ITH Poker Forum

[ezplayer]

Hi Russ, thanks for joining us this month. Here's my question:

Some LAGs are terrible, some are predictable and a few are pretty good. I'd like to hear about the LAG who you thought was lousy for the longest period of time but then you figured out that they were actually pretty good. What made you think they were bad and then what tipped you off that changed your opinion, and how did you adjust?

Thanks,
EZ

[russ fox]

Hi Russ, thanks for joining us this month. Here's my question:

Some LAGs are terrible, some are predictable and a few are pretty good. I'd like to hear about the LAG who you thought was lousy for the longest period of time but then you figured out that they were actually pretty good. What made you think they were bad and then what tipped you off that changed your opinion, and how did you adjust?

Thanks,
EZ

An interesting question. When no-limit hold'em began its resurgence, the only games I played in were restricted buy-in games in the Los Angeles casinos. The structures of these games are ridiculous: $100 buy-in, $2/$3 blinds; $200 buy-in, $3/$5 blinds; $400 buy-in, $5/$10 blinds. The rake in Los Angels is quite high and is not variable (because of state law). In most games it's $5/hand plus a $1 jackpot drop. Because of the structure, and the high rake, I do not believe it is possible for a LAG to be a winning player long-term in any of the aforementioned games.

However, there are unrestricted buy-in games (or games where there's actually post-flop play). In Las Vegas, even the $1/$2 nlhe games have some play in most cardrooms (and at the Wynn, the $1/$3 game is uncapped). In Los Angeles, I play in the Bike's $5/$5 game and other unrestricted games in the L.A. cardrooms (Bike and Commerce primarily).

When I first started playing deep-stack nlhe I watched an individual who would almost never fold if he was on the button, the cutoff, or the hijack (he would sometime fold in those positions if he was against a short stack). He would play any two cards and hope to (a) flop something; (b) buy the pot; or (c) get out cheap if it's clear he was beat. He also used pot control post-flop. It took me several months to figure out he knew what he was doing and was almost certainly a winning player (mainly because I don't play that often and my opportunities for running into him were limited).

-- Russ Fox