Quote Originally Posted by Chopper
i understand you have given this a TON of thought, and that is great. and, i am learning from you, too. so, dont think what i said was insulting (i dont think you did); it was merely a comment.

and you are absolutely right about "hitting a flop hard" when you hit. but, there is a reason the "pros" and authors disadvise playing sc's oop, especially from EP. but, you have good contradictory thoughts.

it seems to me that playing all those connectors and gappers, and not playing power cards (broadways) as frequently (when compared to how many holdings fall into your range), your variance would be through the roof. and, obviously, you are doing a lot of folding on the flop from oop, leading me to believe that the times you DO continue, it would be easier to put you on a big draw (board connected/flushy) or big broadways (dry board). i would think your range would become a little more "transparent" wide as it may be, if someone learned how much you like sc's and gappers. but, that may just be me.

one more thing: my guess is to disguise that, you would have to play your draws (even backdoors) extremely hard, leading to even more variance?

and do you tighten up/close down your range when you start getting floated/played back at?
You can criticize me all you want/need to, even tho' I've been successful with my personal approach to the game, I realize that I still have a lot to learn, and I just reached the point where I felt I had something to offer.

I don't think I play Broadway less, or significantly less enough in order for my opponents to determine that I'm on Suited Connectors when I'm betting hard. A lot of people don't include KQu in their UTG/EP hands, and for good reason, but a lot of people also don't include Suited Broadway in their UTG/EP range like I do either. Ironically, I may play Broadway more often than the rest of you as long as my cards are Suited.

As far as people putting me on Suited Connectors out of position goes, unless you personally know me, I think it's difficult to put me on that hand because of the way I bet OOP.

If I raised with SC/SC1 or Mid/Small PP OOP I always continuation bet unless,

1) There are three face cards on the board
2) There are three to a flush on the board
3) There are three to a straight on the board
4) There is some combination of the above that are in my opponent's range
5) There is no card with the same suit as my Suited Connectors on the board for the BDFD.
6) My opponent doesn't have enough chips to afford the fold or pay me off
7) My opponent is a Phone Booth
8) I have a read or they think they have a read on me
9) I have no reason to get involved at this time
10) The pot doesn't justify the crime

Even then, I can often disregard the first three points and put the fear into my opponent for a Double Barrel if a scare card hits the turn, altho' it can get spewey, at which point I'm in Small Stack mode.

C-Betting out of position is a religion to me, because I believe in always giving myself an opportunity to win the point.

This does one of the following,

1) The Fish believe me and get out of the pot, at which point I begin to play small pot poker.
2) People assume I either hit the board for a pair or had a pair to begin with, so they'll smooth call their draws and I'll Double Barrel/Value Bet The Turn to get them to fold their draws. TP with a garbage kicker or MP or SP will either fold altogether or let me know what they have right then and there.
3) People start floating me, at which point I don't Double Barrel unless I pick up a BDFD, a pair, a set, trips or 2Pair if I hit the flop and the turn, or I have a combination. If I have 2Pair, a set or trips I'm either pushing or check-pushing. When I have a combination, a pair and a flush draw, a flush draw and a gut shot, a flush draw and a straight draw or some or all of the above, I audible and use my best judgment/math.
4) People start re-raising me, this is the point where I either sit down and play fair or Push if I think they're re-raising me with air/I have TPTK, 2 Pair or a pair + draw.
5) I over bet BDFD, Straights, Sets and 2Pair on The River, people perceive it as a bluff, they call and I get paid. Going all in works here to, and it's often even more effective when I'm the short stack or there are enough chips worth fighting to the death for. If I just have a pair, I'll Value Bet, Blocking Bet or just let it go (bluffing The River is for either a genius or a mad man, and I'm neither).

When I do have a hand, what this does is,

1) People will fold to the sets, flushes and straights and I pick up the pot.
2) People don't believe that I have the sets, flushes and straights and I get their entire stack.
3) People float me into "free" cards (I paid for the chance to win) while I price the pot for the draw. If I do hit the hand, I bet again, because betting again is what I do, and even tho' some people will fold, other opponent's will make a move and I get their entire stack.

There are good and bad consequences to all of this,

1) You will have to forfeit less straights to flushes and less baby flushes to four to a flush.
2) You will bust sets, which is even more profitable than busting some one with a set.
3) People always think your full of shit, so your TPTK hands may/may not see The River, or you may need to start re-re-raising or pushing with your TPTK hands.
4) You may need to get tricky with your TPTK and check it for a check raise, a bet on the turn and/or a bet on the river. These hands can get away from you, but these aren't hands you want to get heavily invested with any way, and even if they do get away from you, you aren't losing much.
5) No one has a clue what you are doing and they will just look you up or call you down, and this can either be really, really good or really, really bad for your chip stack and table image.

So, my entire theory is bet once OOP, try and get a read, bet twice OOP if you get that read, a scare card hits or you improve, and if you hit hard along the way, bet it hard. Bet it hard so it looks like your bluffing, bet it hard so you get paid, bet it hard just to Tilt them and bet it hard just to let them know that you're not fucking around.

The only hands I slow play to The River OOP are a Full House, a Nut Flush or a Bicycle Straight.

Sometimes, you build a stack out of your opponent's folding their hands, sometimes you build a stack out of you hitting your hands, sometimes you build a stack out of your opponent's frustration or stupidity, sometimes you lose chips/gain information and go into Small Stack mode, sometimes you leap onto the sword and shake it off/go home.

The trick is to use your aggression to get ahead, and when people finally think they've figured you out, you start over betting to get even further ahead. If you leap onto the sword, you either go back to where you started in chips or you go into Short Stack mode and play ABCPoker with big cards until you can afford to play drawing hands in position, and after you've rebuilt your stack with drawing hands in position, you can either go back to being a LAG or stick with what's working. Even in these two worst case scenarios (well going home is the worst case scenario, but what else is there to talk about that?) you've established a table image and collected information.

The key is to know when to stop, and it's either when you're way ahead, when you're behind or The Sheriff/Lynch Mob arrives.

I don't feel as tho' I'm playing high risk poker, I feel as tho' I'm playing unorthodox poker, and by the time they finally figure me out, I either jump ship or sing my ABC's.

The difference between a TAG and a LAG (or a TAG and quite possibly a Maniac) is that the other guy has the balls to bet when he's behind and out of position and the brains not to hang himself out to dry on The River.

You have to play like water, you have to be willing to set your sails to any wind that will carry you, brave the storms that await you and run aground when the water rises up against you.