Generating randomness to mix up your play

I play live 90% of the time.

I flat bet pre-flop to the extreme. Pre flop in an unraised/limped pot, I bet 2.5 the BB just about any time I enter the pot. AA? 2.5xbb, On the button with 89s? 2.5xbb. JJ?... Well, you get the picture.

I've done pretty well with this but I would like to be able to mix up my pre-flop betting a bit. I'd really like to float a larger bet with TT or JJ (even QQ) to thin the field. I rarely make steal attempts and I think I should try it more often (not VERY often).

What I'm thinking about is introducing some randomness into my betting pattern. I've heard of people using the second hand of a watch to help generate randomness but I don't wear a watch. What I was thinking is using some dice as card protectors and figuring out some values to use for "raise 3x", "raise 4x", "Steal" etc...

What would be a good bet distribution?
80% 2.5x
15% 3x
5% 4x

Steal 5% (10%)?

WaldoRood

You shouldn't be playing *all* hands with the 80/20/15/5 ratios. Hand values change the percentages, as does position.

In Harrington on Hold'em, says raise 80% of the time and just call 20% with Q/Q, K/K, or A/A.
Of that 80% you raise, you raise 3xbb 35%, 4xbb 35%, 2xbb 15%, and 5xbb 15%.

With smaller pairs he limps more often. For example, with 7/7 in early position he'll raise 20% of the time and call 80%. In late position he'll raise 75% and call 25%.

Of course this is is tournament strategy, and I have not read his ring game books yet.

Also, if you're playing dolts just bet big when you have a hand. Mixing up your play keeps the pot smaller with some of your good hands and makes the pot bigger for some of your smaller hands. This is a sacrifice you make to confuse observant players. But if your players aren't going to pick up on that, changing up your game too much just decreases your expected return.

SavagePenguin said:

Also, if you're playing dolts just bet big when you have a hand. Mixing up your play keeps the pot smaller with some of your good hands and makes the pot bigger for some of your smaller hands. This is a sacrifice you make to confuse observant players. But if your players aren't going to pick up on that, changing up your game too much just decreases your expected return.

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From my experience at low stakes, this is sooooo true. Most people at this level are only concerned with their own two cards, barely paying any attention to your betting styles.

waldorood said:

I've heard of people using the second hand of a watch to help generate randomness but I don't wear a watch.

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You can also uses board card suits to mix your betting up. They suggest this at a training site I belong to, but haven't tried it yet. Base it on which suit comes out first etc. Or just make up your own pattern.

IMO the best way to randomize your play is to use the cards themselves. say if you want to raise AK 50% of the time to 5x and the other times to 3x. Then make it a rule when your dealt AK in that order raise 5x if your dealt it KA then make it 3x. you can do things like raise red 8's preflop. if you get 56s instead of 65s your can play it differently. this way its the cards making it random.

I like using the card order/color. Much less cumbersome than my silly dice idea. Although the dice make nice card protectors

I messed around with it a little last night and it's pretty much unworkable.

As to people not paying attention. I hope that's the case when I visit Vegas in a few weeks. This idea was mainly for local league play where I see the same faces week after week. You start to get a solid read on the better players and vice-versa.

Thanks!