I did the late night Gaelic game last night. Got there after the "News at 11" and played a few hours of $1/$2NL. I've been buying in for $1000 lately. More on that in a minute.
First, here's a hand that really pissed me off. I'm curious for the reader's take. I'm on the button with AJh. UTG straddles the pot for $5.
There are 2 callers to me on the button and I make it $25 to go. BB calls. UTG calls.
The flop is Kh 10d 8c.
BB leads out for $45 and UTG min-raises to $90. I've taken a hand or two from UTG and the min-raise has my attention. BB could have top pair because he's a fairly loose and incredibly aggressive player. Plus, $45 is a curious lead out in what is now a $100 pot.
Fearing the min raise, and with noting more than a gutty and an over, I fold. BB then turns to his good friend (they've been buddies all night) and says, "Well, now we can check it down!"
He calls...they flip up their cards and check it down.
I was livid.
Frankly, I was beat, but this is cheating. I said so. The rest of the table said, "I'm not sure there's a house rule about that." Which, actually, further emphasizes my point. If there is NO house rule, the standard rules apply. This IS textbook collusion and I called it just that.
UTG won the pot. I stacked him an orbit later. Then a second time with 85o. That made me happy. After the second, I said, "Perhaps you'd have a better shot with (player x) in the pot".
A THOUGHT ON TABLE IMAGE
I've been wodering if we aren't overly aware of our own image online and sadly unaware in a live game. That is, I can think of several times when I've folded away 50 straight hands online and thought, "My image is tight enough that I can move with anything here," only to find that nobody else at the table paid attention.
Plus, 50 hands isn't nearly as many online as it is at a bricks and mortar table.
In a live game, however, even less experienced players have a handle on basic playing style. The good players will see you as they sit down and expect a certain stlye of play.
I'm the maniac here. To be fair, I do usually play like a maniac and we've been over that topic a million times. Still, when I shift gears, there are only a few who will pick that up quickly. Hopefully I can make some money before that becomes obvious to everyone.
By the way, for a loose aggressive player there is NOTHING more frustrating than making the conscious decision to switch gears to something tighter and then going totally card dead.
That.
Sucks.
THE $1000
The past two games (one at the depot and one at the Gaelic) I've bought in for a grand at the 1/2 game. At the depot I was motivated by Dusty Rhodes who bought in for the same. I tried it again at the Gaelic after great success the night before.
When I chatted with Otis about the strategy he said, "Its a good move agaisnt a weak and passive game."
I disagree. At least, I think it's even better against a loose and somewhat passive game.
There are so many times in our games in which the standard preflop raise is about 6 or 7 times the big blind. But even with that raise, we'll get 4 or 5 callers to each pot. Even people determined to limp in for $2 in middle position will then call $15. That means decent pre-flop drawing hands will be good odds to call all night.
In fact, it usually means you'll find yourself calling $35 or $40 on the flop for the same reason. Now, if you're joining, as we usually do, a game in progress, then there will already be several stacks of several hundred dollars. That means to get proper IMPLIED odds or have any reasonable fold equity with our great flop draws, we need an oversized starting stack.
Like all my big poker theories, this one has extensive field testing. I tried it twice. It worked extremely well those two times. That means it's foolproof.