Live Games = Variance Time?

[Xylem]

I play a £200 live game in a uk card club... (WESTERN).

Its usually 9 handed and very loose.

The problem is i find myself waiting an eternity (2-3hrs+) for hands believing the best way of cracking the table is to dominate someones k10 etc.

The problem is i look like an absolute rock, or scrooge, as im sitting there waiting not wanting to play a big pot with K9 etc.


My question is should i try and outplay (which i could) these loose maniacish sort of players and jump in the variance pool or stick to my solid (variance reducing game) game?

How do you play your local live games?

[Rottersod]

What kind of expectations do you have for each session and do you reach those? If so then keep playing the way you play. If not then change your style.

[Xylem]

Well last night after about 6 hours i made £30...

I won about 4 hands.

That is Amazingly tight sounding but i didn get many cards and too call 10 BBs wit 107o etc isnt good poker.

[Rottersod]

[ QUOTE ]
Well last night after about 6 hours i made £30...

I won about 4 hands.

That is Amazingly tight sounding but i didn get many cards and too call 10 BBs wit 107o etc isnt good poker.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was asking you what you expect to make each session. That is what determines your variance and if you playing small V or higher V.

[WhiteKnight]

I've somewhat of a tendency to agree with the subject header.

I recently started playing live poker ($4/$8 LHE) three or four months ago, during which I have logged 40 hours of play. Over this time, I have lost $520 (65BB). Most of this is attributable to large pocket pairs being cracked. At one point, I went for 14 consecutive hours without winning a single pot. The pots I did win were mostly small, my nut draws never held up on the big ones. On more than one occasion, I have folded 95%+ of the hands dealt to me during a three hour session. That being said, good runs do happen -- last night was a nice reminder [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

The problem is that you see way fewer hands per hour (maybe 24?) than someone who's playing online at 4 tables that don't have to worry about shuffling and counting out chips. And yes, I know 40 hours is less than an atom of the drop in the bucket [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Sometimes I will transfer tables if I find the table is getting wise to my ways of not playing ANYTHING, but the competition at $4/$8 is largely comprised of those who will call your first raise in three orbits with ace rag (and then catch on the river after your continued aggression throughout the first three rounds).

From the sounds of it, your game is pretty loose too. If you think that other people are noticing your seemingly over-tight tendencies, you might want to try transfering after lengthy dry spells. It all depends on whether the other players are cognizant of your play.

If you have the bankroll to support higher variance play, and you figure you have a shot at outplaying these guys post-flop, then you might want to give it a shot for a while and reevaluate from there. Personally, I find it hard to get get tricky with these sorts of opponents, preferring to take them to Value (bet) Town.

[MrBrightside]

[ QUOTE ]
Well last night after about 6 hours i made £30...

I won about 4 hands.

That is Amazingly tight sounding but i didn get many cards and too call 10 BBs wit 107o etc isnt good poker.

[/ QUOTE ]

Look, I play a lot of 1/2NL live. I'm a winning player at it (to about $18 an hour) over a year +.

Call more drawing hands in position for preflop bets (or even postflop ones) if the price warrants. Let me give you a scenario: Maybe not T7o (a 2 gapper is a horrible hand), but how about 98o? I was on the button with 98o a few weeks ago and won a monster ($450+, so 225 BB) pot.
Was this "bad poker". Nope, because this table was mostly loose passive. Here was the hand: limp, limp, raise to $12, call, to me? I call, because i KNOW at least 2 more people will see a flop, if not 3. Because the table's been doing it all nite. Is 98o a bad hand, sure, it's not that great. On the other hand, I'm gonna get 5 to 1 on the call and HUGE implied odds. Plus, it's an easy hand to get away from. The flop either hits a straight draw or 3 of a kind or it doesnt.

The key to playing at a table like this and getting paid off is to make this type of speculative, implied odds call in late position, IMO. Because then you are in good shape to extract maximum value when you hit. I find it very hard at the 1/2NL tables I play at to get much value when I hit a speculative hand out of position.

In the 98o hand, I flopped an open ender, original raiser leads out big, I call him, others fold, he checks the turn, so I get a free card, hit the river. Then he leads out, so I can raise and instead of making a crying call, he moves in with a set.

It's gonna be real hard to extract quite as much value from that hand out of position.

[Xylem]

Yes i agree, and thats also why i wrote 108o, because i didnt see hands like 78s etc. I guess it was just an unlucky night.

[Xylem]

Each session i suppose i expect to make 10bbs an hour as i make that online and the casino play is worse.

[jimmytrick]

Most of the games I play, you could fold 211 hands of 212 and then raise your aces and they still call.

If this is not true for you, perhaps you should find another game?

[Xylem]

That is true, but damn, thats tight!

So u agree that i should just rock it out and make implied odds calls in position.

I guess this thread is just a criticism of live games instead then.