How do you play loose passive tables?

I'm used to playing online where the tables are generally tight with the exception of one or two players everyonce in a while being loose or just plain bad.

However at my local casino I was playing a $4/$8 limit holdem game and besides me there was one maybe two other solid players everyone else was just plain bad.

I only won one pot, two if you count the one I split.

In the split pot im in BB with K9o flop comes K72. I bet and get three callers. The turn is a jack. I bet again and get two callers. The river is a 2. I bet and get raised by UTG other player folds and I call. He has K3o and we split the pot. The other player commented, "good raise I had k3 also".

In the hand I actually won, and got paid off nicely, I was in small blind with 53 of hearts and I flopped a flush. My flop bet got called by several players and was called to the river by J4o (bottom pair and flush draw)

Bad beats included, me in BB with T2o and flop comes TT6 I bet and get 3 or 4 callers. Turn was 9 so I check fearing better ten or maybe straight or something but everyone else checks behind. River is queen I bet all but one folds who calls and turns over KJ for a straight.

AA second to act and i raise player a few seats from me peeks at his cards and his eyes lit up and he calls. Flop is 522. I bet he raises so I'm puting him on over pair of some kind but to play it safe i just call down. He has Q2 suited.

Last hand for the night I have KK UTG and raise. I get two or three callers. CO calls with 96o and BB calls 95o and they split pot when board reads 9948Q.

I saw many people catching cards with bad hands like T4o 82s 94s basically any two suited cards but i can remember 82 making two pair, T4o (from the button) making a wheel. T6 calling with bottom pair making trips on the river.

At a table this loose you cant except your pairs to hold up. You can against maybe one or two such players but when there are 3 or 4 calling down they are going to suckout much of the time.

So is it best to play alot of drawing hands suited connectors and such since straights and flushes seem to be the big money winners at a table like that. And treat AA and KK like a drawing hand (drawing to a full house)?

Marklar said:

In the split pot im in BB with K9o flop comes K72. I bet and get three callers. The turn is a jack. I bet again and get two callers. The river is a 2. I bet and get raised by UTG other player folds and I call. He has K3o and we split the pot.

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You should have won this hand
22KJ9 vs. 22KJ7

I almost always try to play the opposite of the majority of the table. So in a scenario like this your tight aggressive style was correct (EDIT: Always aggressive but tight or loose depending on table). However your level of aggression must not have been. If you are getting 3 or 4 callers with your raises then you are not betting enough. Don't play out of a book. Most of what you read and learn is meant to apply to a table full of solid players.

With most hands we want to isolate only one villain. Preflop betting is the only way to do that. The other players at the table will dictate how much of a raise it will take to accomplish this.

I agree with tosborn. You really need to be able to read your opponents and use position to your advantage. Sometimes i feel like you need more skill to play and win against bad players! (and patience!)

Yeah 4/8 isn't much better than 3/6 tables, the differance is just richer calling stations.

Position, position and position, tight aggressive and in this kind of situation you absoultlely HAVE to be able to read players. Punish them with bets and re-raises if you have the nut and fold anything if you think you're beat.

Patience, position and punish/fold, if you're luck is bad leave the table. If you are catching and winning don't relent or slowplay make them fear you with aggression. Can't emphasise enough though if you're losing on a 3/6 or 4/8 table, QUIT! There are so many calling stations and gamblers in these games that the luck factor is proportinately higher than in a game where experianced players are playing "correct" poker.

It's harder to read players on low limit vilotile tables, but it's a GREAT place to practice getting reads on players, tells and body language are more pronounced in the inexperianced, when you step up to higher levels what you learn here is less pronounced in the advanced player but sometimes just the smallest clue can give you a great read.

If you are getting 3 or 4 callers with your raises then you are not betting enough.

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It's a limit game, not No limit.

Missed it. Sorry.:damnmate:

So is it best to play alot of drawing hands suited connectors and such since straights and flushes seem to be the big money winners at a table like that

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NO. PASSIVE PLAYERS GIVE NO IMPLIED odds. PLAY POSITION. STICK TO MONSTERS.

LOVE, JOOSE

how do you consider yourself better than the other players if you only won two hands?

i dont think that's a fair question, and I cant give a good answer considering that I dont know the exact win/lose ratio because I'm not sure how many hands I played.

Play aggressively in time you will crush the game it's easy.

These are the best game's you can play in because people are just offering their chips for for grabs. It's annoying sometimes when you have ak suited and everyone limps in you raise everyone calls and the flops come 7-4-8 then 2 and you know some donk has 2 pair so you give up and of course the river is a queen. But take pride in these games these are your customers and treat them as such. When you are in position 7 -9 and more limpers and you have qq jam it up soon enough you will flop q-a-2 and some average player will have made top pair with a-3 off suit or better yet 3 or more callers with k4-a3-k-9 it's crazy the hands these players play. If the improve to a pair they will call you all the way down and your set will win unless they catch the flush. The flush is another big hand to win in this game as donkeys play 7-4 hearts often all you have to do is wait for the read and have aj hearts and slow play it make the fish think he has the nuts and check raise him on the river.:shakehand

I have some advice for you...When you raise, and 2,3 or 4 players call, you need to slow down your action(only if you have monster hand or nuts, continue bets)...There is a big chance that your oponnents have pair in hands and hit three of a kind...It is most difficult to read...but like i said, you need to be very careful, you need to know that you can't win every hand...sometimes FOLD is very good decision.

flynrench said:

I agree with tosborn. You really need to be able to read your opponents and use position to your advantage. Sometimes i feel like you need more skill to play and win against bad players! (and patience!)

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Yes, we need to read the opponents and use position to your advantages sometime.

My advice would be TAG and in position.

I play live limit a lot and it's pretty entertaining. It's just as Marklar stated. Maybe a couple ok players and the rest play their two cards and the board. Almost no thought to what everyone else has. Limp in late a lot and bet for valve. You're going to get run down sometimes, but will get paid off on mediocre hands. If anyone is interested I actually started a blog on this very subject. http://livelowlimitpoker.blogspot.com/

It's really truth that the most oponents don't think what's another players have.
So posittion,stack and reading - important part of the game

This is a real old thread from back when I was a noob. Thanks for bringing up these horrible memories

But the answer is simple, play TAG in position and play smart. And always value bet to maximize the winners.

For my tables passive play has its benefits though we know that most passive tables only play with good hands.

in LHE you're still going to be mathematically restricted in regards to what you can play pre. i wouldn't adjust your starting standards from online at all, except maybe in capping less against guys that are only 3-betting QQ+ (and these guys should be apparent).

I agree , you need to watch how the others are playing, and it also is good to try and see if there is a pattern on the flops, and use that
It is good to switch up how you play to, don't keep doing the same thing, or you can be easily read

i play old people who have nothing to do so they sit down and have no clue at hardrock lol is quite funny honestly is usually no good players at all some lucky ones but usually can find a table of fish. I think worst day on boat or hardrock or dog track in tampa ever was 240 win.

They just dont fold haha. I once won 15 str8 hands on boat and the sixteenth I lost and still called out to river lol
was like they were a the point that didnt care just wanted to say beat me one time lmfao

i dont change my game once is based on instinct and mix it up depending on level of who I face.

I am sure is some good players at hard rock or at the dog track not on the boats for sure though but mostly they are not much better than the average guy who plays a weekly bar league lol.

But you have these old people if everyone knew how many played the way the do florida would grow and hardrock probably get some real pros full time lol.

So seriously easy money I go on boats more than hard rock or dog track am sure is pros just when go to those places is late usually midnight etc.. im missing the regs etc..

Anyway advice is to be SERIOUS
any table I sit at online or off I try to patiently watch a bit before choose my path. I dont mind folding for awhile and seeing the play level than adjusting choosing my strategy moving forward so to fold out a couple rounds? Just smart live for me. I usually have total feel on complete table by that time.

Then go to work exploit them their style by yours.

Vs. loose passive table:
- dont try to bluff too much. Bluff very little indeed. They will call a lot with weak hands, catching your bluffs. And bluffs with very high raise are not profitable. So always think twice before bluffing.
- they will call with draws a lot. Select proper bet-sizing and get some value from their uncatched draws.
- expect a lot of weak Ax on their side, be ready and again, go for value with right cards.

So value with good cards. Cheap showdown with the rest.