[AlanBostick]

The $15-$30 game at the Oaks Club in Emeryville, California, used to be the tightest game in the Bay Area. Since the poker boom took off, though, it's gotten way, way looser. The game is a mix of total duffers, kids who watch too much TV poker, gamblers (including some smart ones who can play almost any two cards and then play well after the flop), and regular winners.

A characteristic feature of the game these days is that many players cold-call preflop raises with just about any hand that they would limp in with. Players will reraise with their great hands, but much more often they will just trail in after the raiser with mediocre hands -- often with hands with which I personally would hesitate to see a flop for a single bet.

Even the good players in this game, the props, the local pros, the otherwise-tight, solid winners who have been taking money home from the game for years, often cold-call preflop raises.

I rarely cold-call myself. Very infrequently I'll be in late position with a hand like suited KQ or AT with a raise and two callers in front of me. Otherwise, I fold hands I don't feel comfortable three-betting.

In this game, opening with a preflop raise will occasionally win the blinds but much more often get one to three cold-callers, plus the players in the blinds. It is tough to isolate a single limper. Isolating a raiser is rather more likely but by no means guaranteed.

How should I be playing to better exploit this general tendency to cold-call preflop raises? Should I open up my calling standards? What sorts of hands should I be open-raising with? what sorts should I be raising after limpers? Should I be three-betting with more hands or less?

I'm sure I haven't given enough information to get a single "correct" answer. Nevertheless, discussion of pros and cons, what I should be thinking about to get my own answers, etc., would be very helpful to me.