Reel Big Fish
First of all I have to give a HUGE congratulations to my buddy Jeff, who found out yesterday that he got into the UW School of Business. I know it doesn't sound that impressive, but the UW School of Business is one of the more competitive business schools to get into in the country.
Also I have to give a huge congratulations to myself and my wonderful significant other, Kelly, on our 4 1/2 year anniversary. You may think its silly to still celebrate 1/2 years after being together for so long, but hey, we've been together for longer than a lot of marriages.
Immediately when I got home last night I began plowing through another casino bonus, this only took me a little over an hour as I was playing $3 hands. Another $100 shot in the arm to my online bankroll.
Last night I played about 2 hours total of 2-tabling .25/.50 and .50/1.00 SHNLHE. I'm happy to say that my results were stellar. After experimenting with this style of play online and live for the last couple of weeks, I think I am about ready to define it. If I plagarize any book/blog while describing it please let me know immediately and I will list them as a source.
The first part is fairly obvious and something I've talked about before. Finding a table with at least two LAGs(loose aggressive gamblers). The other two or three players at the table don't really matter, obviously the more LAGs the better, as these are the players you will be making money off of. Once you find your dream table, its time to set up your table image.
You want to be seen as a tight/weak player, someone these aggressive players think they can run over all day just by putting constant pressure on you. I like to play medium tight for the first two orbits or so. I give off a weak perception by often just checking or checking and calling small bets with TPTK or something like that. Once a LAG sees you check down with TPTK he will immediately think you are a weak, passive player.
At this point I begin limping into a lot of pots, even with premium hands. To win a huge pot, you need deception. Suited connectors, pairs big and small, even offsuited broadway cards have insane implied odds when you've set up your image correctly with the right type of players at your table. The fact that you're limping in with a lot of speculative hands and then immediately folding when bet into on the flop will only increase your image as a very weak and passive player.
Playing in position is also important for this to work well. When you flop a flush draw in position, you can either call a bet from your opponent, or throw out a semi bluff. I like both of these strategies better than checking and seeing the free card, because if your miss the turn when you bet the flop, you can often use your position to see the river for free (I didn't need to read Sklansky to realize this, but he says it better than I could). When you semi-bluff the flop and see the turn for free, your aggressive opponent will often see this as a bluff, and will frequently bet into your on the river no matter what comes out. If you miss the turn and river, its easy to lay down a nothing hand. However, when you hit the river, and are in position, you will usually be paid off in a big way. When I hit my monster straight or flush (or full house of course), I almost always overbet the river for value ala Fuel 55. I am constantly amazed at how often this seemingly obvious play works. It would seem obvious that I am drawing when I semi-bluff and then check. It would also seem obvious that I have hit when I overbet when the river comes a drawing card. These LAG players must use the bluff-the-river-with-a-busted-draw play so often that they think that is what I am doing.
The kick in the junk of this style is that your stack will be whittled down while you are waiting for your monster hands, and you may lose significant pots when your flop a set and trap like there's no tomorrow. But with the huge amount of internet sites, tables, and players available, you don't have to worry much about your style being discovered. Also, with the way people multi table now trying to clear bonuses, they don't have much time to observe every player individually.
The most success I've had with this style is on B2B sites, it seems like European players are just more loose than Americans. If anyone has comments or critiques, I would love to hear them.
trying to reel in the big ones
--Alex
Also I have to give a huge congratulations to myself and my wonderful significant other, Kelly, on our 4 1/2 year anniversary. You may think its silly to still celebrate 1/2 years after being together for so long, but hey, we've been together for longer than a lot of marriages.
Immediately when I got home last night I began plowing through another casino bonus, this only took me a little over an hour as I was playing $3 hands. Another $100 shot in the arm to my online bankroll.
Last night I played about 2 hours total of 2-tabling .25/.50 and .50/1.00 SHNLHE. I'm happy to say that my results were stellar. After experimenting with this style of play online and live for the last couple of weeks, I think I am about ready to define it. If I plagarize any book/blog while describing it please let me know immediately and I will list them as a source.
The first part is fairly obvious and something I've talked about before. Finding a table with at least two LAGs(loose aggressive gamblers). The other two or three players at the table don't really matter, obviously the more LAGs the better, as these are the players you will be making money off of. Once you find your dream table, its time to set up your table image.
You want to be seen as a tight/weak player, someone these aggressive players think they can run over all day just by putting constant pressure on you. I like to play medium tight for the first two orbits or so. I give off a weak perception by often just checking or checking and calling small bets with TPTK or something like that. Once a LAG sees you check down with TPTK he will immediately think you are a weak, passive player.
At this point I begin limping into a lot of pots, even with premium hands. To win a huge pot, you need deception. Suited connectors, pairs big and small, even offsuited broadway cards have insane implied odds when you've set up your image correctly with the right type of players at your table. The fact that you're limping in with a lot of speculative hands and then immediately folding when bet into on the flop will only increase your image as a very weak and passive player.
Playing in position is also important for this to work well. When you flop a flush draw in position, you can either call a bet from your opponent, or throw out a semi bluff. I like both of these strategies better than checking and seeing the free card, because if your miss the turn when you bet the flop, you can often use your position to see the river for free (I didn't need to read Sklansky to realize this, but he says it better than I could). When you semi-bluff the flop and see the turn for free, your aggressive opponent will often see this as a bluff, and will frequently bet into your on the river no matter what comes out. If you miss the turn and river, its easy to lay down a nothing hand. However, when you hit the river, and are in position, you will usually be paid off in a big way. When I hit my monster straight or flush (or full house of course), I almost always overbet the river for value ala Fuel 55. I am constantly amazed at how often this seemingly obvious play works. It would seem obvious that I am drawing when I semi-bluff and then check. It would also seem obvious that I have hit when I overbet when the river comes a drawing card. These LAG players must use the bluff-the-river-with-a-busted-draw play so often that they think that is what I am doing.
The kick in the junk of this style is that your stack will be whittled down while you are waiting for your monster hands, and you may lose significant pots when your flop a set and trap like there's no tomorrow. But with the huge amount of internet sites, tables, and players available, you don't have to worry much about your style being discovered. Also, with the way people multi table now trying to clear bonuses, they don't have much time to observe every player individually.
The most success I've had with this style is on B2B sites, it seems like European players are just more loose than Americans. If anyone has comments or critiques, I would love to hear them.
trying to reel in the big ones
--Alex
posted by Grinditout at 9:08 AM
1 Comments:
Alex,
Looks good. I may give your system a try at the tables and see how well it works out for me.
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