General casino preflop strategy

[pat3392]

I've been playing at my local casino with very good success, until last night... There was a different breed of players there, which I don't think my strategy against them was optimal. They were the stereotypical fun, recreational players that have little experience and were there for a good time. Some were more experienced but they still had the loose/passive streak, with a prone to gamble.

I used to play a very tight, nitty game against these opponents but have realised that I can get away with playing stuff like KT if they are limping K4..... I was playing live MTT for awhile with a bunch of friendly/passive old folks where I could raise stuff like KT over limps, for a good profit + I had a rather annoying problem of everyone folding whenever I entered a pot, by raising these hands I was getting a lot of action.

So I tried to do this the other night and it failed pretty badly. I was getting a ton of callers, 4-5 way. They were calling with the most craziest of hands which made my eyes almost fell out of my head numerous times. I told myself that, "I should still raise these hands because look what they're calling with!!" The thing is though, they didn't seem to go to the showdown without some sort of hand, unless they were doing some fancy bluff. There idea of "some sort of hand" was probably a fairly low standard though


I think there's 3 general preflop strategys I can do against such players:


Play a nitty/tight aggressive game. Whenever I haven't played a hand for 2 or so orbits look for a spot to bluff, whether it be pre or post flop and SHOW the bluff. Hopefully they'll feel real stupid for folding to my bluff and be prone to call lighter to get even, only I'll have a real hand waiting for them then. I'll probably try talking a ton since that would make me look like I'm a lot more active than I actually am.

Play a loose aggressive game. The problem with this, is that my post flop game/ reading skills are far from great. For example, I was in a 6 way pot, the BB with J-rag and the flop comes JJ2, I lead out after folding 1 or 2 orbits, clearly a check here was best.... When I say loose aggressive I mean raise suited connectors, PP and broad way cards, and a looser range over 1/2 weak limpers when in good position.

Play a loose passive game. When I say loose passive I mean try to get involved with hands that have potential. If they are limping K4 I think folding KT is a mistake, but raising can get in tricky spots under certain circumstances, so why not simply limp with it? Same with PP/ suited connectors.


I think my aggressive game is best against the gentleman who play with scared money.

By the way, I should mention that some of the games I play in are only 50BB deep... How should my preflop game differ with this in mind?

 

[SlySwagga]

I might be completely wrong on this but i'll give u my perspective anyway. The flop will tell u everything u need to know in live poker, unless....ur on a decent flush draw. Decent meaning no baby flushes. 10 or better. Then u might wanna call or re-raise to see 4th street and the river. Otherwise, tight-agressive is the best way to pick those players apart.

Let em gamble w each other's money dont let em pull u in.

 

[ProGuy]

I played today at the local casino and won about 300 dollars after buying in with 275 dollars. My table was the typical Saturday afternoon table, folks there to see cheap flops and gamble. If I raised, generally three or four people called, if I limped the whole table limped. I also like using small raises at very loose tables, instead of the typical 12-15 dollar preflop raise, I may choose 7 dollars.

At these types of tables I like to remember two things, number one I'm the better player so the more flops we see the more money I'll make in general. Number two, raise only with premium hands because you'll get tons of action anway. I was somewhat card dead during the middle of the session or I would've won more money.

Now at an aggresive table you've got to play totally different. Position becomes much more critical and playing connectors oop doesn't work so well. It just depends on the table at a casino, you should get a feel for the table after thirty minutes.