Reg 1 3 player and wanted some thoughts on how people are adjusting to bigger opens
Hi Guys,
First post here 😀
I’m a regular 1/3 player and wanted some thoughts on how people are adjusting to these games lately.
At both of my local rooms limping is still extremely common especially in EP. What’s interesting is that raise size doesn’t seem to matter much at all. You’ll often see a couple of $3 limps from EP, someone raises to $15–$25 in MP, and two or three of the original limpers still call anyway. The same thing happens even when EP opens big themselves. A $20–$25 open will still get multiple callers behind.
In the afternoons, opens are usually around $10–$15. In the evenings it’s more aggressive, often $15–$25, sometimes more. But regardless of time of day or sizing, pots still go multiway a lot because most limpers just don’t like folding.
Curious how people are approaching these spots. Are you just going bigger across the board, tightening up and playing fewer hands, or changing which hands you’re willing to isolate with when you know you’re still likely going 3–5 ways?
Would appreciate hearing how others are handling this in similar live games.
Thanks!
10 Replies
How deep is the game? That matters a lot.
If other people are raising, I 3! or fold, and I'll squeeze wider when IP. The wider Vs are flatting, the wider we can squeeze.
If you're raising and getting 3-4 callers, raise a good range IP and c-bet whenever you can find an excuse and you'll take down a lot of $80 pots with nothing and you'll have your opponent's out kicked often because you're playing KT+ and they have K4
Most stacks are $300-500 deep. These are regular 1/3 games in my area. Its very rare someone will open for less than $15. Thx for your input
Most stacks are $300-500 deep. These are regular 1/3 games in my area. Its very rare someone will open for less than $15. Thx for your input
Yeah, you don't really want to be raising $50+ then (without tightening your range) like you can get away with if stacks are averaging $1k. But you can definitely 3! chunky if you're closer to $500 eff vs the initial raiser. In general, I would rather be the 3!er than an open raise. From EP/MP in these types of games you just have to tighten up. But even playing tight you can get egregiously greedy with your monsters and expect to get called, especially if you are 3!ing fairly wide from the CO and BTN because few players will identify that you're only playing 5% from EP when you're 3!ing/squeezing a lot from CO/BTN. You'll be identified as "loose" and they will call your $40 open from EP.
Yeah mostly 3-betting or folding is a good strategy. Larger opens incentivize you to raise more and call less.
The main hands I will flat in this type of games are smaller pocket pairs to set mine. That's assuming you're relatively deep and other players behind are relatively passive, where they won't squeeze too much.
If you're on a table where people are 3-betting aggressively sometimes you can mix in some flats with strong hands, then go for the back raise. That level of aggression is somewhat unusual at 1/3 though.
The 2 rooms I play in regularly this level of aggression is the norm. Everyone plays like a 2/5 game. I'm a classic TAG so it does work for me most of the time, but of course you'll get smashed by players calling with any suited ace or king and flopping 2-pair (ie. A6s K9s) when you have AQ or AK
So I once ran an experiment at 2/5 to see just what people's pain tolerance was for preflop raises. Without making any adjustments to my range I was all the way up to $75 opens and getting calls from KQo, A8s, and who knows what else. It did overall help isolate players, with the only adjustment I saw were a few traps with AA/KK. Ultimately I punted postflop a little too much and decided I didnt need every pot to be HU vs tight ranges. I feel perfectly capable of navigating 3-4 way pots with a $20-25 open at 2/5.
In your games I would treat $15 as a standard and $25 as "a little tighter" than standard and as a result just play a little tighter myself. Now if people start opening to $50 I'd need to see a showdown so I could decide to either treat it like a shortstacked 2/5 or just nit it up in general.
Ya people have deep pockets in my rooms but play 1/3, $15 open even in Ep does nothing to stop multiple callers behind.
It’s a good question, because many games are as you describe. Kinda go in and out of them, a couple guys leave and it’s a normal game again - back and forth
It is actually funny, when there’s a six dollar bet in 1/3 when it’s not a straddle.
I think there are a lot of players rolled and willing to play bigger, but those games aren’t open yet or don’t happen much. You have to identify those that think it’s fun to use monster sized raises and try to buy pots.
Most players have no clue with sizings
How many times you hear this was a 15 dollar hand but not a 45. I think what posters here are trying to tell you is there’s no blanket strategy. You have to look at each individual.
You can bet bigger with good hands in position if they’re inelastic. You can notice Larry is opening that 20 a lot from any position (wide opener) and call down his nonsense. Notice who is calling any size pre and then plays fit or fold on the flop?
How are you going to play in a bigger game? What adjustments would you make?
Cause that’s what you are in ‘a bigger game’
Maybe you tighten up some, play fewer hands oop, etc. Definitely listen to raise or fold advice and don’t wimp out 3betting small, and end up with 3callers.
I’m a tight player anyway, so this type of game doesn’t affect me as much. You will have inflated pots that bring opportunity. But it’s also easy to make a big mistake that’s hard to recover from.
A last thing, in these games you must expect to get AA with 3callers at times, no matter what you do. You must embrace this and sharpen up your multiway play.
In my rooms there will always be at least 1-2 players on each table like this. Min $15 open and $25 at night. Even OMCs will open in this range. To isolate AA/KK/AK/etc you'll have to 3-bet to a min. of $50 and sometimes $100 at night. I'm a TAG so these games do well for me mostly, but i wanted see if other rooms are like this too?
This sounds exactly like my games, but they are a little shallower and my player pool is mostly loose/passive w/ a few who will limp/shove AA/KK. If they limp in, they are almost always calling up to $20/$25.
I just play my normal game and am very cautious post-flop knowing they are playing any pp, any suited connectors, almost any suited AX or KX. And they are sticky. I take advantage of position. If they raise pre, my 3bet is very tight, but I will call wider in position.
Works for me, but I'm in a small player pool so take it with a grain of salt.
