I moved to 8/16 at The Bike, I didn't realize it played like 3/6.

[binki]

I have been playing over at San Manuel because of the lower drop but I thought I would go back to the Bike on Saturday afternoon and play 6/12 to escape the big drop on the smaller games.

When I got there no 6/12 going so I jump into an 8/16 game.

Here is what I noticed:

I buy in for $400 making me the biggest stack at the table. The next biggest is around $300, most are at $200 or less and a few at maybe $100. Is this normal for this game?

2 players are in every hand just bleading money. Normally a 3/6 or 4/8 game there are a few more like this so they do play longer before busting out but holy cow, not in this game. They keep pulling out wads of 20's every 20 minutes or so. Again, normal for this game?

I notice a little bit of bluffing and the ability to take down a pot with A-high or K-high. I like this, a little more like poker than no-foldem. This I expected.

I notice about half the players pay attention to the game and size you up better than in the smaller games. This I expected.

I also notice players get a little pissed when I hit a runner/runner broadway against a flopped smaller straight taking down a pot. I thought he was bluffing so I played back at him. I was playing on a flush draw and hit the straight instead. I was a little suprised by his reaction to me 3 betting him on my draw. Do players at this level expect better players or respect to bets/raises?

How much higher in limits can I go with similar composition of a game here and at Commerce/Hustler? 9/18, 15/30, higher? At what level does the game get agressive? There wasn't a lot of raising in this game, at least not what I would expect. Most hands went to showdown or the river, again, not what I would expect. Seemed like a lot of chasing going on.

A lot of players acted out of turn also. Sometimes half the table was acting at the same time with folding, calling. It was hard to track the action. The dealers tried to keep the action straight but with 5 people playing like that it was kind of interesting to watch. Common in bigger games or no? Should I take advantage of this if I am EP and 4 players fold or call after me when I haven't acted yet?

TIA.

[rafiki]

I found 20/40 to be on par with 2/4 online. I've only ever run into 3 tough tables of 15/30. Generally you just need to be rolled for the game. Skill wise even if you play ABC nittish poker you can be a slight winner. Anything better then that and you should crush these games if you have decent table selection. And I'm talking full tables, not the 3 handed games that frequently play in the middle of the night.

[the_doantster]

I didn't notice that much of a difference in competition when I made the jump from the Commerce 4/8 to The Bike / HG 8/16. Sometimes the competition is even worse [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[chillrob]

I played the 8/16 at the Bike for the first time recently and found it very odd. Competition was not very tough, but it was a bit tighter than the lower limit games. Some hands would go down to the blinds to chop if one or two people were sitting out, then suddenly a pot would be capped 5 way.
Another thing - some of the players seemed to be regulars and softplaying each other. This didn't really upset me since it didn't seem to be hurting me directly and they weren't pushing edges much in hands where I was involved either. I saw a few very bizarre things though, like someone checking behind with the nuts on the river, and someone showing his made straight on the turn to the only other player still in the hand to allow him to fold.

[Sailboats]

8/16 @ the bike is usually filled with props. I am guessing that is what you saw, when players were 'soft' playing each other. Plus I usually hear the games are tighter than this, but it was saturday, so people are there to GAMBOOOOLLLLL.

[sternroolz]

You should really try the $8-16 at HG on a Friday or Saturday night. As long as you realize that its easy to run though a few racks if you have the bad side of variance.

The games through $20-40(at Commerce anyway) are pretty damm easy and the players are bad. Las Vegas mid limit games are different and require different strategy but are not difficult. At higher limits...$30-60, $40-80, and $60-120 I've seen some really awful players also, but there are also good players in those games as well.

[*TT*]

Advice - play 9/18 at Commerce instead. Its loose aggressive/loose passive mixed - and an amazing game.

[chillrob]

There were some house players in the 8/16 pool - I know this for sure because there were 3 players who were passed over to move from the "must move" table to one of the main tables. The "soft-playing" I saw was in the main game, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't (just) house players. Maybe this is common among regulars around this limit? A friend of mine recently saw the same thing happening at the $7.50/$15 game at the Tropicana in Atlantic City. He was offended by it and left accusing them of cheating, but I guess I don't really see much harm in it.

$8/$16 was the highest I have played though, and though I had some bad luck and ended down for that session, I could tell it was definately a beatable game with a lot of weak play. I have watched the 15/30 games at Hollywood Park a bit and thought they looked pretty loose, but it was a bit high for me as I had only once before played over $6/$12. Next time I am in LA I will maybe I will try the Commerce 9/18 as suggested.

[*TT*]

[ QUOTE ]
There were some house players in the 8/16 pool - I know this for sure because there were 3 players who were passed over to move from the "must move" table to one of the main tables. The "soft-playing" I saw was in the main game, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't (just) house players. Maybe this is common among regulars around this limit? A friend of mine recently saw the same thing happening at the $7.50/$15 game at the Tropicana in Atlantic City. He was offended by it and left accusing them of cheating, but I guess I don't really see much harm in it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Its common, two regulars or two friends soft playing each other post flop when non one else in is the pot. You will see it even in 30/60 - and even though you will want to complain, trust me its better that you don't because loosing passive players that bad is worse than forcing them to play.

[binki]

[ QUOTE ]
... and someone showing his made straight on the turn to the only other player still in the hand to allow him to fold.

[/ QUOTE ]

OOOO! I saw this! Guy paired an Ace on the flop and showed it heads up. Other player folded.