Live Game £5 buy in vs. reckless villain

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DhakhaR United Kingdom. Jan 08 2009 10:34. Posts 189

Welcome LP'ers. Ive been lurking here for a little while after coming over from TL and decided to make my first blog post because of the live game i played on tuesday which i would like some input on.

Ok so every tuesday i go over to a friends house where between 5 and 10 of us play NLHE. Buy in is £5 for 3000 chips, 5/10 starting blinds, going up every 20mins to 10/20 15/30 20/40 40/80 50/100 150/300 200/400 300/600 etc.
One rebuy and One addon maximum is allowed in the first 2 hours, £5 for 1500 chips. Thats the basic setup. We also use 2 decks so that the small blind is shuffling and playing his hand and then the next hand can be dealt straight away.

Ok so the last game i played was 5 people. myself and a friend called Josh have the most experience and understanding of starting hands, pot odds, outs, draws, position, image etc. the least experienced player was Chris who has no real concept of starting hands or position. The other two players are somewhere inbetween.

Onto the game...
At 5/10 i like to make some small moves early to 'test the waters'. raising from the button to see who gives respect, showing pocket queens (my least favorite hand) when i raised preflop and everyone folded so that i culd earn some more respect etc.
however, chris starts betting like a mad man. limping or calling anything preflop and betting every pot. every preflop laydown was PAINFUL for him. And this wasnt well managed agression either, he called someones flop bet, turn bet and river all-in with just ace high, chased all his draws etc.
this pretty much shut down any attempts i could make to steal the blinds as i would always get called by him.

I concentrated on him as he was the big stack now from stealing so many pots. i was trying to get reads but like [vital]Myth mentioned in his live games guides, HE thought every hand was strong so i was reading strength when he had J4 and trash.

I figured at this point that i should go tight and wait for a big hand to go all-in preflop with as i was certain i would get action from him. 3 times i got my money in preflop with the best hand and got outdrawn/split pot.

I talked with Josh afterwards and he shared the same view as i did, and i am still clueless as to how to combat this reckless agression without some luck from the poker gods.

So can any of you poker gosus offer any advice/tips?

0 votes

XeliN United Kingdom. Jan 08 2009 10:53. Posts 2365

IMO it might be best to play alot of limped//unraised or small raised hands preflop and then wait wait until you hit a good flop, then take him to town then, rather than waiting for a super hand preflop

very technical advice I know!

Steal City: if u want to get good at sex u need to read books. Its just like poker, u need to read

Shenny Canada. Jan 08 2009 10:57. Posts 1514

Yeah, solution isn't too hard. Stick to TAG style starting hands and take value from every street when you hit a decent flop. Expect resistance, but instead of cringing when he calls you down, smile and stick more in.

Critterer United Kingdom. Jan 08 2009 13:05. Posts 5337

yea to counter a very loose aggressive player just tighten up and value bet him thin

and if u got ur money in with the best hand and repeatedly outdrawn thats just bad luck, not bad play really.

LudaHid: dam.ned dam.ned dam.ned. LudaHid: dam.ned northwooden as..hole

DhakhaR United Kingdom. Jan 08 2009 13:34. Posts 189

ok cheers for the advice guys.

i guess i will play more hands early on when the blinds are low and just hope to hit 2pair/set that i can bust him on.

im kinda glad that i was doing the right thing and had bad luck, but kinda disappointed that there isnt something im missing that i could use to take him down lol.

Raguna United States. Jan 08 2009 13:49. Posts 118

On January 08 2009 12:34 DhakhaR wrote:i guess i will play more hands early on when the blinds are low and just hope to hit 2pair/set that i can bust him on.

The impression that you need to hit two pair or a set to take his chips is probably also a contributor to your loss. If he has a tendency to show down with high card, missed draws, bottom pair, etc, you shouldn't need to wait for monsters post flop to take him to valuetown. Play TAG against him and expect to be good most the time when you hit the flop considering your preflop range.

I suck at pokers :(

Orome Switzerland. Jan 08 2009 13:50. Posts 214

You don't need 2 pair or a set to bust him, since he's spewing around in every pot whether he hits it or not, top pair is already hugely ahead of his range. Just value bet more thinly than you're used to.

DhakhaR United Kingdom. Jan 08 2009 14:43. Posts 189

yeah im aware that top pair is usually good to beat him, i said 2pair/set in relation to playing more speculative hands like 9Ts or something.

one hand i had K2o in the big blind, he had K7o. flop came 2K8. i went all in, he called. turn and river came TT = split pot.
so there i would have been dominated with just a top pair. the fact that he will play anything and everything almost exactly the same made me a bit anxious about going in with top pair unless i had a premium kicker. I think I just have a really negative mindset that (correctly) im probably not gonna hit any draws and (incorrectly) my opponent is gonna catch his draw.