Animal Crackers

Not in my soup; at my tables. If Captain Spaulding showed up, he’d be the sane one.There is always talk about sites being more or less aggressive/lucrative/fishy/sharky/whatever. I may be slow but I’ve never been able to fully support that. Yes, Full Tilt seems more volatile; but, that my view and others will disagree. As soon as you try to pigeonhole a site, you sit at a table that 180 degrees from your prejudice.

That said, the tenor at PokerStars has changed. There are more people betting or raising on every street and showing down queen high or such. There are more folks raising and even capping with what is generously describe as a long shot drawing hand. As my levels rose, I’d see ‘better’ play going up. But, levels don’t translate as much. I sat at a 1-2 table over the weekend and it could have been a .04-.08 table.

Some days I don’t hang around. I came for what resembles peace and quiet. But, most times I salivate a bit. What’s not to like when there are a couple of idiots willing to do your heavy lifting for you. When you work it right the risk:reward actually moves more toward your favor. Played right, your downside is controlled while the upside rises above the norm.

The drawouts do increase. You need to be able to rationalize about your opponents. On the days my temper starts percolating, I get out of Dodge. Your sense of humor need to be spot on for things to work. The idea is to hopefully minimize those drawouts and optimize yours.

There is a counter intuitive bit here. You operate late and let the others disclose or represent. JB chided me early on for slow playing big pockets. When you hit an aggressive table, you have to do it. You’ve got 5-6 players constantly limping. If you complete and then bet 4^th you’ll seldom eliminate players. What you’ve now created is the situation where pot odds give most of those folks — ok, maybe half legit — the reason/right to stay to the bitter end.

You sacrifice the early power because you’re surrounded by Doubting Thomas and his brothers. Some around here think the ‘donks’ are so dumb they don’t know they have a weak hand. My thought is they think your honest representation is a crock and that they have better odds than they actually do. When their two outer hits it is only justice and they’re ready to rock and roll more. It isn’t stupidity as much as unfounded (until the river) optimism.

At times, they cap early rounds and then turn into where they all check. I don’t like playing those hands with so-so draws or cards. I may get had from being there in early position and bracketed by raisers but when it is in front of me, I can lay down some fair potential. That may be wrong in some books but the play changes the risk:reward away from where I want it. So, I get more selective on those plays. At least when I’m working my better game plan.

Aggression coupled to a lot calling is tailor made for peddling solid hands with passive play. It is the time when passive isn’t a dirty word. It is working risk:reward. You raise to eliminate and disclose in the process. If the raise doesn’t eliminate, you’ve told the world and usually given them the pot odds to continue their ways.

There are hands that you don’t slow play. When you’re rolled up with small sets, you can’t slow play those. You need to get some players out. Big sets I’ll often pop from position. Doubting Thomas and a bunch of limpers make that a play that usually gets all calling. You can even check the next street. You are trying to be the unpredictable player on a table that’s highly predictable.

Many love to bluff. Early that works quiet well on me. I’m often the only one folding to a 4^th street bet. The thing about aggressive tables is maintaining the risk:reward. That can translate to losing less so that the wins mean more.

This isn’t traditional play. JB plays high enough to make tradition work. Glenda almost does but not quite. 3-6 isn’t 10-20. I think she’s ignoring an important idea. You want 7 other Stud8 players when you are peddling your A23 suited starting hands. If it turns into the brickworks from there on, you’ve saved a bunch. If it makes itself an AK-flush on 5^th and the wheel on 6^th, you’ll love that pile of souls still in the hand. Maybe you can raise but often somebody else is almost there and betting for you and you’ll hope you’ve late position on 6^th to get active or happily wait until 7^th to pop it.

We just came out of a weekend and that’s the penultimate time to get risk:reward on your side. Its hard to change your game to accommodate the table but it is a step up when you do.

When you’ve opponents that don’t understand pot odds, don’t create pot odds that provide them with the right potential.

ADDENDUM:

I think most have had their shot for or against Harrahs changes to the WSOP. Some like it and some hate it. What we can’t avoid it that is is a fait accompli. Seeing that Harrahs has a long history of doing things that damage the game while improving their bottom line, I doubt we be getting any mea culpa shouts from their board room. Hey, check it out! French and Latin. I’ve sold out to the Yuppies.

I like Kenna James comments a bunch. Among the other pros, Doyle hates it and Daniel (who Kenna addresses) is happy with it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 11:11 am and is filed under Journal, Poker Thoughts. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.