pots when you have a hand...stick with your reads, and make your opponents pay for draws.

Pretty standard advice I guess, but just my .02

[Dissolved]

we used to play .25/.50 20buyin. but they wanted .50/1.00 you can buyin for more then 20. but thats what everyone else did. its usualy a friendly game, but that night every pot got rasied preflop. and 90% of the time the rasier had crap hands.

[deuces empty]

Living in Vegas, I can tell you that most of the $1-2NL games out here play very similair to the game. I think the best you can do is play extremely tight, with the occasional "Oops you called my obvious bluff" move so you don't look tight. Other than that, you just have to pray you catch a bigger monster than the fish you're playing with.