Eating 6max alive

[dalecooper]

Something I just realized about 6max today is that basically everybody plays too tight. It's the only ring game I feel comfortable constantly playing like Ripptyde. This game, I either raised or folded before the flop on nearly every hand. I limped a few times and checked my blind a few times, but mostly it was raise or fold... with emphasis on the raise. Some key moments here - you can sense them slowly going crazy as the pressure gets more and more annoying. It finally paid off big with two hands near the end, both coincidentally involving pocket tens.


***** Hand History for Game 1988492473 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, May 02, 16:22:10 EDT 2005
Table Table 36736 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: junglcmndo ( $6.05 )
Seat 2: graymantis ( $10.25 )
Seat 3: medic2_98 ( $49.95 )
Seat 4: tankie111 ( $4.65 )
Seat 6: innout101 ( $27.4 )
Seat 5: stressball10 ( $24.55 )
stressball10 posts small blind [$0.1].
innout101 posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ Qd Kd ]
junglcmndo folds.
graymantis calls [$0.25].
medic2_98 calls [$0.25].
tankie111 folds.
stressball10 raises [$0.9].
innout101 folds.
graymantis calls [$0.75].
medic2_98 calls [$0.75].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9s, 9d, Th ]
stressball10 bets [$2].
graymantis folds.
medic2_98 calls [$2].
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qs ]
stressball10 bets [$2].
medic2_98 calls [$2].
** Dealing River ** [ Qc ]
stressball10 bets [$2].
medic2_98 calls [$2].
stressball10 shows [ Qd, Kd ] a full house, Queens full of nines.
medic2_98 doesn't show [ Td, Jd ] two pairs, queens and tens.
stressball10 wins $14.5 from the main pot with a full house, Queens full of nines.

***** Hand History for Game 1988495573 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, May 02, 16:22:54 EDT 2005
Table Table 36736 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: junglcmndo ( $6.05 )
Seat 2: graymantis ( $9.25 )
Seat 3: medic2_98 ( $42.95 )
Seat 4: tankie111 ( $4.65 )
Seat 6: innout101 ( $27.15 )
Seat 5: stressball10 ( $32.05 )
innout101 posts small blind [$0.1].
junglcmndo posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ 4s 4d ]
graymantis calls [$0.25].
medic2_98 calls [$0.25].
tankie111 folds.
stressball10 raises [$1].
innout101 folds.
junglcmndo raises [$1.5].
graymantis folds.
medic2_98 calls [$1.5].
stressball10 calls [$0.75].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Jh, Td, Jd ]
junglcmndo bets [$3].
medic2_98 folds.
stressball10 folds.
junglcmndo does not show cards.
junglcmndo wins $8.35
medic2_98 has left the table.

***** Hand History for Game 1988498960 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, May 02, 16:23:43 EDT 2005
Table Table 36736 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 1: junglcmndo ( $9.65 )
Seat 2: graymantis ( $9 )
Seat 4: tankie111 ( $4.65 )
Seat 6: innout101 ( $27.05 )
Seat 5: stressball10 ( $30.3 )
junglcmndo posts small blind [$0.1].
graymantis posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ 6c 6s ]
tankie111 folds.
stressball10 raises [$1].
innout101 folds.
junglcmndo folds.
graymantis folds.
stressball10 does not show cards.
stressball10 wins $1.35

***** Hand History for Game 1988506546 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, May 02, 16:25:31 EDT 2005
Table Table 36736 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 1: junglcmndo ( $7.3 )
Seat 2: graymantis ( $6.5 )
Seat 4: tankie111 ( $10.95 )
Seat 6: innout101 ( $24.8 )
Seat 5: stressball10 ( $30.65 )
tankie111 posts small blind [$0.1].
stressball10 posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ Kd Kc ]
innout101 folds.
junglcmndo folds.
graymantis calls [$0.25].
tankie111 calls [$0.15].
stressball10 raises [$0.75].
graymantis calls [$0.75].
tankie111 calls [$0.75].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4d, Js, Ah ]
tankie111 checks.
stressball10 bets [$2].
graymantis folds.
MudcatJoe has joined the table.
tankie111 folds.
stressball10 does not show cards.
stressball10 wins $4.85

***** Hand History for Game 1988508945 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, May 02, 16:26:06 EDT 2005
Table Table 36736 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: junglcmndo ( $7.3 )
Seat 2: graymantis ( $5.5 )
Seat 4: tankie111 ( $9.95 )
Seat 6: innout101 ( $24.8 )
Seat 5: stressball10 ( $32.5 )
Seat 3: MudcatJoe ( $13.6 )
stressball10 posts small blind [$0.1].
innout101 posts big blind [$0.25].
MudcatJoe posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ 4d 5c ]
junglcmndo folds.
graymantis calls [$0.25].
MudcatJoe checks.
tankie111 folds.
stressball10 raises [$0.9].
innout101 folds.
graymantis is all-In [$5.25]
MudcatJoe folds.
stressball10 calls [$4.5].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3c, Qc, 7d ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5s ]
** Dealing River ** [ Qh ]
stressball10 shows [ 4d, 5c ] two pairs, queens and fives.
graymantis doesn't show [ Ah, Js ] a pair of queens.
stressball10 wins $10.95 from the main pot with two pairs, queens and fives.

***** Hand History for Game 1988514908 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, May 02, 16:27:31 EDT 2005
Table Table 36736 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 1: junglcmndo ( $8.65 )
Seat 4: tankie111 ( $9.95 )
Seat 6: innout101 ( $23.05 )
Seat 5: stressball10 ( $37.95 )
Seat 3: MudcatJoe ( $13.35 )
junglcmndo posts small blind [$0.1].
MudcatJoe posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ As 6c ]
tankie111 folds.
stressball10 raises [$1].
innout101 folds.
junglcmndo folds.
MudcatJoe folds.
stressball10 does not show cards.
stressball10 wins $1.35

***** Hand History for Game 1988566142 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, May 02, 16:39:39 EDT 2005
Table Table 36736 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: junglcmndo ( $5.53 )
Seat 4: tankie111 ( $9 )
Seat 6: innout101 ( $24.15 )
Seat 5: stressball10 ( $37.7 )
Seat 3: MudcatJoe ( $16.57 )
Seat 2: moke6424 ( $24.25 )
junglcmndo posts small blind [$0.1].
moke6424 posts big blind [$0.25].
stressball10 posts big blind + dead [$0.35].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ 3c Ad ]
MudcatJoe calls [$0.25].
tankie111 folds.
stressball10 raises [$0.75].
innout101 folds.
junglcmndo folds.
moke6424 folds.
MudcatJoe calls [$0.75].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9c, 8h, 8d ]
MudcatJoe checks.
stressball10 bets [$1.5].
MudcatJoe folds.
stressball10 does not show cards.
stressball10 wins $3.85

***** Hand History for Game 1988568332 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, May 02, 16:40:11 EDT 2005
Table Table 36736 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: junglcmndo ( $5.43 )
Seat 4: tankie111 ( $9 )
Seat 6: innout101 ( $24.15 )
Seat 5: stressball10 ( $38.95 )
Seat 3: MudcatJoe ( $15.57 )
Seat 2: moke6424 ( $24 )
moke6424 posts small blind [$0.1].
MudcatJoe posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ 9d Ts ]
tankie111 calls [$0.25].
stressball10 raises [$1].
innout101 folds.
junglcmndo folds.
moke6424 calls [$0.9].
MudcatJoe folds.
tankie111 calls [$0.75].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4d, 7c, 6s ]
moke6424 checks.
tankie111 checks.
stressball10 bets [$2].
moke6424 folds.
tankie111 folds.
stressball10 does not show cards.
stressball10 wins $5.1

***** Hand History for Game 1988573849 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, May 02, 16:41:31 EDT 2005
Table Table 36736 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: junglcmndo ( $5.78 )
Seat 4: tankie111 ( $7.65 )
Seat 6: innout101 ( $24.15 )
Seat 5: stressball10 ( $41.15 )
Seat 3: MudcatJoe ( $15.22 )
Seat 2: moke6424 ( $23 )
stressball10 posts small blind [$0.1].
innout101 posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ 5h Ah ]
junglcmndo folds.
moke6424 folds.
MudcatJoe folds.
tankie111 folds.
stressball10 calls [$0.15].
innout101 checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ad, 9c, 7h ]
stressball10 bets [$0.5].
innout101 calls [$0.5].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8d ]
stressball10 bets [$1].
innout101 calls [$1].
** Dealing River ** [ 3c ]
stressball10 checks.
innout101 checks.
stressball10 shows [ 5h, Ah ] a pair of aces.
innout101 doesn't show [ Qd, 9h ] a pair of nines.
stressball10 wins $3.35 from the main pot with a pair of aces.
moke6424 has left the table.

***** Hand History for Game 1988591375 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, May 02, 16:45:42 EDT 2005
Table Table 36736 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: junglcmndo ( $5.63 )
Seat 4: tankie111 ( $6.4 )
Seat 6: innout101 ( $23.4 )
Seat 5: stressball10 ( $41.9 )
Seat 3: MudcatJoe ( $15.62 )
Seat 2: bpetrak ( $25.75 )
junglcmndo posts small blind [$0.1].
bpetrak posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ Ah 8d ]
MudcatJoe folds.
tankie111 folds.
stressball10 raises [$1].
innout101 folds.
junglcmndo folds.
bpetrak folds.
stressball10 does not show cards.
stressball10 wins $1.35

***** Hand History for Game 1988604517 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, May 02, 16:48:49 EDT 2005
Table Table 36736 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: junglcmndo ( $6.13 )
Seat 4: tankie111 ( $6.05 )
Seat 6: innout101 ( $22.9 )
Seat 5: stressball10 ( $41.9 )
Seat 3: MudcatJoe ( $18.32 )
Seat 2: bpetrak ( $23.1 )
innout101 posts small blind [$0.1].
junglcmndo posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ 8s Kc ]
bpetrak folds.
MudcatJoe calls [$0.25].
tankie111 calls [$0.25].
stressball10 raises [$1].
innout101 calls [$0.9].
junglcmndo calls [$0.75].
MudcatJoe folds.
tankie111 folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9c, Th, Js ]
innout101 checks.
junglcmndo checks.
stressball10 bets [$2].
innout101 calls [$2].
junglcmndo is all-In [$5.13]
stressball10 calls [$3.13].
innout101 calls [$3.13].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6c ]
innout101 checks.
stressball10 checks.
** Dealing River ** [ 7s ]
innout101 checks.
stressball10 bets [$4].
innout101 folds.
stressball10 shows [ 8s, Kc ] a straight, seven to jack.
junglcmndo shows [ Ks, Qc ] a straight, nine to king.
stressball10 wins $4 from side pot #1 with a straight, seven to jack.
junglcmndo wins $17.99 from the main pot with a straight, nine to king.

***** Hand History for Game 1988609924 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, May 02, 16:50:04 EDT 2005
Table Table 36736 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: junglcmndo ( $17.99 )
Seat 4: tankie111 ( $5.8 )
Seat 6: innout101 ( $16.77 )
Seat 5: stressball10 ( $35.77 )
Seat 3: MudcatJoe ( $18.07 )
Seat 2: bpetrak ( $23.1 )
junglcmndo posts small blind [$0.1].
bpetrak posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ Ts Td ]
MudcatJoe folds.
tankie111 folds.
stressball10 raises [$1].
innout101 folds.
junglcmndo folds.
bpetrak calls [$0.75].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5c, 4c, 6h ]
bpetrak bets [$2].
stressball10 raises [$7].
bpetrak calls [$5].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8c ]
bpetrak checks.
stressball10 bets [$7].
bpetrak calls [$7].
** Dealing River ** [ 4d ]
bpetrak checks.
stressball10 checks.
bpetrak shows [ 9h, 8h ] two pairs, eights and fours.
stressball10 shows [ Ts, Td ] two pairs, tens and fours.
stressball10 wins $28.6 from the main pot with two pairs, tens and fours.

***** Hand History for Game 1988619946 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, May 02, 16:52:26 EDT 2005
Table Table 36736 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: junglcmndo ( $17.89 )
Seat 4: tankie111 ( $11.15 )
Seat 6: innout101 ( $16.77 )
Seat 5: stressball10 ( $49.37 )
Seat 3: MudcatJoe ( $17.72 )
Seat 2: bpetrak ( $2.55 )
tankie111 posts small blind [$0.1].
stressball10 posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ Ah 6h ]
innout101 folds.
junglcmndo calls [$0.25].
bpetrak folds.
MudcatJoe folds.
tankie111 calls [$0.15].
stressball10 raises [$0.75].
junglcmndo folds.
tankie111 calls [$0.75].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7s, Ts, 6c ]
tankie111 checks.
stressball10 bets [$1.5].
tankie111 is all-In [$10.15]
stressball10 folds.
tankie111 does not show cards.
tankie111 wins $13.65

***** Hand History for Game 1988634502 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, May 02, 16:55:54 EDT 2005
Table Table 36736 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 4
Seat 4: tankie111 ( $17.95 )
Seat 6: innout101 ( $12.52 )
Seat 5: stressball10 ( $45.87 )
Seat 3: MudcatJoe ( $20.52 )
tankie111 posts small blind [$0.1].
stressball10 posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ Td Tc ]
innout101 calls [$0.25].
MudcatJoe folds.
tankie111 calls [$0.15].
stressball10 raises [$0.75].
innout101 calls [$0.75].
tankie111 raises [$2.75].
stressball10 is all-In [$44.87]
innout101 folds.
tankie111 is all-In [$14.95]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7d, 5d, Ah ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8c ]
** Dealing River ** [ Ac ]
tankie111 shows [ 9c, 9d ] two pairs, aces and nines.
stressball10 shows [ Td, Tc ] two pairs, aces and tens.
stressball10 wins $27.92 from side pot #1 with two pairs, aces and tens.
stressball10 wins $35.1 from the main pot with two pairs, aces and tens.

***** Hand History for Game 1988646651 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, May 02, 16:58:42 EDT 2005
Table Table 36736 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 6: innout101 ( $17.47 )
Seat 5: stressball10 ( $61.92 )
Seat 3: MudcatJoe ( $20.52 )
Seat 2: ASIANP ( $4.5 )
Seat 1: soccrking05 ( $5.5 )
innout101 posts small blind [$0.1].
soccrking05 posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ 8s Jh ]
ASIANP folds.
MudcatJoe calls [$0.25].
stressball10 raises [$1].
innout101 raises [$1.65].
soccrking05 folds.
MudcatJoe folds.
stressball10 calls [$0.75].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qh, Th, 6c ]
innout101 checks.
stressball10 checks.
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5h ]
innout101 bets [$0.25].
stressball10 calls [$0.25].
** Dealing River ** [ 9s ]
innout101 checks.
stressball10 bets [$3].
innout101 folds.
stressball10 does not show cards.
stressball10 wins $7.3

[H Dogg]

No offense intended..but your play is way too predictable, atleast to me. I seem to have memorized your betting pattern, so just imagine someone at the table. If you try mixing it up, you may be able to induce bets from other people, rather than just betting strong, right off the bat. That's my view.

DoGG

[dalecooper]

No offense intended..but your play is way too predictable, atleast to me. I seem to have memorized your betting pattern, so just imagine someone at the table. If you try mixing it up, you may be able to induce bets from other people, rather than just betting strong, right off the bat. That's my view.

DoGG

I don't mind predictability. Raising all my playable hands the same amount and betting the same into every pot disguises my hands completely. If they choose to play back at me, they take the risk that I have a real hand and will break them; if they keep laying down, I keep profiting. It's win-win for me.

I'm not that concerned with "inducing bets from other people." I'm winning with a lot of marginal hands (and sometimes nothing at all). But when I finally did win two big pots, they were on mediocre hands that happened to be just slightly better than my opponents'. To me, that's an ideal way to play the game. I basically shoved these guys around for a while and then they paid me off. In this session I came close to tripling my money in 40 minutes of play, and quite a lot of that came from picking up anywhere from 50 cents to 2 or 3 dollars in a series of small pots that no one else felt like fighting over.

[DoGGz]

What was your PFR%? When I play like this it's over 30%

[Xianti]

{Moved from Hold'em Hand Histories}

[Grand_MasterB]

i love playing the shorthanded tables and have been doing so exclusively for a little over a year. I have found the same thing about players being tight to be true alot of the time. In shorthanded play one thing that most players dont relize is how profitable it becomes to limp in or even raise with very marginal hands. hands like 79o, kt, and even suited two gappers. although i think the most profitable play in shorthanded is seeing a flop with ANY pair, up against jsut about any raise. if you do hit your set players are so married to their raise and usually cant get away from them on the flop. you win huge pots when players arent willing to let it go like they are in full ring games.

[dalecooper]

What was your PFR%? When I play like this it's over 30%

I'm not using Poker Tracker right now so I'm not positive, but glancing over the history for the table it looks like around 40%.

[Grand_MasterB]

A PFR % of 40% or even a little higher is what you should be playing at 6 max in my opinion

[Lucid]

A PFR % of 40% or even a little higher is what you should be playing at 6 max in my opinion

40% is a little high to play at all the time. If you arn't getting cards at all and you keep raising like this you will lose money over the long run. People will notice your constant raising and they will start to call all of them. You will end up with large multi-way pots that you either fold on or try and take down when nobody respects your raises. I have broken many players who play this aggressively because they are trying to establish a table image and they think that I believe they don't have a hand at all, but in reality I'm not much concerned about their hand because I have a monster. The only people that I have seen that are consistantly succesful at being that aggressive are the large stacks because they have and extra factor of intimidation.

[Grand_MasterB]

A PFR % of 40% or even a little higher is what you should be playing at 6 max in my opinion

40% is a little high to play at all the time. If you arn't getting cards at all and you keep raising like this you will lose money over the long run. People will notice your constant raising and they will start to call all of them. You will end up with large multi-way pots that you either fold on or try and take down when nobody respects your raises. I have broken many players who play this aggressively because they are trying to establish a table image and they think that I believe they don't have a hand at all, but in reality I'm not much concerned about their hand because I have a monster. The only people that I have seen that are consistantly succesful at being that aggressive are the large stacks because they have and extra factor of intimidation.

see i think why i can pull of a 40%PFR is bc its online play. what i mean is i come to a table and do this for a while untill people start to notice. Then it takes them a little while to get annoyed and play back. Then i sit and wait for a big hand and if i dont get one soon i just leave and start it all over again at a new table! something you definately cant do live

[Wosco]

Of the hands you won, I have 6 where you had a good hand (either good starting hand or made a hand on the flop), made 4 draws, and only 3 pots won when you had nothing. Looks like a typical upswing to me. The cards were hitting a lot so you had a lot of confidence to keep betting. I don't think your profit came from your 3 bluffs, though. Your profit came from draws that hit or good starting hands.

[dalecooper]

Of the hands you won, I have 6 where you had a good hand (either good starting hand or made a hand on the flop), made 4 draws, and only 3 pots won when you had nothing. Looks like a typical upswing to me. The cards were hitting a lot so you had a lot of confidence to keep betting. I don't think your profit came from your 3 bluffs, though. Your profit came from draws that hit or good starting hands.

I didn't feel like including 15 or 20 hands where I raised pre-flop with nothing and stole. I did get some lucky hits and pretty good cards overall, but sometimes I got paid on those specifically because I was raising so much and taking so many pots, with or without cards.

[SmackinYaUp]

Yup. The image pays your real hands off so nicely. Plus its more fun playing like that.

[daluchy]

Hey. Good play. That aggressive style must payoff in these 6max's.

I have a couple ?'s for you from a guy just starting out

What hands do you usually raise besides the normal PP or TPTK hands when you are at the CO or earlier?

On the hand where you had pocket tens, what made you reraise the guy on the flop and turn when there was a potential straight on the flop and a card on the turn that could help a guy on the draw?

When you called an AI with 45. Did you read the guy had TPKP so the 45 wasn't that much of a dog or did you just call since it just would of been just the two of you in the hand.

Thanks in advance if you get a chance to answer these.

[dalecooper]

What hands do you usually raise besides the normal PP or TPTK hands when you are at the CO or earlier?

When I'm in this mode, I kind of randomize. I raise any of these from any seat: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, AK, AQ, AJ, AT, KQ. About half the time I'll raise with these: 99, 88, 77, KJ, KT, A9, A8. About a third of the time I raise any suited connectors or gappers at least as high as 45 or 46.

I haven't actually been keeping this aggressive lately, though. It's pretty easy to find a 6max table where a couple guys are already aggressive pre-flop, and lay back somewhat. If that's the case I raise less pre-flop, call more with suited connectors especially, and look for opportunities to take big pots off someone betting into me. If the flops are helpful you can almost make money faster playing like that - but you need at least one and ideally two aggressive people raising a lot of hands. If the table is more passive, I switch right into aggressive mode myself.

On the hand where you had pocket tens, what made you reraise the guy on the flop and turn when there was a potential straight on the flop and a card on the turn that could help a guy on the draw?

I re-raised the flop because it was all undercards, and I figured his lead-out bet meant he had a pair to the board or a straight draw. Either way I wasn't letting him off cheap. I didn't like the turn card, but he checked and I wanted to keep my position of strength in the hand. When he also checked the river I was content to check behind. Basically my $7 bet on the turn was going to be his payoff if he made the straight, but otherwise it was a warning signal to him not to try to bluff me.

When you called an AI with 45. Did you read the guy had TPKP so the 45 wasn't that much of a dog or did you just call since it just would of been just the two of you in the hand.

I put him on two overcards (as is often the case with short stacks going all in) and figured I wasn't much of a dog, plus it was a great table image play. It makes you look like a nut to raise and then call an all-in with 45o. If you win, even better.

[wonderboy905]

I don't mind predictability. Raising all my playable hands the same amount and betting the same into every pot disguises my hands completely. If they choose to play back at me, they take the risk that I have a real hand and will break them; if they keep laying down, I keep profiting. It's win-win for me.

I'm fairly new to this game but have decided against using your strategy. Mainly because, although it may be difficult to get a read on your hand, it's also difficult for you to maximize the pot. My pre-flop raises are now 2/3rds of the pot to 3-4x the BB. I find being unpredictable early and getting exposed on some early bluffs (large pre-flop raise - then showing nothing - pending a smallish pot) might get 1 or 2 others to consistantly call my raises, which is exactly what I want in late position after seeing them just call around to me pre-flop when I hold some goods.

[Rondavu]

I don't mind predictability.

I'm not that concerned with "inducing bets from other people." In this session I came close to tripling my money in 40 minutes of play, and quite a lot of that came from picking up anywhere from 50 cents to 2 or 3 dollars in a series of small pots that no one else felt like fighting over.

Right on dude. Good poker is all about a lot of small pots. Your style is almost identical to mine. More often than not, when you get into the "induction" frame of mind it burns you. The reason for this is when you induce people to bet, you are denying yourself information. (Who knows if their big bet is exploiting your false weakness or betting a true monster?) If you can get past being predictable, you'll find yourself with better reads, and a more cunning ability to escape bad situations.

Besides that, you can break up a pattern of predictability fairly easily by getting eratic for a few hands raising 67 offsuit or bluffing someone out and showing. You stay out of trouble and confuse. Not a bad plan.

As an aside, I wonder how many people in here actually know who Dale Cooper is.

[SmackinYaUp]

More often than not, when you get into the "induction" frame of mind it burns you. The reason for this is when you induce people to bet, you are denying yourself information. (Who knows if their big bet is exploiting your false weakness or betting a true monster?) If you can get past being predictable, you'll find yourself with better reads, and a more cunning ability to escape bad situations.

Could you please explain this more? The way I play gets me a lot of action and it makes it difficult to sometimes put people on hands because so many people are now willing to push with top pair jack kicker that I get into many sticky situations.

As an aside, I wonder how many people in here actually know who Dale Cooper is.

Its Alice Cooper's long forgotten twin brother. He plays for a mariachi band in Mexico City for a couple pesos a day. Not a way to get rich, but I'm sure he is happy.

[daluchy]

I didn't wanna quote your quote of my quotes so here's for just saying thanks:

Thanks Dave.

Your answers were very helpful.

[Rondavu]

More often than not, when you get into the "induction" frame of mind it burns you. The reason for this is when you induce people to bet, you are denying yourself information. (Who knows if their big bet is exploiting your false weakness or betting a true monster?) If you can get past being predictable, you'll find yourself with better reads, and a more cunning ability to escape bad situations.

Could you please explain this more? The way I play gets me a lot of action and it makes it difficult to sometimes put people on hands because so many people are now willing to push with top pair jack kicker that I get into many sticky situations.

Here's an example...

You get QQ. You raise it preflop and get a caller. He's holding 66. The flop comes out (8c 6s Jd). You check, and 66 guy bets 1/2 pot. You call thinking he has a J. The turn comes (Tc) and you check again. He bets huge, and you reraise him all in thinking he's trying to exploit your weakness.

Now if you had bet out the flop 1/2 pot, he would have called or maybe even done you a favor by re-raising huge or going all in. Then you could lay down your QQ after recieving good information. The least that would have happened, is he would have raised you all in after you bet the turn when he saw the board straightening. That's good information you miss out on when you try to induce bets.

In this scenerio, I'm happy with a small pot when the flop doesn't hit him.