I played a $2 SnG with Bret this afternoon. I busted out early, but he went on to win the game. It was a long, tough slog, actually, taking well over an hour to finish. I played another $2 game in the evening and we still had five players with the blinds up to 300/600 (and, yes, I busted out in fifth... sigh). The play at the these lower stakes continues to improve-- almost on a weekly basis, it seems. As the guru often says, "everyone is reading poker books these days." Yes, and they're also watching poker on TV and the internet, taking classes, going to poker boot camps, reading forums, and, oh yeah, writing the occasional blog ;-)
After I busted out of the lunchtime SnG, I jumped into a quick $0.25/50 limit game to a) pass the time while Bret continued playing; and b) make back the money I just lost in the SnG. As is becoming typical with my limit play, I try to figure out if the game is juicy or tough within a lap or two. If the game is tough (i.e.,with the aforementioned new-good players), I am trying to get out of it quickly and look for better opportunities elsewhere. Why fight for $1-2 an hour in a tough game, when I can make $5-10 in the same amount of time by finding a soft game and attacking the weak players?
Which brings me to the point of today's post, which was prompted by a discussion with Bret: How do you spot the fish at the table? The answer for me, as is the case with most things poker-related, is: It Depends. In general, though, here are a few of the ways I use to spot the fish in the low-dollar limit games:
1. Poker Tracker VPIP numbers. Yes, you can determine how loose someone is by paying close attention during play, but PT allows you to focus on other things while you accumulate some data on the opp. How loose/tight are they? Are they playing position poker, or simply playing the top 20, 40, or 60 hands? Anything around 35-40% VPIP or more means they're playing way too many hands. Wait for fairly good cards in position with these yahoos and then go to war, otherwise, stay away. This afternoon, I picked up AJs in late position, and raised a 50% semi-passive player who was in the BB. Naturally he called. Flop brought an ace and rags, he bet, I raised, he called. He checked the turn, I bet, he called. I put him on a weaker ace and fired into him again on the river. Sure enough, he turned over A8o for the losing hand. Tight players are easy to exploit, too. If a guy has a VPIP of 10% or less, I'm going after his blinds every chance I can, even from across the table or sometimes all the way from UTG+1 or +2 if he's really tight. If he plays back at me, I get off the hand, because he probably has something relatively strong. But in most cases, he'll lay down for an easy steal.
2. Poker Tracker Aggression numbers. Preflop raise percentages, steal attempts, and aggression ratings all give an indication of the type of hands a player will gamble with. If someone has stolen the blinds 5 out of 6 times, I can take advantage of that when I get a solid hand. Or, more importantly, if someone rarely raises (and, better yet, is tight as well) and suddenly raises, I know I should fold my JJ or worse. If there's a really aggressive guy and I pick up a hand, I let them bet into me, playing the part of a calling station if I am heads up with them, just cold-calling all the way to the river and the money. Sometimes, exploiting a fish means just getting out of their way, too. A penny saved is a penny earned. Calling stations can be exploited too. Let them stay in a hand cheap and chase those gutshots and three-outers. Sure, you may lose occasionally when they get there, but you'll more than make up for it over the long run.
3. Watching to see who isn't paying attention. This often means identifying the bozo who calls with his 99 all the way to the river, despite the A-K-J , or the three clubs, or the 4-5-6 on the board. At the low dollar tables, it's amazing how many guys overvalue their medium pairs and ignore the board. Against these guys, top pair, decent kicker is usually good enough to win the pot.
Mostly these methods work, but not always. It's also important to remember that even the blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut. Just because someone is a super loose passive maniac, doesn't mean that he won't wake up to aces and kings now and then. It's also important to remember that very good players (yes, even those at the $2 tables) can be damn tricky, pretending to be fish, luring you in with their loosey-goosey play, and then trapping you with your second best hand. Don't ask me how I know this....
All-in for now...
-Bug
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