Well, I think I took a little too much of a mouthful after my first night. Some of the same people were there, but this game isn't quite as soft as I had thought. When I sat down, it was very LAG, so I decided to play ultra-tight. Hit a couple of nice ones--set and overfull for big pots and was up quite a bit.

But there are several "issues" here. For one thing, I'm playing over my bankroll here, so I want to be quite cautious (I'm going a lot more with Cloutier than Brunson at the moment, because the former mentions that his early tourney strategy resulted from years of playing down in TX in games that he objectively couldn't afford--so he'd sacrifice some +EV plays for the sake of caution. For another, I've noticed that hands are quite transparent to me, hence I fear that my own "poker face" may be a problem.

Good example: I'm in BB with 99. Folded around to button, who's a fairly loose Arab-looking guy who I think is semi-pro. He limps, as does SB, who's a complete fish. So, I raise. Flop comes with one overcard, a K. Well, with my raise, a pot-sized bet is fairly sizeable, and I make it. Arab-looking guy moves in on me. Well, I just bet out $60 into this pot (=$60), and his all-in makes it $175. I obviously can't call here, and he caught me. What sucks is that I really don't know whether he had the K, but I fear he had me read like a book on that hand. Until I get more confidence with this, I don't think I can make that kind of raise. They won't fold after limping there (thinking I'm trying to steal with something weak-ish anyway), and I think the Arab guy probably saw that I had to think about what to do on this flop. Well, if I have to think about betting, I can't call an all-in obviously. This is just something you don't have to deal with online. I was also pretty tired at this point after 6 hours of play, which I think also contributed to my readability, and it was a nice play on his part.

Then, there's an oriental guy who was also there last night (and did take the only pot from me into which I had put money). Well, he plays a lot of suited hands and a lot of connectors and will chase to any bet. Last night I was convinced by his betting that he's actually a source of income due to the chasing. But the additional problem is that he also bluffs--although I will say that I can't see pursuing a pure bluff to my bets has any perspective whatsoever. Because he's not getting odds even if he really has the hand. So, I'm not terribly worried about that one. I don't see my strategy as really vulnerable there, although he obviously likes to play connectors and suited cards even to my $30 raises. But I need to be very cautious with this guy when draws are showing. What I'd like to do is catch him for his stack with a boat against his flush, as a paired board doesn't slow him down at all in calling an all-in if he's made the flush. Also, AXs (for a limp) has some potential here in LP if he's in the hand. If things emerge in such a way that he and I both make the same flush (except I have the nuts), his stack should be mine. Or a flop where I can bet as if I have top pair but in reality am semi-bluffing the nut flush...

What really is screwing me up are these blasted raises. Online I could play them Brunson-like with a clear profit because I knew I was in principle unreadable. But TT-99 are bad news here because there are too many overcards. If I'm only willing to bet an overpair, I'm going to be clearly losing money. Now, they've seen me raise at least some medium pairs and clearly remember my AK raise.

So, for the moment, I'm rather thinking, obviously PLAY any pair, and particularly 99-JJ, but restrict my raising hands to QQ-AA and AK for a while. Checkfold QQ and KK to an overcard ($30 now is generally getting me my 2 callers at the table). And bet AK only with improvement. I know I'm taking away a weapon of mine here, but when I bet pot after a raise, I'm putting $100 on the table if I have my 2 callers, and I just can't do it at these stakes without some confidence in my hand, particular in light of my doubts regarding my own readability. I don't have the impression that the oriental guy has a clear read on me because he made his flush in a raised pot on a paired board when the Ac hit the turn. He had position, and I put him all-in for $100, and he asked as he called, "Do you have aces full?" He definitely feared that, but it didn't stop him from calling. Anyhow, his chasing is an accident waiting to happen, and I really don't think he can try bluffing with the bets I'm making (NO ONE at the table makes bets like that on good hands--they slowplay monsters). If he doesn't actually have the draw, I don't think he's going to even call a pot-sized bet on the flop, knowing that I'll protect TP on the turn, too, for an uncustomarily large bet for this table. In actuality, I think these guys switch over from some 10/20 or 4/8 limit games, because they'll throw out $20-$25 typically on the flop (which IS roughly pot), and then make the same bet on the turn, without regard to the way the pot is shaping up.

Anyhow, do you guys think that a highly disciplined Cloutier-ish strategy is still clearly profitable at this kind of table? Basically, being ultra-tight with raises (I gain a lot of deception by just limping on 99-JJ, and I can obviously then call their raise after a limp) and betting only when my QQ-AA or AK actually looks good. AJ and KQ are still having no problems calling my raises, although I think it's going to be a lot more difficult now that they know I'm very tight to take their whole stacks. But maybe I'm wrong.

Also, I might actually just flat call a raise if the field is already limited even with KK. Until I get more of a bankroll built, I think I'm only willing to go all the way PF with AA.

So, with all the looseness abounding, do you guys think this game is still profitable? I can still clean up on sets, win some good pots with strong TP, but I'm probably playing only something like 13% of hands. I think I also need to probably sit out the blinds if we don't have a full table. With unpredictable calling stations, I have trouble shorthanded, and in this case, the blinds are eating up some EV that I'm already sacrificing due to difficult situations (against reasonably tight players, as in a lot of MTT scenarios, I can, by contrast, generally clean up by raising lots of weak aces and such).

One other interesting aspect here: I think the rake is eating up a lot less of my pots than it is for other players. It's not a percentage but a flat $5, and my pots are typically quite large relative to the rest of the table--of course, there are also fewer of them because I'm only getting involved at all at this point if I have a very serious hand.

Anyhow, for my first 2 B&M sessions, I'm still up around $250, but I'm a lot less confident after last night's loss that this game is just purely easy pickings--although there are definitely a lot of weak spots and there's a lot of loose money in there.

You cant raise 99 from the BB with a bunch of limpers. I wouldnt do that online, but theres no way I would do it in a live game.

Last time I played live I had JJ on the button. There were 5 limpers. The blinds were 2/5. I raised to $40 and all 5 of them called. With games like that , you just have to play for the set. In this particular hand the flop came 884.

The pot was already $240 and I only had $250 or so left. I have only one play when they all checked to me and thats all in. One guy had flopped quads.

Online a $40 raise works there, but not in a live game.

10, what makes this table attractive is that they're the ones playing too passively. I don't play many hands, but I'm the ONLY one at the table who is willing to put in real bets all the way to the river. I always bet full pot when I bet, which is not the case for anyone else, and my raises are also substantially larger than the norm for the rest of the table--but still, at 6xBB, well within what I consider the healthy range.

I could of course push it to where I get almost no callers on raises, but I want to and intend to outplay these guys on all streets. They definitely DON'T consider me too passive, but last night put a chink in my armor and does make them think that I can make a mistake or two that they can capitalize on.

I'm sure as Hell not going to start overbetting the pot when I see a nice flop. Some people may be able to do it profitably (actually, I think that would indicate tilt more than anything else would), but I don't think the strategy is healthy, and it's not my kind of game. For the moment, I just need to grind out a healthy bankroll, I think, in order to give myself some room to maneuver.

I will admit that I'm a little worried about some of the player at the table now, but I've dealt with that kind of thing online and see no reason why I can't do it live. These guys are on the whole much worse than most of the onliners at way lower stakes. That judgment is still correct. But even if I'm psychologically a little on the defensive now, once I do get involved in a pot, I'm making serious bets and will protect my hand as called for.

While I'm currently tightening up a bit more than I'm used to, I'm NOT playing any less aggressively.