Overbetting and me!

Poker is an odd game. I played my uber tight strategy for nearly a year with relatively steady, but also pretty mediocre results. Bonuses made up about half of my winnings. Enter The Muck.

I started experimenting with new styles with the launch of this blog, spending time playing Super Loose Aggressive (maniac), semi-Loose Aggressive, Tight Aggressive, and even Tight Passive. Then I started messing around with tournaments as I came upon the terrible, but easily beatable satellite tourneys over at Party Poker. And right in the middle of the tourney experience, Matt and I made our way over to Vegas. This trip taught me a lot about my poker playing. First off, it reminded me that you don't need a hand to win the pot. For some reason I had sort of pushed this out of my mind and bluffed very rarely online. It also reminded me that exploiting your opponents' weaknesses is how you make money. Matt and I talked in length about identifying the few players at the table who we knew to be careful of AND those with no idea what they are doing...

So I come home from our trip and low and behold my stupid government has caused party poker - my source of income - to shut its doors to U.S. players. Ugh! But interestingly, some sites decided to embrace the stupid law and basically come out with a SCREW YOU GUYS attitude, ala Full Tilt. <3 <3 <3

So I cashed out the majority of my Party money into my bank account and deposited about 500 onto my full tilt account. So I started playing the same .5/1.00 games that I used to play in as a ring game player. OMG! I started tearing these games apart. I've trippled my initial deposit in less than 7 hours. I don't think that its just that the games are much easier than before due to the new influx of X-party poker players (although this is part of the reason for sure).

I think its mainly that the players on full tilt generally play SUPER tight preflop and on the flop. But interestingly, these players have a very hard time letting go of good hands after that point. So bascially my strategy has been. Play a semi-loose aggressive style. I play positional poker, raising either 2x, 3x, or 4x the BB based on position somewhat and varying my play too. I play big hands in early, and then will play any big suited cards or connectors in middle/late position. I rarely ever call. Then on the flop if I bet preflop I almost always bet about 1/3 of the pot if its checked to me. Players are incredibly willing to fold to this tiny bet - so I don't risk more. Its also worth noting that these players know basic math - they will call about 3/4 a pot sized bet with most drawing hands (making these bets less valuable). The interesting thing I've noticed is that if I have a hugely powerful hand and the turn doesn't help my opponents hand (based on what I've put them on), I usually just move all in. This is what I mean by overvaluing their big hands.

For example yesterday I had pocket aces. I bet my small continuation bet on the flop of a 8 high 2 suited board. My opponent called. A queen of clubs hit the turn putting two flush draws on the board. Now I know that my opponent didn't have a hand as strong as queens, or a lower set or he would have raised on the dangerous flop. So I just moved all-in. My opponent called with pocket tens and my hand held up, doubling me up. :)

I continually make plays like this - with sets, three of kind, straights, or flushes. You'd be surprised how many people will call a huge overbet with garbage. Sometimes I don't even move in, I'll just bet the pot after hitting my hand on the turn and checking it. It looks like a bluff to these players who seem to think they are better than they are. I've gotten called a very high % of the time.

Today I doubled through 7 times. SEVEN! I didn't even hit very many hands. But because I'm always betting people have no idea when I have a hand and when I don't. I have also frustrated or confused players into calling me with really odd holdings. I check raised all in on a Kd4d5c board with the AdTd and was called by K9! King freaking nine! I hit my ace on the turn, and the flush on the river. Later on I hit a set of kings on the turn (but the Kh also put a flush out there). My opponent bet, and knowing that he had to have exactly AA or QQ (for a set of queens) I moved in and he called for 10x the size of the pot with QQ! If I have the flush he's drawing at 10 outs - and of course as it was he was drawing to the single remaining queen... I love playing a bit crazy aggressive because people start making BAD plays against you, and thats what poker is about - making your opponents make the biggest mistakes possible!