Prose from a Poshboy

[cambridgealex]

If later on, all the players in the game agreed the straddle cap should be taken off later, that would be ok if everybody agreed, without anyone being pressurised into doing so.

How do you enforce this though?

At 1am when Absolutely Massive Little Mike asks, 'Shall we get the straddles on guys?' and 7 players agree and the one guy doesn't want to, as if Mike and his friends tall anon and co are often not gonna give them some shit for it.

Yeh that's never going to happen Mitch, pretty sure you know this.

I think Mikes problem is that he's always been the alpha reg in the games, so can't relate to these issues.

[Honeybadger]

The table has gone insane. People are gambling hard, tilted, trying to get even, or simply trying to do the last of their stack in and go home. Quadruple straddles have become the norm, and several players are raising blind when the action gets to them. Every pot is huge, multiple all-ins frequent. Certain players are simply not folding preflop no matter what. And they are not folding on the flop if they have any chance at all to win the pot. Some of these players are bleeding all over the table, their heads completely gone. Others are partly enjoying the feeling of being stuck and steaming, and have welcomed tilt like a warm and familiar comfort blanket. Some people are going to get hurt. It's a warzone, and bullets are flying from all directions. And you may get caught in the cross-fire.

This is Crazy Time. Sometimes the madness develops slowly, like a car moving through the gears. Other times it appears suddenly, with no warning. It can also vanish just as suddenly, only to reappear later. Some players are terrified by the craziness, others enjoy it and thrive on it. If you are going to be a big long-term winner then you must become one of those who thrive in the insanity. Rather than leaving the game because you are scared of losing big, you should stay and hope to WIN BIG. You are not going to get a better +EV gambling spot than being sat at a poker table during Crazy Time.

Gambling theory tells us that we should be prepared to risk a greater percentage of our bankroll when our edge is biggest, and a lower percentage when our edge is smaller. Google 'Kelly Criterion' if you are interested in this. But it should make intuitive sense to all advantage gamblers, even the 'instinct guys' who don't think they have to bother with maths. When you have a big advantage, gamble hard and be prepared to take more risks to maximise your edge. We are gamblers. All of us. Anybody who smugly tells you "I am not a gambler, I am a poker player" (I have heard this hundreds of times) does not understand poker. Really there is no difference between playing poker, sports betting, card counting at blackjack... or any other form of advantage gambling. What you are doing in poker is trying to make good bets, and trying to avoid making bad ones. And when you are able to find a truly great bet then you should be prepared to risk more of your working bankroll on it than on a merely good bet.

During Crazy Time you have the chance to make some GREAT bets! Stick around for a bit, take advantage of this amazing opportunity. And be prepared to get hurt sometimes.

Obviously you have to adjust competently to the high-octane dynamic of the table. If the game has gone insane then you cannot play hands like 44 or 87s since these are speculative hands that require you to be able to get to the flop with a high Stack-To-Pot-Ratio. This is not going to be the case when every pot is quadruple straddled and players are punting their stacks in preflop. Don't feel upset about this, annoyed that you can't 'play poker' any more. You are still playing poker... just a different type of poker for the time being.

There are two ways of approaching these times:

The optimum approach involves being prepared to loosen your value range substantially and play big pots with hands that would not justify that level of action if the game were more sane. You might be able to profitably get 250 bbs into the pot preflop with AJo or 99, or get 400 bbs into the pot on the flop with TPTK ... and expect to have a ~20% edge on your bet (this is a HUGE edge in gambling). This is something that would rarely happen in more normal game dynamics. If you are comfortably rolled for the game under 'normal conditions', then you should be prepared to fully accept and absorb the increased variance when insanity prevails - because you get the opportunity to make bets with a much higher than normal edge.

The sub-optimal approach is to nit it up. Basically to wait for a quadruple straddled pot, a blind raise, two callers... then you find KK and hope to get the lot in! Or whatever... you know what I mean. You are not taking maximum advantage of the insanity by playing this way, since you are often turning down pretty big edges with slightly weaker hands in order to reduce variance. But when you finally do find that UNBELIEVABLY AMAZING bet you will likely get great action on it. So you are still going to make good money playing this way. After all, the overheads are very low - all you have to do is pay your blinds for a couple of hours. And meanwhile everyone else is putting insane amounts of money into the pot... and will still be prepared to do so when you decide to gamble with them. If you are not comfortably rolled for 'normal conditions' in the game you are sitting in - you were having a shot - then there is nothing wrong with adopting this nitty approach when the game goes insane. Yes, it is sub-optimum. But sometimes we have to find a balance between maximising EV and protecting our roll, survival-poker-style. But the one thing not to do is leave the game! That is taking the balance too far. If you want to grow your roll, then you MUST take advantage of the Crazy Time. Even if you have to turn down some merely good spots, and wait for a massive edge before you commit your stack.

[PathFinder]

I'm going to put my neck on the line here but... I think Mike is actually Mitch!!!

[NEWY]

tfered ur $ on stars ..spend it wisely and please dont use it as a straddle

[Domaison]

Quite hypocritical.
Players should show class at the table.
Unfortunately too few players do & this is not
just confined to DTD.   
Honeybadger & Gosney to provide lessons imo.

[cambridgealex]

Fun game tonight.

This man was up to all his usual tricks...

Click to see full-size image.

[SuuPRlim]

Hilarious story on the seat change thing from yday in Vegas. Was one open seat in this PLO game and it got taken by Ben "Sauce" Sulsky (one of the worlds best players) he was taking a seat on JC Tran's direct left and he said something like "Hell no you're not having position on me" so he moved into the seat on his direct right, this made the guy who's direct left he was now going to be on say "Wait, you're Sauce?" so he took that seat forcing sauce to move to his direct right. This happened 6 times until he ended up 2 to the left of JC Tran and on my direct left, I really wanted to move again lol but I was so tilted at what I'd just seen happen I just left it

I think the ettiquette thing is hugely over-played personally, most of these "ettiquette" rules have just come from grumpy losers. If people wanna hit and run then they can hit and run, if they wanna leave one game and move to another then let them, I think the only ettiqutte rule that needs to be adhered to is that you behave in a classy mannor - i.e if you want to lock up a win and quit then do so subtley so as not to rub it in the face of the people who are losing.

I agree with the whole pressure to stay/straddle thing, I think it's kinda OOL to ask someone who is UTG to straddle, if it's someone who often straddles and it seems as if they've just forgotten it's fine ofc - you should ask the whole table if everyone will commit to say two rounds of a straddle I think that's a nicer way of doing it, then if someone doesn't want to they can object and if someone then choses to straddle they are doing so well in the knowledge that X player will not be reciprocating and therefore X will have no reason to feel pressured.

OFC like Alex says people who like gambling will give you a lot less action if you dont straddle and are quick to lock up wins, but there is nothing personal about that - if you dont want that action then there is no need to generate it.

[SuuPRlim]

and and moving seats is really tilting.

I never move seats ever, but I think it's unlucky lol

[theprawnidentity]

Was one open seat in this PLO game and it got taken by Ben "Sauce" Sulsky (one of the worlds best players) he was taking a seat on JC Tran's direct left and he said something like "Hell no you're not having position on me" so he moved into the seat on his direct right

Sick brags ITT.  Bollocks to playing PLO with sauce though, I would fancy my chances more with the slots

[SuuPRlim]

Was one open seat in this PLO game and it got taken by Ben "Sauce" Sulsky (one of the worlds best players) he was taking a seat on JC Tran's direct left and he said something like "Hell no you're not having position on me" so he moved into the seat on his direct right

Sick brags ITT.  Bollocks to playing PLO with sauce though, I would fancy my chances more with the slots

A very good cardsman indeed.

Not sure how much of a brag it is though! I'm the only one who didn't move cos i'm the sickest mofo in the room

[theprawnidentity]

Was one open seat in this PLO game and it got taken by Ben "Sauce" Sulsky (one of the worlds best players) he was taking a seat on JC Tran's direct left and he said something like "Hell no you're not having position on me" so he moved into the seat on his direct right

Sick brags ITT.  Bollocks to playing PLO with sauce though, I would fancy my chances more with the slots

A very good cardsman indeed.

Not sure how much of a brag it is though! I'm the only one who didn't move cos i'm the sickest mofo in the room

Gutted I wasn't there to witness it.  I imagine it must have been complete pwnage.  Hand after hand, pwn after pwn.....

[gouty]

I've only played cash at DTD a couple of times. I usually favour the Broadway for the PLO. On the 2 occasions I did play I did notice, more than once, winning players get up and leave the table to join another 1/1 or 1/2 game. This bothered me for the simple reason that they could only join the next table with a maximum amount of chips, effectively locking up a win and safeguarding against losing their entire stack.

Is this common practice at DTD? At Broadway they operate feeder tables and you can only move to another table with your entire stack. You can also only drop down a table if you have an hour break from the higher game. These are probably the main reasons why I prefer to play PLO at the Broadway.

I agree with this. Also the strategy behind a hand of 1/2 with a 16 straddle (or the super dooper straddle as we used to call it) bears no resemblance to even a 5/10 or good 2/5 game. And you cannot play it optimally without decent opponent knowledge or reads.

I reckon on one of your festival weekends you could get a few 2/5 one straddle tables as the visiting regs or even better, decent recs pissed up would play with you all. How about trying that after the summer?

[gouty]

Was one open seat in this PLO game and it got taken by Ben "Sauce" Sulsky (one of the worlds best players) he was taking a seat on JC Tran's direct left and he said something like "Hell no you're not having position on me" so he moved into the seat on his direct right

Sick brags ITT.  Bollocks to playing PLO with sauce though, I would fancy my chances more with the slots

A very good cardsman indeed.

Not sure how much of a brag it is though! I'm the only one who didn't move cos i'm the sickest mofo in the room

Fkn quality. Those pussies playing musical chairs and you sat there thinking "I ain't moving. C'mon Sauce lets see what you've got"?

Lil Dave rules!

You are so uncannily like my best poker buddy it scares me.

[SuuPRlim]

i genuinely think it's unlucky to move seats lol

[Woodsey]

i genuinely think it's unlucky to move seats lol

You spend half your life worrying about maths and +EV and other shit and you worry about this?