Since Marsh has really stepped up the competition on the Cake Challenge, I figured I ought to try some new games to see if I can venture into soft game land and chip up to try to get past the 3 century mark like Marsh. I know you are all tired of my whining about the .25/50 NL cash games on Full tilt, which, in my opinion are not soft.
So I have tried some new games and here are my findings.
Omaha 8 cash game 6 people is beyond soft at 5 cent/10 cent. Hats off to Ryan for turning me on to this swingy game. By the way, Ryan, where is this blog that Martin was commenting on with your tips. I was very lucky but I did quintuple up from my meager $8 buyin. I only have one data point (tonight) so possibly it was a fluke.
Key hands.
Seat 3 pot raises, seat 4 calls, and I have A,A,2,x in the blind. I repop for pot. 2 callers. Flop is 10,8,6 rainbow. With 2 qualifying low cards and a flop that likely missed most. I bet pot. I get repopped and all 3 of us end up all in. The next 2 cards are a 10 and a Jack, so there is no qualifying low but somehow my Aces up hold up and I scoop a 3 way.
Key hand 2. River comes and I miss everything, straight draw, low draw, and flush draw. About $2.25 in the pot and my opponent has 15 cents left. I go all in and amazingly opponent folds. Unless villain could not beat Ace high very questionable fold. I know Martin in this situation would call for information.
Soft game 2 is heads up NL Holdem tournament, $5 buyin. I had one tourney lasting 2 hands. Hand 2, villain limps from button, I have K10. Flop is 10,6,5, with 2 diamonds. I check and villain open ships. Open ships on line are frequently top pair weak kicker or a draw so I call. Opponent has 10,8 and my K10 holds up.
Tourney 2 opponent calls me down with gut shot straight draw on a board of Q,3,4,8 with 2 hearts. I have Q,9 of hearts. Opponent shows 7,6 os and bricks the river losing about 2/3 of his stack.
Somehow the fish have returned. Hopefully, the cake challenge players can find some too.
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6 comments:
Haven't played any real money games but I would suspect that real money S8 is even softer and with much less variance. There are just so many players who play for high that it is easy to achieve "board lock" where you have a made low and no one else could qualify. Hopefully you have a multiway pot going and you are in the catbird seat just like in Pass the Trash where two others are vying for high and you're just sitting there taking a 50% tax on each of their bets. Board lock can be achieved as early as 5th street and you are un-quarterable. Depending on your holdings you could potentially scoop as well. Unlike Omaha, there are tons of hands that can give you board lock which is essentially the nuts for low.
But I suspect that fixed limit S8 is not the game for action junkies since LAG play will get you nowhere except to the poor house and bluffs are pretty much useless.
First, you can always find a link to my "sub blog" in any "Cake Challenge Update - Ryan" posts on TNP.
Key Hand 1: An exception, not the rule, but they happen, even moreso at six-handed, I expect. I had a hand like that last night, where I was chasing the nut low, got all in on the turn, and an A came to counterfeit my nut low, and I thought I was busted. I end up taking down half the pot on a terrible backup low (62 instead of the A2 I was aiming for).
I'm sure if I played 6-handed instead of ten, I would have to recalibrate all of my O8 settings, and since my setting s are shaky enough at ten-handed, I think I'll stick to that for now. Believe me, there is no shrtage of action at ten-handed O8...
On the topic of soft NLHE games, Cake used to have the softest games I've ever seen online. They're still soft, but they're no longer "my god it's like printing money" soft.
FortunePoker used to be known for its incredibly soft games about 2 or 3 years ago, but I think they closed their doors to US players when the UIGEA got passed.
I think the general rule is if the site has any sort of sports betting or non-poker online gambling associated with it, you'll get a steady trickle of degenerates who suck at poker. If the UIGEA ever gets repealed, look for sites like this and get your money in before the 2p2ers find out about it.
I think if you are looking for soft games online, you should be looking for NLHE first.
Every single n00b that signs up for an online account hits the NLHE tables first and most never leave. The only factor they have to consider is how much money they want to play for. And this is entirely based on their own personal perception of money, and how much they have.
The micro games are of course very soft, but even the lower level games have plenty of dead money I would say.
Maybe it's a difference in how we define "soft." I like(d) the S8 tables because it was easy money and I could build my roll quickly.
There may be a lot of bad players playing NLHE but they can still suck out on you too frequently for my tastes.
But you played play money... it is by definition soft. It's for play, not for "real". I really don't think you can compare the two.
I know you can learn a lot from playing them, as you did. But you can't compare the caliber of players in any way IMO. Sure, you will find an occasional serious/tight/good player at play money. But for every one of them there are probably 15 donks who just don't care.
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