need help to beat my home game

awakuni · #1 06-30-2007, 01:29 PM

i've been playing in the same home game for about two to three years, a .25-.50 nl game. it's a really loose game fluctuating between aggressive and passive. for whatever reasons i just can't seem to beat it though. a good night is a $70-$80 cash out, but lately it's just been $4 here and maybe $9 there or worse, i go home down. i've been getting frustrated with my inability to crack the game and was wondering if anybody has any general tips about general home game strategy.

Rottersod · #2 06-30-2007, 10:28 PM

Is it just me or does OP's idea of a "good night" sound more like a huge night for a .25/.50 game? And his $4-$9 sounds like an average night? I'm just extrapolating from the stakes I play at.

btmagnetw · #3 07-01-2007, 02:13 AM

raise with suited connectors more. you're welcome.

Etaipo · #4 07-01-2007, 05:16 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Is it just me or does OP's idea of a "good night" sound more like a huge night for a .25/.50 game? And his $4-$9 sounds like an average night? I'm just extrapolating from the stakes I play at.

[/ QUOTE ]

not really, no.

we play .25/.50

a "good night" is $100 in profit.

a "really good night" is 200+, and more often than not, someone has a really good night. granted, we usually play 6-8 hours.

+200 is only being up four buyins.

Rottersod · #5 07-01-2007, 06:11 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Is it just me or does OP's idea of a "good night" sound more like a huge night for a .25/.50 game? And his $4-$9 sounds like an average night? I'm just extrapolating from the stakes I play at.

[/ QUOTE ]

not really, no.

we play .25/.50

a "good night" is $100 in profit.

a "really good night" is 200+, and more often than not, someone has a really good night. granted, we usually play 6-8 hours.

+200 is only being up four buyins.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why are you assuming their buyin is the same as yours? Maybe it's $25?(btw, your avatar is making me nauseous).

PantsOnFire · #6 07-01-2007, 03:42 PM

Wow, there is simply no way to answer your question without more details on the game.

awakuni · #7 07-01-2007, 07:12 PM

here are the basics: its usually a full table with 3 or 4 loose passive, 3 or 4 tight aggressive and 2 or 3 loose aggressive. players generally make basic mistakes: call draws without the right price, stack off their chips with one pair, play mediocre hands out of position (those are just the ones off the top of my head) oh, and they also drink a lot.

there is not a lot of flop play, everything seems to be determined pre-flop. and generally if somebody hits a part of the flop they will continue to stay in the hand unless the betting is huge.

i understand that poker is a situational game and a lot of things are read-based but lately i've just become frustrated with my inability to capitalize on other people's mistakes. i'm just looking for some ideas, or maybe a mindset to help me.

pfapfap · #8 07-01-2007, 10:20 PM

For the maniacs who bully, call down with a big pair, or possibly even ace high.

For the calling stations, bet more.

For the rocks, bet more.

Push small advantages, make people wonder where they stand with you. Be prepared to buy in a few times early in the night, but switch gears and protect your stack later in the night.

There's no magic formula for beating these games. I've been developing my skills and style over the past several years, and I've been successful with many different approaches in my regular game. I'm finding the most success these days by taking all of those different approaches and applying where necessary based on the situation.

Astyanax · #9 07-02-2007, 02:35 PM

Awakuni, I can give you some advice as I was in the same situation.

I played at uni in a 5p 10p Nl game where the common buy-in was £10 but some would buy-in for £15 and I always bought in for £20.
I used to dominate my £5 and £10 tournies but for some reason kept finishing down in the cash games. I felt so [censored] that I asked a friend who I consider equal to me what I was doing wrong.

He told me that you have to break down each player and act according to their respected abilty or lack thereof. You have to break them down thoroughly - it is no use saying they are terrible. One may not release top pair, while the other is bluffable. These 'reads' are especially relevant in live play as each hand is a greater percentage of total hands play than online.

It is no use 'reading their soul', a lesson I learnt when I tried to bluff a terrible player off A9 on an Ace-high 4 straighting/3 flushing board! Read the player, read the hand and read the situation. Stay away from hero calls and sexy poker.

I started to adhere to a few rules

Overbetting massively with the nuts or close to against players who cannot fold top pair or believe 'you are capabale of making moves' and have expressed even a modicum of strength. To beat these games it is not about extracting the optimum value from every hand...it is about gathering huge pots when they are drawing dead i.e. on the river....

Seeing a ton of flops and a lot of turns and rivers and making cheeky value bets to keep me ticking over but as abaove they are not imperative at these stakes

Reduce potential coolers (on flops) by keeping the pot low when infomation on a particular player is unknown. For instance I just called a re-raise with position with qq. The flop was 789 two clubs. I then just called the flop cont bet. I then got it in on the safest turn the 7 hearts which counterfeited his two pair if he had 98 or improved his 1010/jj which I now worked out he had. The optimum play must be to get it all in on the turn as there are so many cards that a) kill my action and b) let him overtake me.

I feel that buying in deep allows me time to find out exactly where I am at the table and even project a certain image that I wish to play with for that session.

One last thing. Do not slow play AA KK. I have a proud record that for as long as I can remember in live play I have never lost money with aa when I am behind. I get it all in by raising huge and reraising if applicable and if they fold am happy to scoop the blinds.

I have some pointers and will let you know when I think of them.
If you read carefully some of these points are even contradictory but they are what you need to beat the small home game...

Ricky_Bobby · #10 07-02-2007, 11:10 PM

[ QUOTE ]

One last thing. Do not slow play AA KK. I have a proud record that for as long as I can remember in live play I have never lost money with aa when I am behind. I get it all in by raising huge and reraising if applicable and if they fold am happy to scoop the blinds.

[/ QUOTE ]

Unless I'm misunderstanding you this seems like sketchy advice. Do you raise huge with AK/AQ/JJ? If you've never lost money with AA when your opponent has outflopped you then you have probably folded it way too many times when you were ahead. Not slowplaying is fine but it's absolutely insane if you play those two hands in a way that makes it super easy for your opponents to fold. Gee whiz, you should never be 'happy' to just win the blinds with AA/KK and it sounds like you are going out of your way to accomplish this so you won't have to worry about playing post-flop.

Don't mean to be mean but it's important that a relative beginner not fall into oft quoted by Mike Sexton mindset that "It's better to win a small pot than to lose a big one."

And OP, it sounds like you guys play a relatively short stack game if most of the money is in play by the time the flop is dealt. In short games the value of big pair hands go up and the value of small pairs/drawing hands go down so you should adjust accordingly. Play the hands that make TPTK/overpairs and then play the flop fast. It sounds like you shouldn't have to worry too much about reverse implied odds until you and another opponent start to get deep stacks.