Fascinating Style of Play

[sjay2k]

I was playing at a small buy-in ($15) NL game with some friends tonight. One of my friends had not played much poker at all. In fact, he had to ask whether straights beat flushes and full houses.

The way he played though was incredibly interesting.

He would call pretty much everything pre-flop, and rarely raised. He raised before the flop only four times and bought the pot every time -- three times showing trash hands, and pocket queens the other.

Similarly, he would call bets on the flop and turn, yet rarely bet himself. And when he would bet, it would be on a dangerous flop (3 suited cards or an XXY type flop) and would rarely get called.

However, this player turned into an utter maniac on the river. After calling pre-flop, on the flop and the turn, he would lead out and bet one-to-two times the pot. He got lots of folds when he had nothing, and lots of calls when he had straights and flushes.

He finished nearly even, leaving with a little over $13.

I would estimate that he called raises pre-flop 75% of the time, and when he saw a flop, he would do the call-call-bet routine about 60% of time, otherwise just folding to any bet.

I think this worked because he was playing so loose before the flop so you simply could not put him on a hand. And you could not bluff him, so you could only raise with a made hand (thus divulging the strength of your hand). He put one of my friends on huge tilt, after calling a $2 raise (blinds were only 10/20c) with 7/9s against KK, flopping a flush, then check-calling twice and betting out $8 on the river.

What do you all think of this style of play?

[SirFWALGMan]

Interesting. It would be VERY hard to read him, but he is also letting alot of things develop that would not have. If he will give me free cards to my Ace high flush then I will take them, and when he bets the pot at the river I will nail him. I also assume you could put a nice bet in on the flop or turn and knock him out if he had nothing? So you could get reads if you bet correctly. All in all I will stick to basic poker style.

[Talking Poker]

I think this is about as bad a style of play as oe can have. Play 10,000 hands with this guy (probably far less than that), and he will be the biggest loser at your game...

[drewjax]

I play with a young kid who plays the same way, but even WORSE!! Truly. He never, ever, will raise from big blind. He almost never bets, or raises, just calls you down with big hands. He will check with top pair all day. It is a really low buy in tournament structure, so we arent trying to get to WSOP from here, but it is frustrating. He is really bad, but still does ok for himself. I trapped him and his brother, finally, with top 2 pr. They called me down but the brother caught straight on river (of course) to bust me out and go on to win (I would have had 2/3 of chips in play). I think its harder to play against players like this than just horrible maniacs. He always thinks everyone else has the nuts, and calls seemingly reluctantly, then turns up close to the nuts himself. I have got to be able to play against these players. Anyone got advise, or other stories of meatheads?

[2Tone]

While I could see how playing against this player could get frustrating, that’s no way to make any money long term. Another factor to consider is how low your blinds were. At 10/20 cent blinds, there’s no real harm in calling too many hands pre-flop. But in a game where the blinds were more significant and/or escalating, he’d be broke fast.

[humpty99]

My cousin plays the same way. Everyone gets pissed when he comes to my home game. We don't call him anymore.

[junYUN]

this is definatly not an interesting style, it is a completely idiotic style.

[sjay2k]

...kind of like your spelling of the word "definitely", huh? Idiotic and interesting are not mutually exclusive.

[Aequitas58]

If you guys AREN'T inviting him, you're missing out on some money. Granted, I wouldn't want to play a full game with these types, I would certainly want at least a few.

[Chutups]

In home games I'll usually look at all the flops with any decent cards. There are so many people in the pot, that if you hit your flop you get a nice amount of chips.

[saminex@yahoo.com]

yeah its a dumb style...hes going into many hands the underdog and losing out money preflop if he has a money hand.

[hime]

Uh, this sounds not too far off from how I've been playing lately... tight, basically. What am I doing wrong? I still haven't figured out when to bet and when not to. I play mostly tournaments, and I'm following the advice of that one guy - limp limp limp. I hate raising pre-flop and then getting nothing. I can't figure out with AK overcards what to do with 3 ducks on the board.

I'm not much of a bluffer but I can semi-bluff pretty well, and because of my tightness I have something of an image that if I bet hard that I should be avoided. The other fun thing is I just don't read people. I'm really more interested in the cards and the numbers. Am I doing everything completely wrong?