We play nights we are at sea, and party nights we are in port. I'm considering partying less to rest between nights at sea because the hours get long depending on who is playing.
The Sous Chef loves to raise... mmm... he loves to raise alot, it is fun. My old room mate whom I'm going to break him before his contract is up is a huge calling station. The guy that has the chips and acts as bank, is very tight passive playing cash, it scares him although he is a LAG playing tournament, my current boss is a profitable gambler with casino experience and a decent poker player.
This game is good! If they continue to play cash I should be able to live in style while saving my check for rest of my contract.
I've convinced old room mate that his problem is that he doesn't have enough money on the table. Sous Chef thinks he has my game figured out as I change it in front of him, my boss, well you don't see piranas eating each other... although we both are running small plays and value betting each other.
Here are examples:
Old room mate raises $2 preflop in a .50/1 game, I call along with the rest of the table in the BB with T5o, flop comes 55x, I lead $10, he raises $10 I move in, he calls off $100.
Sous Chef makes it $4 to go preflop, which means Axs, suited connectors, any pair, two cards that add up to 20 in blackjack I call with ATo. Flop comes T9x two clubs, he makes a CB I raise it up 25, Old room mate calls, Sous Chef fidgets and calls. Kc on the turn and Sous Chef moves in (300 in chips to my 150) before me, I fold, old room mate calls. He had the straight
not the flush, the straight and draged the pot as ORM shows middle pair on the flop.
I play 47h and flop the flush, I bet get raised and move in on ORM for 150ish and get called by Ax3h. He had no pair, and the monster flush draw.
Raised pot preflop called all around, I call the raise with 89d and make top pair on a two suited board and bet into the slow player that thinks too long about the situation, it is called in two spots. Turn gives me two pair, I bet the pot, short stack moves in, host of the game calls, I move in. He misses his flush I lose 40 of my money and 120 of the main pot to break even on the side pot. I loved my play here win or lose.
I have limped AK all night (stations in a NL game decrease AK drastically in my mind and make 77 stronger) and opt to raise, two people have noticed this so far. Flop comes A high, I check the flop bet the A on the turn and bet the river, breaking one guy and getting a caller in between. He stands up pissed asking how I could check two streets
Ahh this game is good.
I've bet massively big vs. ORM with the nuts, way out of line with the pot, he started to catch on the second time, so I'm mixing it up more between value bets and over bets which have the most value.
The ways I can play better in this game:
Keep my banter to a minimum vs. the guy with the most money, or at least lighter. I'm not one to show my cards unless it serves a purpose, and many people in this friendly environment want to know, but that costs money, which makes me a bitch.
Banter more with my boss, he likes it and we talk smack all day anyways. Banter much more with the ORM as he is very ego oriented and prone to tilt.
Loosen up on raising on the come against Sous Chef, he is so aggressive that this will drive him nuts if I have it 80% of the time. If he needles me to show my hand reveal the card I think will get him to do what I want next.
I probably need to readjust my preflop calling hands to looser, I'm playing about 20% right now and could probably up that considerably and do better. The problem with upping hands is when ORM is playing we are seeing the river if not a show down, he calls the river with Ax that missed. I bluffed him and showed one card of my AK that I bet every street, and the table chimed in with AA or TPTK or the like, which confused him even more, I was probably bluffing with the best hand. Loosening up gives me more opportunity to make those plays but more opportunity for those plays to fail.
The rest buy in cheap and play cheap. I put them in on draws and gamble-rific hands enough to look like I'm just there to have fun. I don't mind losing or winning a little to look like I'm tossing around chips too vs. the bigger stacks and create more doubt in the stations mind. I've always stood by gamble it up "big" in low variance situations, and I I think it still stands true.
mvp