Big Limit Hold Em

[cardcounter0]

Consider the 95o hand in the big blind posted about before.

Except now you are playing $30/$60.

Typical Play:
It folds around to the cutoff, who raises (he has been very aggressive lately stealing the blinds, could have a wide range of hands).
Button and small blind fold.
You call.

Flop comes K 7 5.

You bet. CO raises. You 3-bet. CO sheepishly shows AQo and folds.
You collect $130 in profit. This would not be that unusual here, but you would never see it at $4/$8.

Winning 3 BigBets/hour at $4/8 = $24. Winning 1/6 as much at $30/60 due to the better players and more aggressive play = .5 BigBets/hour = $30. You are better off playing the higher limits, if you have the skills to do so.

Low Limits is Level 1 thinking game "What do I have" with a little Level 2 thrown in "What do I think the other guy has".

Higher Limits is Level 3 "What does the other guy thinks I have" and Level 4 "What does the other guy think I think he has" ...

Hand Analysis:

The really only bad move would be calling the raise with 95o preflop, although meta-game that move isn't bad. Blind stealing is a big factor in these games, and sometimes you have to call a raise to show you can't be picked off that easy every time.
In order for a player to determine his hand range to use to steal blinds, he factors in the % of time the blinds will fold to a raise and the raiser wins out right. By calling and defending, you serve notice your BB is not easy pickings, so in future rounds that player might tighten up his range and you don't find yourself facing a raise in the BB every round.

Heads up, you flopped a pair, you are actually better off than you think. Now if you check, the raiser is naturally going to continuation bet, you have no idea if you are good. So you bet, which says you hit the flop. The original raiser re-raises to see where he is at, this all pretty much standard.

Now the 3-bet. Time for the 3-level thinking. With the K on the flop, the hands you are really worried about are AA, AK, KK, KQ. Baysian probabilities make KK the most unlikely. You are actually in pretty good position, you have 5 outs against AA, AK, KQ -- if not the best hand. So the 3-bet is more of a semi-bluff. You are representing the King. Notice you can get better hands like QQ, JJ, TT, 99 to lay down a good portion of the time. AQ, AJ, AT has to think (as in this case) that their outs have just been cut in half. If you have the King they have to hit an Ace, their other 3 outs are dead. By 3-betting they are looking at having to pay on future streets to try to hit.

If they have also hit, you will probably be able to tell by future aggression and can lay down or go into check/call mode, but the point of be more careful trying to steal my blind has been made. Either way, you have taken control of the hand.

Thoughts from any one who plays bigger than $10/$20???

[moo321]

I don't think a lot of people here play higher than 10-20...

[N&B]

2nd that, and also 40/80 is pro-only... knowing the TV pro's are likely playing. GL.

[cardcounter0]

Originally Posted by N&B

2nd that, and also 40/80 is pro-only... knowing the TV pro's are likely playing. GL.

That's funny. 40/80 games run continiously at the Commerce Casino in LA, It can be found at the Borgata in AC, The Bay 101 up by San Fran, and The Canterbury Club in Minn. Of course, it can also be found at the Bellagio in LV. Sometimes it gets spread at the Wynn, Mirage, and CP. It used to run regularly at Foxwoods, not sure if they still spread it.

The Hustler Casino in Calif. has just started up a 50/100 game.

With all these 40/80 games running around the clock across the country, when do these TV pro's have time to be on TV?

Most of the pro's I see like playing high/low Omaha, or mixed games like H.O.S.E or H.O.R.S.E

Here was a description of the Hustler 50/100 game:
Re: 50-100 Limit Hold'em being spread at the Hustler Casino Today:
3 of the guys were very solid TAG, there were 2 other fairly decent players, and 1 LAGgy fishy guy and 1 more passive fishy guy who left not too long after I got there.

Hmmm.. no mention of anyone having been on teevee.

[cardcounter0]

From a poker BB: THE 40/80 GAME IS RUNNING AGAIN AT FOXWOODS
(I noticed no mention of any "TV pros")


40/80 Hold'em at Foxwoods
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The game has been steady for a few days now. Pots are swelling with plenty of 10 chips.

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If it stays going during the week I might consider a trip to foxwoods. Although its almost twice as far as AC and bridge tolls are a killer.

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i have seen the 50/100 going off on friday afternoons too

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But who's playing?

Aren't the better 20/40 players now playing the 40/80?

Or have the rich fish moved up as well?

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I started it on wed. and saturday.

We had a healthy flow of randoms drop by and leave 1 - 3k. It is on the cusp of becoming a regular game.

Lately when we get it going it goes 18 plus hours

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last night Tommy Pizza was in the game and Ray joined around 9 or 10 when the game was down to 5 handed. the addition of ray made it jump to 8 or 9 handed.

there were some better regular 20/40 players but an equal number of 20/40 fish. VERY JUICY GAME much of the night. massive pots.

[cardcounter0]

40/80 game at the Taj in AC (still no mention of TV pros):

After a short walk on the boardwalk and a few bottles of water to sober up, I wander back into the poker room expecting to play some 20/40. But what's this...there's actually a 40 game running...at the Taj? I sweat the game for a while before deciding I'm sober enough and the game is good enough for me to jump in...so I sit back at Table 24 with two racks of yellow. We play 8 handed for a while and the game is so-so to good. One guy I've seen playing big at the Borgata wants to play bigger, as does a stuck Asian, but I tell them I won't as I'm not rolled to play anything bigger. They look at me like I'm an *******, but life goes on. Overall, the experience is much more pleasant than the 20 game...no yelling, no fighting...just a lot or betting. After a while, the Borgata guy tells us he's leaving up unless we play bigger, I again refuse, and he leaves on the next down. The game gets a little short when I see a guy that I played with in the 20 game the night before in the bathroom. Four things to know about this guy:

1) He won a tourney for $13K two nights earlier
2) He hasn't slept since
3) He smells quite bad
4) He is ABSOLUTELY horrible

So I recruit him to play.

Me: "Hey, what are you doing playing in that 20 game....we've got a 40 seat open...come play."
Him: "Oh really...40/80. OK, I'll play"
Me (To self): "Bingo"

Does recruiting a horrible player into a game I'm playing solely for my own potential profit make me a bad person?

We play for a while and bad dude loses a bunch of chips and gets aces cracked 3 times before he leaves. Then a few other people leave. And all of a sudden we're playing 3-handed. And continue to play 3-handed for, oh, 4-5 hours maybe? I don't know, casinos warp my sense of time. In any case, I probably wasn't the worst player in our 3-handed game, but I probably wasn't the best player in the game either. Overall, this is what is probably called, "Poor game selection", but I haven't ever played short-handed live for a long session before and I may be a degenerate (See moral dilemma #3 above), so I decided to stay in the game after a break to chant, "I'm going to play well, I'm going to win money". We play 3-handed and all make it a point to complain to the dealer and floor about paying $4/down time while gambling, literally, thousands of dollars, and do A LOT or raising. Repeat..many, many raises were made, and probably 70+% of our hands got to the river. It was an interesting dynamic, and overall loads of fun. After going to the felt and catching a 2 outer to avoid re-buying, I decide to start drinking again...so long "Play well" mantra. But the devil juice seemed to be just the elixir I needed, as I ended the session up just shy of a rack of yellow. One last note on this session. Towards the end of the night, one of the players ended up being stuck pretty bad, and got a little pissed when I told him I was leaving on the next dealer change. As he continued to run bad, he started playing more and more aggressively, and getting progressively more pissed off when he kept running into the nuts. After a while, I got a bit annoyed and started needling him just for the hell of it. The night ended with me racking up and stuck guy trying to get the other player in our game to play heads up. Turns out the other player has to give his buddy a ride back to their hotel, so stuck guy tells him to just pay cab fair for his friend. At this point, the following conversation takes place:

Me: "Hey Stuck guy, if you want to play him heads up so bad, why don't you just pay for his buddy's cab fare?"
Stuck guy: "**** you, who the **** was talking to you anyways...you ****ing leave when I'm stuck so bad"
Me: *lol* "Good night"
Stuck guy: "Yeah good night, enjoy my money"
Me: "I will"
Stuck guy: "**** you...make sure you don't give the money to your wife...bring it back and play again"
Me: *lol* "I will"