SIn city Poker Blog: How to beat 1-2 NL games (Playing against bad play...

SIn city Poker Blog: How to beat 1-2 NL games (Playing against bad play...:   It’s ironic but to me one of hardest things to do in NL poker is beat a field of bad players. It sounds like it should be easy, but ba...

How to beat 1-2 NL games (Playing against bad players)

 

It’s ironic but to me one of hardest things to do in NL poker is beat a field of bad players. It sounds like it should be easy, but bad players can actually be more frustrating to play than more talented ones. Many bad players don’t understand the intricacies of the game. They don’t see the value in building a pot or folding a draw. All they know is “ALL IN” or fold. A while back I was having difficulties beating a local 1-2 NL game. It was so annoying because I knew that about 8 out of 10 of the players were terrible. The most frustrating thing is that they were terrible in a knitty way They could never bet their hand but they could always call. Many times these players would limp for $2 get raised to $15 and still make the call. It drove me nuts trying to figure out if I was value betting or bluffing. I tinkered with a few different strategies to try to get the most value from the game. Finally after some trial and error I think I have come up with a sound strategy for beating your typical Vegas tourist low limit NL game. I started following these simple rules a couple months ago and have started seeing longer winning streaks and bigger winning sessions.

Rule #1
See as many flops as possible for as cheap as possible - It was once said about the great Stu Unger that he played every hand at the table but the pots he won were bigger. In this day in age almost every player that sits down at a 1-2 NL game has some idea about pre-flop play. A lot of them are of the “I never win with this hand” mindset. They don’t know about isolating and protecting pre flop. What they are trying to do Pre flop is either see a flop for the minimum or go all in. Let me know if this sounds familiar, a player limps for $2 the pot gets raised to $10 and they ship for $100. If you haven’t then consider yourself lucky. Many solid players will sit down and try to bully these guys by making large pre flop raises, but what I have learned is that it’s almost futile to do this because they are intent on seeing the flop they can care less about the price pre. I have found many times that it is much more effective to play smaller pots pre flop with them, knowing full well that they are not experienced enough to play post flop. especially if your in position. If you do this you have to understand that this doesn’t mean that you don’t raise your big hands your simply opening up your pre flop range. Be prepared to raise and fold as well because many of these players will only raise with big pocket pairs. A lot of times I will limp from early with hands like A-10 A-J K-Q Q-J suited. To add deception and keep out of position pots small. In position I will open raise with these hands. This leads me to lesson #2

Rule #2.
C bet selectively - This could almost be number 1 because it is so important. They way poker has evolved evening the most novice player now understands the concept of Continuation betting. They expect that the raiser is going to bet the flop most times. Because of this I want to keep these guys guessing, a lot of times you will be playing with calling stations who are more then happy to check call you with top pair on the flop. It’s very situational dependent. If I’m heads up with a guy I’m going to C bet much more than if there are 4 people in the hand. The one certainty is that I will C bet almost every semi bluff. For two reasons.

1.To build a pot in case I get there

2.To make one bet that might get me all the way to the river. If you are playing correctly your opponents should never know quite know when your going to C bet. A lot of times because of this your Pre flop raise will allow you to get control of the pot at least until the turn.

Rule #3
Make Hero folds - it’s funny because this used to be one of the hardest things for me to do in NL. All of us who cut our teeth playing limit have been there before. We flop a strong hand but a flush draw is on the board. We bet the flop get called the turn is a blank we bet get called the river is the flush card and our opponent comes out betting. It seems so hard to lay down our top 2. I can think of so many times that I would agonize and level myself into making the call knowing full well that I was beat. In these type of games many of the players play with their cards face up. In fact the mere bet size is a clear indication that the player has made their hand. For example they will go all in for $100 but there is only $40 in the pot. I decided to start using it to my advantage. These type of opponents have been told over and over that the way to win at NL hold em is to wait patiently for a good hand and play it strong. Many times they are only playing the strength of their hand and they can’t wait to show it off. Occasionally you will have to throw away some winners see my (Straight hand)but that’s okay in the long run you will irate and frustrate your opponent who are constantly looking to get action when they make a hand.
Rule # 4
Keep control of pot sizes - If you want to have a good laugh try this some times in one of these games. Make the minimum bet into the pot every now and then. Watch how many people just call. To me the reason why position is so important is because you have a better chance of controlling the size of the pot. This is why I won’t raise with some hands from early position that I would raise with from late position. If you are playing your best your should have no problem controlling pot sizes in these games, in fact many times your opponents are so happy to win a pot they can care less about the size of it. Try to keep your winning pots bigger than your losers. This means avoiding expensive draws even after you called a raise pre flop. While you might miss out on some action you should be more than able to make up the difference by manipulating your opponents. Because so many of your opponents will be taking passive aggressive lines, you will have a great chance to build you winning pots while at the same time minimizing your loosing pots. Think about it if your opponents are constantly checking to you, you have the power to decide when money goes into the pot and when it doesn’t.

Let's Be Honest

The thing I hate most in this world is a liar, im talking about the type of person that is a complete stranger to the truth. Some people would say that it is pretty ironic that I play poker for a living. However it’s my general belief that to be a successful poker player one must be honest with themselves. Constantly lying to yourself about how unlucky you are is a very poor way to improve your game. A great example of this is a session I was in a few weeks back at Monte Carlo. It was a lively Vegas Friday night and I was in a pretty loose 1-2 game. There was a young kid in the game who seemed to be a novice to the game. His dad who was playing in another 1-2 game behind us kept giving him instructions about how his son should play. “Tight, Tight, Stay Tight” His dad would say. The Irony in that being that pops seemed to be a loose cannon, you could hear him at the other table drinking and laughing it up, in fact it seemed like there weren’t many hands that Pops missed playing. The kid must have inherited his dads confidence because for a little over an hour he had a good run, but he certainly wasn’t playing tight. He won some small pots and built his stack. Then he doubled up after baiting a euro into calling an All - in bet on the river with a paired board and 3 spades. The kid won nearly $200 on that hand and it looked like it was going to be a good night for him. During his run we got mixed up in small pot and I folded post flop. The kid brimming with confidence looked at me and started talking a little smack, nothing disrespectful just the kind of cocky bravado you would expect from a young novice. I told him he could have all the small ones I would keep the big ones. He chuckled until a few hands later we got mixed up in a big one. I had about $350 to start the hand and the kid was down to around $125. As I always do I straddled on the button for $4 the kid limped in along with 5 other players. I looked down @ KK. I decided to raise it to $28 to thin the field. The blinds folded, the kid called and everyone behind him folded. The flop comes down 8s-7d-4d. Not the greatest flop for kings but I’m probably still ahead. To my surprise the kid led out for $10. This seemed like a funny bet so I decided to raise for value and I made to $30 to go. The kid called and the turn is 3c. The kid checks and I decide to ship to shut any draw out. The kid tank calls and the river brings an Ad a Pretty bad card for my hand unless your opponent is a complete fish that called a preflop raise and two streets on this board holding no Ace or no Diamonds but this is Vegas and as sure as I’m writing this the Kid turns over J-8 off for top pair I show my Kings and scoop the money effectively ending his night. As he makes the walk of shame back to his dad’s table his dad starts asking him about how he went bust. “ I got my money in with top pair” He said. “What the other guy have?” asked dad “ I don’t remember” “TWO KINGS” I shouted across the room making sure pops heard me loud and clear”. “He didn’t raise with two Kings? Asked Pop “DID” I shouted back. “It was a small raise” Said the kid “7X THE BLIND” I hollered back. After a little more father son talk about poker the dad came over to me and said “Thanks for letting me know about that I had a suspicion he wasn’t being honest about all his losses”.  

Lederer discusses post UGIA act decisions

Howard Lederer speaks

I hit the Royal Flush jackpot at Bally's !

I leave out of the house to play some poker this past Tuesday, I headed to Monte Carlo with the hopes of playing in one of their super soft 1-2 games, however when I got there they didn’t have a game going. Feeling adventurous I decided to drive down to the M and play over there. Sure enough when I get to the M they don’t have a game. Now I decide that the Luxor will be a good place to play so I race back North hoping to finally find a 1-2 game in this town. While on the 15 I saw a sign for Bally’s casino, I figured what the hell I play at Bally’s on a regular, I know they will have a game going. I drive over to Bally’s to look for a seat, on their board under interest list instead of having a list of players names they had a list of their royal flush payouts. Jokingly I tell the floor man “I’m interested in the spades royal flush” we both shared a laugh and he showed me to my seat. I played for about 10 min when I was dealt K-10 of spades from UTG. I opened for $7 and got called in a few spots. The flop came Js - Jd 9h I lead out with the gut shot and get called in one spot. The turn is the Qd and I make the straight. My opponent leads out for about a 1/3 of his stack and I put him all in. He shows 10 - 8 for the low end of the straight. Elated to have him drawing dead I wait for the meaningless river card. It is the As the gin card of all gin cards. Initially I didn’t even realize I made a royal I was just happy to take down an all in pot. The dealer quickly brought it to my attention and it suddenly dawned on me that I was about to get $3692. After providing my I.D and signing a few forms the floor man came over and paid me in chips. I got up cashed out tipped the dealers and headed home cause that’s as good as it gets.

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Got two Kings but I'm Wayyyyy behind.

I’m playing 1 - 2 NL at the Golden Nugget in a wild cash game during Labor day weekend. The kind of game that we dream about. Where 3 bet and 4 bet action pre had become common place. I bought in for $200 and after a few hours in the game I had run my stack up to about $500. I looked down at my cards UTG and saw that I was holding KK. I decided to just limp because I was positive there would be a re-raise a few others limped in and the HJ made it $17. The cutoff and the button were two drunks who called everything and that didn’t change on this hand. The SB also called. When it got back around to me I made it $54 to go in an attempt to thin the field. The original raiser then went into the tank, speech, shove act for a total of $186. During this time I started realizing that I might have been dealt the ultimate set up. I thought for a second then decided to stick with my gut and show the two kings and fold. The table sat in shocked silence, as if I had just shown them pornographic material. After the hand was over came a ton of speculation. The 4 bet shover played it up for the crowd saying things like “ Well I had one over” and “Can’t believe I get this much respect” I felt good about the lay down though. My new table buddy “Green Shirt Bob” begin a dialogue about the hand. Bob was convinced that the villian had A -Q. Bob also left Vegas down just a little under 6k in three days playing 1-2NL so consider the source. I tried to explain to him that I don’t think that was possible and that I made the only play that I could make and here are the reasons why.

1. Table Image - While the table had been very loose this particular player was a calling station. Up until this time he had only raised into un opened pots and had yet to put in any type of 3bet let alone a 4bet. So when he decides to 4 bet in this spot I figure that he has to have a huge hand.

2. The action - Because I limped from UTG the strength of my hand is disguised pretty well, but when I 3bet from out of position, I am beginning to turn my hand face up. Even a seasoned rec player will start to realize that my hand is probably pretty strong, also the rec player is less likely to want to put more money into the pot unless he really has a strong hand. So when he 4bets after the way the action goes he is essentially turning his hand face up.

3. The speech - I’m not Mike Caro but I do know that in all the years that I have played poker I can count on one hand the times I have seen a player give a long drawn out speech and then shove without holding it. To be honest if that guy would have just put his money in and said nothing I would have probably just snapped and taken my medicine. But his speech made me leery. With the way the action was going and because of our stack sizes it felt like a Hollywood speech.

When you stop and add these reasons up it is a pretty simple decision. While I was completely happy with my decision I must say that it did feel good to have the guy come over to me after he cashed out and say “ Hey man I had AA on that hand good laydown, I don’t know how you did it” Well sir the answer is right in front of you.

Bruce Williams is a Vegas grinder that is a regular in poker communities all over the city. Visit pokersteamroom.com to find the best tournaments and cash games throughout the Vegas. The Sin City poker blog brings insight about the everyday grind.