Mixing Up Your Game

Not much poker today, I was just off my game.  I didn't feel it.

87 hands, +40BB  Stats: 18/15/5   - winning != playing well.

One hand, the old limp utg play:
Preflop: Hero is UTG with 8, 8
Hero calls $0.10, 7 folds, BB checks
Flop: ($0.25) 6, 3, K (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.30, 1 fold

If you see this (the table was very loose), you might be playing too tight-aggressive.

Getting out of the funk

I think that aggr factor might be a good indication when I am playing a bit tenative.  A high aggr ratio indicates I am leading alot, and therefore playing more exclusively  in position.  Ironically, when I am really playing aggressive, my factor goes down, because I am then playing more

hands out of position, and I am taking check-call, and check-raise type lines, so I am calling, as a tactic, not just calling.  And sometimes I am calling down to showdown with moderate hands with a read.  higher variance plays, which are really uber-aggressive, but they hurt your score.  Limp, reraise plays also hurt your score, but they are certainly not passive play.

It's a real puzzle to me why sometimes I just cannot get into gear.  I think a lot of it is that I am protecting my stack too much, wanting to book a win.  As a result, I am playing my basic game, TAG.  Since I am playing so few hands, and taking an aggressive line, I am mostly winning small pots early in the hand.   It's hard to get reads when you never see cards, and you don't get to play opponents both when they are strong and when they are weak.  So I feel like I am playing blind, and just hoping I can win the pot.

This got me thinking about how to open up your game, when you are not in a gambling mood.  If you open your game by expanding your ranges, that is playing small pairs with open raises, and playing hands like KT and A9 you are putting yourself in many ambiguous situations post-flop. Without good reads, these hands are very hard to play well, especially if you aren't willing to splash around a bit to get info.

So, I was thinking, when I seem to be veering into a tight pattern, meaning I am less willing to take on risk, perhaps the best hands to add to my range is total trash.  Open raise in MP with 7-4 for example (or suited connectors obviously).  Definitely play them like aces.  You'll usually win anyway as long as you time your bets, and be aware of your image.  I do this when playing LAG too.  I want to play at least one pot per orbit, so if I am getting trash, I'll just open raise whatever I happen to have whenever it seems like it's been a while since I've been involved.  But I'd rather do this with complete garbage, than hands like QT, because if I face resistance I have very easy decisions.  And of course, when you happen to hit a low flop, your opponents will think you missed.

Doyle calls it "My timeclock went off".  Here's another quick tip from Doyle.  If you take one down, and your opponent runs the clock down and folds, the very next hand is a great one to play.  Those bluffs seem to work way too often.  The mindset is:  "He wouldn't dare have a weak hand now, since he knows we're suspicious."  If you play the third hand in a row, however, expect loose action.  And if your image sucks, this doesn't work.

Food for thought.