Advice

[SilvrHairDevil 0]

Some background. I have been playing poker for over 50 years, with a 10 yr layoff that ended last Feb. We used to play Dealer’s Choice.I did have a couple months 5 years ago playing Limit Hold’em for tokens on Pogo – my only online experience. I did well at that.I am retired due to health and, last Feb, I met some people and now play in a weekly tourney with re-buys. I have been playing no limit hold’em for only 9 months.The group I play with are a bunch of guys having Poker Night Out – lots of refreshments. There are sometimes 12 of us at the table. They have a range of playing styles – wildly aggressive to super tight. I try to play tight/aggressive.My question is: How tight is too tight? I heard about Helmuth folding a RF draw because he could have been knocked out. I’d call that Very Tight.I’ve folded hand after hand, only to see trips, boats, straights flash past – unused.I try to play premium hands strongly. If I have middle pair with a st and a fl draw, I’m betting. Big pockets? Betting.My problem: a lot of these guys are just playing because. One guy, my personal villain, will call with anything and he gets lucky a disproportionate number of times. If I didn’t know him to be incapable of it, I’d think he was shuffling funny. Trying to get reads while guys are talking about snow machines, telling jokes and passing fuming substances is tough.I try to play tight and I see my lucky hands wasted. I get ahead, play looser and I lose my chips to Other Lucky Guy.How do I know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em?

[Mercury69 3]

12 people at the table is too many, imoFolding a RF draw isn't as tight as you might thing. You're drawing to 1 out and someone may have a full house which beats a normal flsuh.Hey...wait a second...is this a new joke account?

[SilvrHairDevil 0]

Thanks for your insight. It isn't my table, so I haven't any say over how many people show up to play.I dunno the circumstances of Phil's hand, but there could be a lot more than one out.What is a joke account?

[Mercury69 3]

Well, the general theory is this:The more hands there are in play, the likelihood is that there will be more quality hands in play. this is why short handed (6 players, for example) is a looser game and people will play smaller A's more often, for example, because the chances that another A is in play is lower.Last weekend, in one tourney I folded 4 hands that I felt were not good enough to play, given position, a raise in front of me, my chipstack size, etc. On three of those hands, I would have flopped trips, but that doesn't mean I made a bad decision.Playing tight or not is also based on the playing styles of your friends at the table. If "Joe"'s favorite hand is 64 suited, well, maybe he'll play a lot of other crap hands.Amount of $$$ being played for is a factor also. You want to be able to afford a losing night, esp if yo want to have fun. The last thing you want is to hate your friend for playing like a moron and sucking out on you for a pot yuo "should" have won...Hope this help y'all, sir.

[SilvrHairDevil 0]

Yeah - I do understand that a tight fold gone wrong is way better than a loose play gone wrong and that more players makes for a wider range of hands, but doesn't that also mean you'll get a better payoff if you do hit a flop?I'm trying to get some new ideas - I have a $50 buy-in tourney with 70 players coming up Sunday and I'd like to win it. It isn't huge bucks, but it's not pocket change.My usual style is to get all the money in and hope that I have the best hand after it's over.

[MovingIn 0]

What hands do you elect to play preflop? Do you play more when you have position?

[SilvrHairDevil 0]

We raise blinds every 20 min. During the early rounds, when it doesn't cost so much to see a flop, I'll play almost anything, 'specially if there's been no raise. 12 limpers makes for a pot worth trying for.Later on, when the blinds get bigger and there's going to be more people betting at it, I will play cards I can make nuts with: suited or non- connectors and small pockets, I try to get in cheaply. With big As & big pairs, I call early and raise in late position.When I get lucky and hit flops, I get a lot of action, as long as I explain it to them: "Okay, I raise 300 - that's 3 X the big blind guys - like they do on TV..."I'm starting to think I should stick to cash games. I do fairly well there as my style seems to be to get paid big for luck and then piss it away later in the tourneys.

[trystero 0]

12 players at one table, wtfTORTURE

[suicideking 0]

There are seriously so many things that need said here, if this is serious.What you describe as your playing style is not tight agressive at all. You seem to be more of a calling station. 12 limpers make a pot worth trying for with any garbage? Not always. That isn't playing anything other than what the game is, a fucking around home game. The best advice I think I could give is fold more often. When the blinds are low, you don't have to play every hand just because everyone else is. When the blinds get bigger, hands like 45 suited and 33 (the hands you say you like to play 'cheaply') cost you huge in the long run when the majority of the time you limp in and flop air. If you are going to play a hand in this environment that you describe I would advise to fold more often, raise more often when you have the best of it (i.e. not trying to trap someone so often) and learn how to play position. Also, if the game is very loose, be prepared to have many losing sessions if the cards don't fall your way.