40BB home game - general strategies

[z28dreams]

So,

At a local home game, there is a retarded structure where it's .25/50 blinds, and $20 buyin to start. (40BB's). Game is typically 6-7 players. Yes, this is retarded, but, NO, it's not gonna change anytime soon.

The good news is that about an hour or two into the night, pretty much everyone has rebought or doubled up, and we all end up close to 100BB stacks.

That said,

What strategies do you employ for 40BB situations? I'm mostly interested in knowing when you can actually fold a hand?

I pretty much won't ever lay down an overpair anymore on a reasonable board. What about TPTK vs. a nitty player?

Note that i've included a LOT of minraise examples because, well, that's how people at this table play.


Here are some examples. Assume your typical bad player, something like 40/10/1.Also, how about a fairly weak-tight player - maybe 20/10/1 in real life

You have AQ:
(1) Flop comes A98 rainbow. You lead, he minraises
(2) Flop comes A63, 2 suited, you lead, he minraises
(3) Flop comes Q72 2 suited, you lead, he pushes

You have AJ:
(4) Flop comes J63 rainbow, you lead, he minraises

It's difficult because calling the minraise almost commits us anyway ( raise to $2 preflop, get one caller. Pot is $4, if I bet $3 on pot and he raises to $6, pot is now $16 if I call and I have $17 behind )

How about general standards for playing pocket pairs and suited connectors? Call a lot less?

[EMc]

I play a 50bb game. Its not that bad. Not too long ago party and others were 50 bb.

Anyway, I find that these games are on the passive size, and bet sizing isnt necessarly proptional to pot size. A 5 dollar bet is considered big, even if the pot is 20+

I find that for the most part, you should be willing to go to the felt with overpairs, TPTK. You should be raisng standard raises. The lack of BB doesnt allow too many early moves, but look for situations with good implied odds.

All 4 of the examples, I raise. In the first and last one, you can c/r AI on the turn if you want. On the rest I raise and get it in on the turn.

[Antinome]

If your short buyin low limit home games are anything like my short buyin low limit home games, TPGK is the nuts.

With a short buyin, I look to make these sorts of TPGK hands, and ride them to the river.

Medium pocket pairs are OK, as long as you can limit it to one caller.

You're implied odds are terrible- so unless the pot is very multiway stay away from SCs and low PPs.

[udbrky]

I play a (edit:) 20bb 20bb home game sometimes with friends. It's pretty read-dependent how I play.

There's a lot of re-buys early on in my game. Later, there's some monster pots. If you've got a stack built up, you can make some good money. I think how you play depends on how your opponents are playing. But when you hit a good + hand, I'd go to the felt with it.

[jakeduke]

If your home game is anything like my 50BB home game, I'd do whatever I could to get AI on all four of those flops. Remember, with people who don't know much about poker, they could easily be minraising with 2nd pair or TPNK to "see where they're at" or something. For a 40 BB stack I'm pretty well committing myself with any TPGK hand.

As far as playing in general, play big cards and big pairs. Forget your standard implied odds hands until the game gets deeper.

[z28dreams]

So,

Say I'm in middle-late position with pocket 55's.

An early player who is quite laggy raises to $2.

I fold ???

Doesn't feel right......

Do you raise these hands if limped to when you know you'll get 2-3 calls?

[crookdimwit]

Until a while back, my home game had almost that exact structure (until I realized that 40BB was terrible and forcing me to spend half the night handling re-buys)...

Anyway, as general tactic I found in that game was to be aggressive with overpairs and TPTK -- you can't afford to let the loose players get draws cheap. A lot of players in my game at this level love to play any two suited or connected cards and will call down small bets with a lot of optimism...

AQ or AK can be a monster with most of the hands you described, since players at this type of game often fall in love with any ace...

Suited connectors can be tricky here, unless you his a perfect flop, so I stay clear of them unless I can play them in LP or cheaply. Small/medium pocket pairs, on the other hand, are gold, IMO. If you can see a flop relatively cheap, a set will almost always stack someone who's got a big ace, and overpair, or two pair. If you miss, it's easy to get away from the hand.

Side-note: DC Metro .25/.50 game? Do I know you?

[udbrky]

I'd call with it in both situations. It depends with the EP LAG raise on stack size and how he plays post-flop. But if you've doubled up, I'd definitely call. I think the key is in accumulating and having more chips to play with vs. everyone else.

[Shaddux]

I've been playing in home games with the exact same structures as yours.
TPGK is the nuts usually.

In all 4 of your examples, I'm trying to get AI.

I don't play low suited-connectors or one-gappers in these games. Pocket pairs still have a lot of value IMO.

Also, while I don't get excited about hands like AJ and KQ when I play online, these hands are monsters when they hit in these 40BB games.

[z28dreams]

[ QUOTE ]
Until a while back, my home game had almost that exact structure (until I realized that 40BB was terrible and forcing me to spend half the night handling re-buys)...

Anyway, as general tactic I found in that game was to be aggressive with overpairs and TPTK -- you can't afford to let the loose players get draws cheap. A lot of players in my game at this level love to play any two suited or connected cards and will call down small bets with a lot of optimism...

AQ or AK can be a monster with most of the hands you described, since players at this type of game often fall in love with any ace...

Suited connectors can be tricky here, unless you his a perfect flop, so I stay clear of them unless I can play them in LP or cheaply. Small/medium pocket pairs, on the other hand, are gold, IMO. If you can see a flop relatively cheap, a set will almost always stack someone who's got a big ace, and overpair, or two pair. If you miss, it's easy to get away from the hand.

Side-note: DC Metro .25/.50 game? Do I know you?

[/ QUOTE ]

I hope no 2p2'ers at my home game /images/graemlins/smile.gif We've hosted in Alexandria for the last year or so....

If you want in let me know. There may even be a home game tonight.

[bilbo-san]

[ QUOTE ]
So,

Say I'm in middle-late position with pocket 55's.

An early player who is quite laggy raises to $2.

I fold ???

Doesn't feel right......

Do you raise these hands if limped to when you know you'll get 2-3 calls?

[/ QUOTE ]

No, no, no, no. Call, assuming he has a full buyin. Because:

1) Your implied odds are far greater than in an online game where players are a little smarter.
2) Many players behind you will over-call, increasing your immediate odds (thus lowering the implied odds you need).

[orange]

Probably have heard this before:

Go to the felt with TPTK. Don't pay as much attention to drawing hands such as scs and pps. Also, straightfoward TAG poker works, making moves like raising 67s in the CO after 2 limpers is spewage generally. Live players are all stations.

AQ:
1)push
2)push
3)push

AJ:
1)push

Remember to just tighten up. Raising pps live is generally spewage when your playing with 40bbs, and you have nearly 0 fold equity. Limp along after a few limpers with other such hands and play position. Target the donkeys and try to isolate.

[crookdimwit]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Side-note: DC Metro .25/.50 game? Do I know you?

[/ QUOTE ]

I hope no 2p2'ers at my home game /images/graemlins/smile.gif We've hosted in Alexandria for the last year or so....

If you want in let me know. There may even be a home game tonight.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thx... For a second, when I first read this post, I was thinking, oh, sh*t... I've had a covert 2+2'er with 1400+ posts at my Thursday night game all this time? Coulda fooled me... My game is in the city, near Logan Circle...