TAGing with the LAGs

In poker, it is imperative to alter your playing style according to various factors in the particular game you are playing. In tournaments these are the blind levels, your stack size, opponent’s stack size, payout structure and the players themselves. In a cash game, it is mostly dependant on the opposing players - stack sizes have an influence when calling certain draws, but not to the same degree as tournaments.

On Friday night I found myself sitting at a cash game at the Loose Cannon which was, shall we say, “active”. Most of the players with big stacks were partial to raises and re-raises pre flop and there was plenty of action on the flop. Players several times showed down 2nd pair after heavy betting. 2 of the players had become so aggressive, that they developed from being dangerous loose players to simply the table soft spots. There was one strong aggressive player with a big stack, but the other solid players seemed to have pretty small stacks, so there was no implied odds to be had from playing deceptive starting hands.

All in all, given that I would only be there for 2 hours, this seemed a good spot to sit tight and wait for premium hands. I much prefer playing a wide range of starting hands, but in some cash games, or early in tournaments it’s simply not appropriate. I like to feel one of my key strengths as a player is being comfortable moving from tight to loose at the drop of a hat. So TAG play it was then.

I only comitted a significant amount of my stack to 3 hands in 2 hours. On those occasions I held AA, AK and 99. It really was a boring game for me, but the situation demanded it. My rocky table image didn’t seem to bother some of my table mates - for example when I re-raised to £15 with AA after 8 limpers, 4 of them decided to see a flop! Anyhow, after 2 hours I walked away having doubled my starting stack for a profit of £225. Job done.

Monday night is the Empire festival, before league night on Thursday. Then I’ll probably squeeze in one more Gutshot tournament before leaving for Ireland. At the recommendation of Cathy, a formed Loose Cannon regular, I’ll be visiting the FitzWilliam in Dublin on the Wednesday before the Main Event.