Q&A #84: Can A No-Limit Game Be Too Loose?

If that many people will call big bets with inferior hands, shouldn’t you be raising even more? Also, against bad players who won’t remember your play, or who you won’t be playing against for long, raising relatively more with your better hands than your weaker ones would seem to be +EV.

The math in 2+2 thread 6996709 seems to be a bit different from that above. I think it shows offsuit connectors as flopping a good made hand about 4.8% of the time. It’s an interesting thread about how often suited connectors and other drawing hands flop made/drawing hands, and how often you should call a raise preflop with them. It assmues NL, while the PokerStove link above assumes a limit game.

Actually, the PokerStove page linked above seems to have an error in it. It says:
- “Chance of making two pair or better off the flop: 3.80%”; but
- in the table “CHANCE OF MAKING FINAL HAND FROM STARTING HAND FLOPPED” they sum to 4.8%, which agrees with the analysis on 2+2.

Or did I miss something?

Ed,

I don’t understand what you mean with: “I might check some of the really bad flops where I felt I was a significant favorite to get action.”
- What is “bad” here and why?
- Would you check because you are the “favorite” (to win) or because you “favor” action and expect someone else to bet so you can raise (instead of leading out and not get raised)?

One (or more) example(s) would be nice.

Thanks!

Ed,

Re “Though the limit/no limit distinction shouldn’t matter because cards are cards, and their probabilities don’t change between the games.” True the probability of flopping something doesn’t change, but the 2+2 thread is about calling raises preflop with drawing hands in the hope of flopping something, which is certainly a different calculation in NL and limit. One poster in that thread proposes a 4/8 rule for calling raises with SCs, similar to the 5/10 rule for calling with pocket pairs.

haha thanks for answering my post Ed!

I think my biggest mental challenge is overcoming the volatility of these games. (Losing 3 100BB buy-ins to those donks would get me possed!)

I think I’m going to shorten my stack a bit so I can play less in fear. Fear = playing wrong

I think it’s because our minds, by instinct heighten the bad and down play the good. (the bad hurts more!)

I will play a little shorter so I can continue the aggression on the flop without fear of donks catching 2 pair or hitting sets.

One last quick question… in this type of a game would it be better to raise right out of the box with AK(under the gun)… or would it be better to limp-in, (set a trap) and then push all-in to any raises?

(p.s. helmuth sux)

fascinating thread. we’ve all struggled with these no foldem fisherman festivals. The initial post and response seem to indicate that simply limping with the AK is wrong. I tend to disagree having read Angel Largay’s recent and fascinating analysis of just this type of llnl game. I’ve been experimenting with limping AK in all positions quite a bit. If someone raises behind you, you can decide to smooth-call or reraise based on the situation. As a bonus, players who would dump Ajo or Ato to the preflop raise will happily limp in along with you and run into the buzzsaw when their dominated ace hits. You’re one of my heroes, Ed. Keep up the good work…as soon as the roll’s just a little bit beefier i’ll be supporting the site with some tuition.
best,
Gregg.