Need advice on "unorthodox" play

I have been doing pretty good playing the TAG style (5/10c NLHE). I make money steadily but slowly. I have noticed some people making a killing though, playing some unorthodox hands here and there. I am less interested in becoming a text book player as I am making money and doing well where it counts - winning.

So is it recommended that a person patiently play the TAG style, or is it good to mix it up some. If it is good to mix it up, how often and under what cirumstances is it good to do so?

Example:

I saw a guy doing well last night, he wasn't a maniac, but occasionally would call a 4xbb PFR w/ suited rags or something. Sometimes that darn thing would hit big time for him. He flopped a full house calling 4xbb with 25s. Made a killing on that hand. he was up for the entire session I was there (4 hours). I would fold KTs in the same situation.

Am I doing the right thing?

The lower the stakes, the less you need to worry about the advanced and tricky plays, solid text book play will beat the game easily.

However...

Pulling off some of those tricks and playing less than premium cards require a lot more post flop skill, and will also give you much more variance in your bankroll. I've been playing this style now for a while (6 Max only), and even though you can get paid off big here and there, you will leak away a lot chips by calling those raises with your suited low junk. One thing that is very important to get you started is to realize that position + reads > cards. If you know you're playing against a person who overvalues big pairs and you have the button, maybe calling his raise with your 97s isn't so bad "every now and then". (Don't do it every time) Or if you are playing against a solid player, you may be able to get him to lay down his cards no matter what you have, if you can rep a better hand than what you think he's holding. There are no textbook rules to play this way, it is PURELY situational.

It is ALWAYS good to mix up your play, especially as you move up in limits, or you will be read like a book. What I tend to do is play text book poker probably like 75% of the time. The other 25% I'm making plays like raising with suited connectors, limping with KK or AA, re-raising someone with 72o (then showing of course), calling a raise with 56s, and checking/calling down my flopped trips. All of these plays really confuse your opponents. They won't know what kind of cards you are playing, which will force them to make more mistakes.

I am no expert or anything, but I'm thinking of writing up a post on some of the "tricks" you can use to vary your play, and ways to pick up that extra pot or two when you know you don't have the best hand.

To get you started, just try mixing in some suited connectors (and one-gappers) IN POSITION... and do so at your own risk... it could get an inexperienced person in trouble. (A lot of newbies falter this way because they see all of the pro's or good players doing it) Hope this helped a bit, good luck!

You can play loose in late position in low limit no limit. First, you gotta know your table. Probably the best table you can be at is a very loose, very passive one. I mean a table where 6 or 7 see the flop each hand and there is a raise less than 20% of the time. At this table, you can almost play any 2 cards CO, Button, or SB. But you gotta be disciplined post-flop ... when you play rags, you gotta have 2pair minimum to continue, preferably trips or a good draw. Don't ever continue with the sucker end of a straight draw ... flop comes 567 and you have 45 ... fold ... the point is to see the flop cheap and continue only if you know you got the best of it or the odds for a draw to a very good hand.

That's one thing you can do ... limp half your hands in very late position if the table is passive.

Whether the table is passive or aggressive you can play some of the things storm talked about. Again, know your table and pick your spots. If there is a 4BB raise and 2 or 3 callers, you can call with any pocket pair, mid connectors and one gappers, suited or not. Your implied odds are great and you have 2 things going for you. First, when you hit the flop hard, the other guys probably didn't ... because they have high cards and you have low cards ... you hope they get a piece and you flop trips or better or they have a big pocket pair and think its a license to go all in with a board of rags. The second thing going for you is that there is already a decent pot. People give more action when the pot is bigger, and when you do make a hand you can string em out with successively larger bets.

An example ... just last night I was playing 25NL and had T9offsuit on the button. A guy raised 2BB and one caller and I called. I flopped a 9 and an OESD. I bet a dollar he called ... turn came a 9 ... I bet the pot he called ... on the river I bet half the pot ... he went all-in and I called ... he turned over KK unimproved and I won $23.

Just pick your spots, use position, play the table and the opponent, and don't go crazy calling raises and leaking chips ... especially if you might be HU.

Thanks for the advice guys, really appreciate it.

Follow up question - or just to clarify - but it sounds like I am looking to make a play like this not only in position, but also I want multiway pots? So avoid going heads up on these plays?

You got it ... with some exception... which depends on reads. Sometimes you may have a player that only raises preflop with high pocket pairs and always plays em hard and fast post flop ... in other words you know you can take his stack if you hit trips or better. That guy you want to call for a reasonable raise with a lot of hands HU.