I walked into the Peppermill Poker Room just after 7pm on Monday night to play some $4/$8 Limit Hold'em. Oddly, they didn't have a $4/$8 game running. In fact, they only had three tables running, a $2/$4 Limit, a $1/$2 NL, and a $1-$4 Spread Limit Razz.
No, that wasn't a typo. There is actually a Razz cash game being spread. The table was full with eight players and a List of three names. So I put my name on the List along with the $4/$8 List, and took an open seat at the $1/$2 game.
A little before 9pm, a seat opened up at the Razz table. They started calling down the List. However, nobody showed up, so I got the seat. I was happy to switch tables because I was really card dead at the $1/$2 table. I only played one significant pot. My Top Pair (KQd) ran into AA from one of the Super Nits at the table. I left the table down $224.
I cashed in my Red $5 chips, and bought a rack of Blue $1 chips ($100 total). The structure of the game is no ante with a $1 Bring-In. You can bet from $1 to $4 from 3rd to 6th Street, and $1 to $8 on 7th Street.
My cards were horrible for the first half hour, so I just sat there watching the action and tried to come up with a strategy. It became rather obvious that my HORSE tournament strategy of naked aggression wasn't gonna work here. This was a very loose passive table. After a player brought it in for $1, there were two, three, or even four player limping in behind with a variety of hands. Even when I raised the Bring-In and they folded, I only won a dollar or two because there's no antes.
Eventually, I came up with a strategy. Since there's no ante, I limped on 3rd with a wide variety of hands, and treated it like an ante. Usually a good card showing, and maybe one underneath. I tried not to play super loose, because I didn't want to chase too much. Even when I had a good hand like three Wheel cards, I still limped in to help build a pot. I limped in with (25)4, and someone else raised. I just called, and ended up winning a nice sized pot, even though he folded to my $6 bet on 7th Street.
Since this is Spread Limit, you can bet different amounts. I noticed that players tended to bet the strength of their hand. In one hand, a player had 4 2 showing, but only bet $2. This was not what he had been betting in previous hands, and I figured he paired one of his hole cards. On 5th Street, he had 4 2 4. He checked, and folded to my bet. I asked him if he had Two Pair or Trips, and he said Two Pair.
My Spread Limit strategy end up with me betting $1 on 3rd, $2 on 4th, $3 on 5th, $4 on 6th, and $6 on 7th. I may have lost a little value is spots, but this kept me consistent, just in case someone was actually paying attention (doubtful at this table). It also allowed me to build a pot as the hand progressed.
Overall, I had a good night. I was very happy with my play, and I think I ran good as well. In the various hands that got to 7th Street with a bet on 7th, there was only two times that I didn't have the best hand. One was my 876xx against the 2nd best player at the table who had 86xxx. The other one was a hand that I was bluffing. He lead out on 7th. I folded, and told him that I paired up. This was a true statement, since I paired my King.
The game broke just after 11pm, and I finished up $90. This $1-$4 Spread structure is described by some players as a "Time Killing" structure. You're not really gonna win or lose much. So for me to almost double up in two hours is a damn fine session.
No comments:
Post a Comment