Tough Canterbury 4/8 session... review some hands

[bapazian]

Man just had one of the coldest live sessions ive ever had. Sat down at 9pm and played till 12:30. I lost 300 and won only one hand during the time and it was just top pair pulling through on the turn in an unraised pot. I also managed to lose probably about 5-6 hands at showdown. SO heres some hands!

Very very loose passive table. There is one LAG and one strong post flop player at the table but most of the others are just straight fish.

I'm in BB with A4 sooooted and there are 5 limpers sb completes I check
(7sbs)

Flop 4d 4c 10c

I bet 2 calls 1 raise... folds sb who cold calls 2 and I reraise.. field calls

Turn

(11bbs

Another club hits completing the flush... SB bets out
SB is an older lady so I was thinking she was probably a nit but I just got at the table so no read.

Hero has AQos in BB... there are 4 people in including the sb and the hero raises the field.

Flop A 10 8 rainbow
SB checks I bet 1 call.. folds... SB raises... hero??????

SB is a decent player post flop who is up a lot in the session. This is about 2.5 hours in so he knows how tight ive been playing so his raise worries me. He doesn't raise a whole lot pf but ive seen him do it with as low as A10os I've also seen him overplay hands even when he knows he's beat ie call 10 10 down to river when its obvious hes beat.

Gotta catch a flight back home, more hands later maybe.

[PorkchopDJG]

Hey,
Tough session.
I've played Canterbury 4/8 for years and it can be very loose and crazy. My first suggestion would be to move up to 6/12 because it's a better tighter game but if you can't do that you need to adjust your game.
Big pairs won't hold up as much and some tables there it's almost useless to raise preflop unless you have KK or AA because you will get 4 cold callers behind you regardless. I would limp more with pocket pairs and suited connectors and hope to hit the flop big and then Value Bet.
In most of those LAG 4/8 games bluffing, semi-bluffing and slowplaying are not recommended.

[TommyO]

Porkchop,

Just curious why you think the 6/12 is better if it's tighter. Don't you want a loose game?

[Befolder]

[ QUOTE ]
Hey,
Tough session.
I've played Canterbury 4/8 for years and it can be very loose and crazy. My first suggestion would be to move up to 6/12 because it's a better tighter game but if you can't do that you need to adjust your game.
Big pairs won't hold up as much and some tables there it's almost useless to raise preflop unless you have KK or AA because you will get 4 cold callers behind you regardless. I would limp more with pocket pairs and suited connectors and hope to hit the flop big and then Value Bet.
In most of those LAG 4/8 games bluffing, semi-bluffing and slowplaying are not recommended.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'd rather play in the worse 4/8 game than go up to a tighter game even if my raises are going to be respected more.

Playing in loose games is a skill that needs to be learned as they are certainly the norm live. It's higher variance, but very big reward when things work out.

[PorkchopDJG]

I have played both the 4/8 and 6/12 and I am an overall winner at both but I just like the 6/12 better.
I guess I wouldn't say it's super tight just tighter than the 4/8. I like when my big pairs hold up more and when I raise with AK and a K hits I'm pretty sure I will win the hand.
Neither of these are true in the 4/8 game.

[MitchL]

Forget everything you have learned about poker and relearn it from someone who doesnt believe that success in poker is correlated to the amount of pots you win rather than the amount of money you win.

[TommyO]

In these loose games I rarely raise unsuited aces if there's already a few limpers. It pretty much takes two pair or better to win so you might as well see the flop as cheaply as possible.

[CharlieHustle]

I feel your pain. Yesterday (12/19), I made a rare appearance at a casino to play 3/6 Kill. I lost $150 and I lost my last five hands. Someone called my three bet with 33 to land a set against my AKo and i got beat by a rivered straight.

One thing I learned is that it is important to scan the other players cards when they go to a showdown. I figured that on a table of nine, seven were fish. Correct me if im wrong, but I had to disrespect these fish's raises and cold call them with something like KJ from middle position since they are known to play 78o. From my understanding of the situation I believed I had to open up preflop since the EV of KJ beats their calls and raises most of the time. I hope this helps. Please let me know if this reasoning is incorrect.

[TommyO]

ChipHustle,

If you disrespect their raises, you should be re-raising not cold calling. If they are raising with 78o you want to get it heads-up if possible where your KJ is a huge favorite. Your equity drops dramatically with every player you let in by cold calling. However, if there are a few limpers in front of you I would limp in with KJo but probably raise KJs.

0.02

[Hielko]

Even if you disrespect their raises you should be folding KJo against a raise (3-betting is not going to get it HU).