The Setup
Living in Columbia, MO, I live 2 hours from the closest casino with a poker room so I don't get to play live 1/2 or 1/3 NLHE as often as I'd like. I recently accompanied my wife on a conference to St. Louis and thought I'd play during the day while she was at her meeting and use it as a great way to get "warmed up" for our upcoming trip to Vegas in late May.
I've been working on my live game strategy while playing in some local home games, especially improving on categorizing my opponent's "player type" so I can understand their strategies when in the hand (i.e. TAG, LAG, OMC, NIT, Reg, Rec, Whale, Calling Station, Maniac, etc.). I've been also working on hand-ranging my opponent, and assessing and knowing when to try and realize my equity (or fold) on each street.
I realize that early afternoon on a weekday is not the ideal time to find a soft game at the casino, but that's what I had to work with, so keeping that in mind, let's dive in.
The Game
Hollywood Casino St. Louis, 3:30 pm, Monday 4/27
New table of $1/$2 NLHE, 9-handed
Max buy-in $300
The entire table is composed of OMC's (Google it if you don't know) and late middle aged/semi-retired men who seem to be local Regs
We're 1.5 hours into play at this table so I've got a pretty good feel for all of them
The Players
Villain is ~55-60 years old (like me) and has been pretty chatty. Seems to use poker as a socialization event. Likes to win but doesn't sulk when he loses.
Villain typically plays a tighter range but not afraid to mix it up multiway.... let's call him a "solid" but still unbalanced and profitable OMC/Reg with moderate aggression. Lost $150 in a 3-way all-in 1 hour ago (that did NOT include our Hero) when his QQ ran into KK and AK (AK hit the A on the turn to win it) and laughed it off, but keeps bringing it back up in conversation.
Hero is 61 and is a solid Rec who only gets to play live poker in a casino a few times a year (and once a year in Vegas) and plays an exploitation strategy vs. opponents. Aggressive when appropriate, passive at other times, willing to bluff slightly more than typical at these low stakes if the story and opponent makes sense, but tends to over-fold vs. push back from most OMCs (who always have HUGE hands if in the pot) and large River bets (which are rarely bluffed at these stakes).
The Hand, and The Play
Effective stack is $315 (Hero); Villain covers me by $50
PREFLOP
UTG, UTG+1, UTG+2 all limp for $2
LJ (Villain) raises to $25 (standard open is $10)
HJ & CO fold
BTN (Hero) looks down at
, considers for 10 seconds and elects to call*
SB, BB, and all limpers fold
2 to the flop, Hero has position
Pot = $59
SPR = ~5+
*When in-position I tend to 3-bet (~2.5x the last bet amount + dead money) in an attempt to isolate the raiser with my hands that have good equity vs. early opens. This is mainly QQ+, AK, and good suited combo draws that can make Broadway straights or flushes. If I don't take it down pre-flop I'll at least feel good heading to the flop and go from there, even when multiway. Yes, this is unbalanced (purposefully so) as I have no bluffs here, but at these stakes I've found that opponents assume that I have bluffs in my range here because they've caught me bluffing at a higher rate than the rest of the table in other (but smaller) pots.
However, given my stack size at this table and against these super-tight players, I didn't want to 3-bet to $75 into an already bloated pot and be pot-committed before the flop if called by the Villain. The pot would have been ~$160, leaving me with an SPR of only 1.5 and I didn't want to 3-bet / fold if 4-bet. In my mind, there's no doubt that I'm behind here but wanted to realize my flop equity and implied value if I hit, so I elected to call and re-evaluate on the flop instead, anticipating the rest of the table would fold and we'd go heads up. Success.
Villain’s range = uncapped but tight: 99+, KT+. I didn't see him doing this with anything weaker (i.e. QJs) from what I'd seen in the last 90 mins of playing together... yes, these guys are that tight and he's the "loosest" of the bunch!
I discounted any of the above hands with a J or T in them as I've got those cards in my hand, so it's less likely (but not impossible) for him to have those.
Hero's play so far?
Agree? Disagree?
Would you play this differently?
Living in Columbia, MO, I live 2 hours from the closest casino with a poker room so I don't get to play live 1/2 or 1/3 NLHE as often as I'd like. I recently accompanied my wife on a conference to St. Louis and thought I'd play during the day while she was at her meeting and use it as a great way to get "warmed up" for our upcoming trip to Vegas in late May.
I've been working on my live game strategy while playing in some local home games, especially improving on categorizing my opponent's "player type" so I can understand their strategies when in the hand (i.e. TAG, LAG, OMC, NIT, Reg, Rec, Whale, Calling Station, Maniac, etc.). I've been also working on hand-ranging my opponent, and assessing and knowing when to try and realize my equity (or fold) on each street.
I realize that early afternoon on a weekday is not the ideal time to find a soft game at the casino, but that's what I had to work with, so keeping that in mind, let's dive in.
The Game
Hollywood Casino St. Louis, 3:30 pm, Monday 4/27
New table of $1/$2 NLHE, 9-handed
Max buy-in $300
The entire table is composed of OMC's (Google it if you don't know) and late middle aged/semi-retired men who seem to be local Regs
We're 1.5 hours into play at this table so I've got a pretty good feel for all of them
The Players
Villain is ~55-60 years old (like me) and has been pretty chatty. Seems to use poker as a socialization event. Likes to win but doesn't sulk when he loses.
Villain typically plays a tighter range but not afraid to mix it up multiway.... let's call him a "solid" but still unbalanced and profitable OMC/Reg with moderate aggression. Lost $150 in a 3-way all-in 1 hour ago (that did NOT include our Hero) when his QQ ran into KK and AK (AK hit the A on the turn to win it) and laughed it off, but keeps bringing it back up in conversation.
Hero is 61 and is a solid Rec who only gets to play live poker in a casino a few times a year (and once a year in Vegas) and plays an exploitation strategy vs. opponents. Aggressive when appropriate, passive at other times, willing to bluff slightly more than typical at these low stakes if the story and opponent makes sense, but tends to over-fold vs. push back from most OMCs (who always have HUGE hands if in the pot) and large River bets (which are rarely bluffed at these stakes).
The Hand, and The Play
Effective stack is $315 (Hero); Villain covers me by $50
PREFLOP
UTG, UTG+1, UTG+2 all limp for $2
LJ (Villain) raises to $25 (standard open is $10)
HJ & CO fold
BTN (Hero) looks down at
, considers for 10 seconds and elects to call*SB, BB, and all limpers fold
2 to the flop, Hero has position
Pot = $59
SPR = ~5+
*When in-position I tend to 3-bet (~2.5x the last bet amount + dead money) in an attempt to isolate the raiser with my hands that have good equity vs. early opens. This is mainly QQ+, AK, and good suited combo draws that can make Broadway straights or flushes. If I don't take it down pre-flop I'll at least feel good heading to the flop and go from there, even when multiway. Yes, this is unbalanced (purposefully so) as I have no bluffs here, but at these stakes I've found that opponents assume that I have bluffs in my range here because they've caught me bluffing at a higher rate than the rest of the table in other (but smaller) pots.
However, given my stack size at this table and against these super-tight players, I didn't want to 3-bet to $75 into an already bloated pot and be pot-committed before the flop if called by the Villain. The pot would have been ~$160, leaving me with an SPR of only 1.5 and I didn't want to 3-bet / fold if 4-bet. In my mind, there's no doubt that I'm behind here but wanted to realize my flop equity and implied value if I hit, so I elected to call and re-evaluate on the flop instead, anticipating the rest of the table would fold and we'd go heads up. Success.
Villain’s range = uncapped but tight: 99+, KT+. I didn't see him doing this with anything weaker (i.e. QJs) from what I'd seen in the last 90 mins of playing together... yes, these guys are that tight and he's the "loosest" of the bunch!
I discounted any of the above hands with a J or T in them as I've got those cards in my hand, so it's less likely (but not impossible) for him to have those.
Hero's play so far?
Agree? Disagree?
Would you play this differently?
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on the flop. Boom, smashed it.
.
