Playing in Loose Games where Limping Is Encouraged
2 September 2009
One of the most profitable kind of online poker tables in all of Texas hold ‘em is when a table is frequently loose and passive before the flop (or ‘flop crazy’ as I like to call it) and then excessively aggressive and willing to play a wide variety of hands badly after the flop. This allows a smarter, tighter player (like myself, of course) to limp and see a wide variety of hands for small investments that, when they hit, get paid off, which is about as great a situation as you can ask to be in. While the value of online poker hands like single pairs and weak kickers, etc., in this situation goes down, the value of made hands and bigger holding is so drastically increased that it makes playing a wider range of hands very valuable. When you see players who’ve watched a whole table of others see the flop then put all their money in with just a pair, you know you are in a great spot to get paid, and so trying to see more hands with those flops for small amounts is smart, as your implied odds are through the roof. Playing the wider range of online poker hands, though, you have to be more careful with what hands you do push that aren’t huge, and have to be willing to be bluffed in certain spots of favor of knowing that when you do have a sure-thing, you will get all the money. In fact, getting bluffed and bragged over can be a valuable thing, in that players will think, “Oh, that guy is easy,” and then try to run at you while you wait and catch them with the big net.
