question-sorry kinda long

[acesfullmike 0]

Ok, I just got back from my first time at a casino. I would probably be pretty fishy to most of you, but I play a book-solid game which has me eeking out a small profit. (I will be investing in either poker tracker or poker office very soon to begin to know exactly what type of profit I am running at) Anyway, one night at the 10-20 9 handed (way out of my normal limits, but i was on vacation and having fun) So I am playing a pretty standard tight game, not bluffing very often since it was a loose game, betting out when i have draws and decent hands, the occasional check-raise to keep people honest. So these two extremely drunk guys sit down and are raising everything and totally throwing off my game. No more limping in with suited connectors to get multi-way action, no more raising to get heads up with one other guy that i have a good read on. I mean, i might be in with second best hand with a great draw, and this clown is raising it up for the guy with the best hand and ruining my pot odds. Besides just busting these guys, they had rolls of cash on them and didnt seem too concerned with the outcomes of pots, how do you combat the maniac that is tilting the whole table by racing around. I would also add that I wasn't getting that many fantastic hands, and was using my little bit of skill to push some of the weaker players out of pots.

[mbreon 0]

When I get a very loose, constantly preflop raising kind of player, I tighten up my game. Of course it also depends on how many people at the table on average are seeing the flops with you. If you aren't seeing hands, well, that's poker. If you are playing by-the-book, then you shouldn't be seeing very many flops anyway. If you are at a table and things just don't seem to be going your way, find another table or move down limits for a little while so that you can get yourself back in your comfort zone....

[akishore 0]

tighten up considerably.raise more to isolate the maniacs.play less suited connectors in general, less speculative hands out of position, more low pocket pairs in position, and push your medium/high pocket pairs more (even 7-7 often has an edge against a maniac). push your big hands (A-Q, K-J suited, etc.) more against them.when you have equity with them (nut flush draw five-way), ram it and jam it along with them.don't let them throw you off your game... just tighten up and focus on them. if you're on their left, get the hell up and change seats, or tighten up wayyyyy more.aseem

[mrdannyg 274]

akishore gave the perfect advice. you want to tighten up, play less speculative hands, and push your big hands. if a guy is raising 25% of hands, reraise him with AJ. if there's 6 guys to the flop and you miss, just back away. so long as you don't miss the first 3 or 4, this won't affect your table image greatly. it took me about a year to learn this, so while it may seem obvious to most of you, i thought i'd stress the importance of pushing a big hand early on, even if it isn't a high pocket pair.mostly i find the best strategy is to push your big hands early, and keep pushing if you hit pre-flop and you can be in position to make good value and equity bets later in hands. most of the money is going to be in the pot after the flop, so you'd like to see most hands you enter until the river. i've found that last sentence to be extremely important to be profitable in loose games. but adjust your strategy towards akishore's post and you'll be doing well.cheers,daniel