02-16-05, LearnTexasHoldem:
Really Loose Limit Holdem Games
I play holdem about 3 times a week. Usually at a friends house with a bunch of kids from school. We usually play NL holdem (a buy-in) I usually do fairly well, only loosing about 25% of the time. I have been to a card club recently playing 2/4 limit. I have played that about 5 times in the card rooms. One thing i can't seem to do is win. I think my play is fairly decent, it is just very hard to change my style to suit all these bad players. Last time i was there I held pocket Jacks. So I raised preflop. The kid next to me re-raises. everyone folded except 1 other who called and me. (so there are 3 ppl in the pot) flop comes 662. Round of betting. turn was a 10. river was a 5. I had top pair. Thought it was good b/c there were 2 raises pre flop. I turn over my jacks, kid to the left of me who re-raised preflop turned over poket Kings (Not bad) and the other guy turns over 62 off suit. He floped trips. He called 2 raises pre flop with 62 off. That stuff happend all day. There was not a hand he didnt play, or call it seemed like. If someone checked he would always bet (Alot of the time not having anything)
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Thanks for your time and hope to here from you.
Tyler
Answer: What you are experiencing is common. When you are use to playing in one type of game and switch to another where people are much better or much worse then it is hard to find the winning formula. In really loose low limit holdem games like the $2/4 you are playing in, most people won't know what they are doing. They call too much preflop, too much on the flop and it is almost impossible to read them since they don't even know what they have.
Hand selection will change in these loose games; mid pairs go down in value since you most likely have to hit one on the flop to win, big pairs rarely win, and suited cards go up in value. I want to be cautious about giving you advice here that you might apply in the wrong way but I'll go ahead regardless. In games where more than 4 or 5 people see the flop each time, you need to stop looking for AA and start looking for bigger flops. Play more hands with position. For example, play J9s, T8s, Axs, Kxs, etc in the back. I would play any two suited cards that are two gappers (46s, 35s, 97s, etc).
If it is very loose, I might even play these hands in the front -- just make sure you pay attention to when the game tightens back up. Another piece of advice I can give is see the turn card if I only costs you one or two bets. Often times you pick up a profitable draw on the turn since the pots are always so huge. You want hands that when they hit, they will be very strong.
Now obviously a hand like 62 won't ever get enough action to make worth playing, we are talking about hands like a suited king or a suited ace that have big flush power. Another thing to keep in mind is that the looser the game is the more fluctuation you'll have in your bank roll. You can easily go up or down 3 racks in a session. Most good size pots in the those games are over a rack anyway.
The danger of me telling you all this stuff is that you are going to get off to the wrong start with holdem and try to play this loosely in other games like no limit or higher stakes. Remember that how loose you play depends solely on how loose everyone else at the table is playing. When they tighten up, you'll need to as well or you'll get stomped.
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