Learning how to exploit regulars!

[Robin_Ripper]

Hey Everyone,

This month I've been playing a lot with the same players. And I will be playing a whole lot more with them in the upcoming month. Most of them are quite decent, I think I'm one of the better players of the bunch (only 1 or 2 player(s) I consider that's better then me) however I would really like some advice on what to look for when trying to exploit regulars.

Some information:
- It's all 6max or HU.
- It's from €100nl to €400nl.(basically what tables are open because it's a small site)
- It's on a euro site that does not have the option to use any kind of software (so not PT/HM/PO/anything which might give statts).

That last point is basically what I would like advice/help with. After playing about a month with these regulars (about 20 of them) I do have 'reads' on everyone however they are totally random reads. Some examples:

3bets AK and bet/shoves AK4board, 3bets A9s and Cbets KT3r board, double barrels FD on J turn, folds to river minraise? calls 4bet OOP with JJ, does not 3bet AQ IP, can C/R Q238r turn and shoves river with 77

instapots AQ6ss board IP 3way after Cbet with 55 (showed), calls RR OOP with AKo, stacks off with low overpairs

utg limps TJo, Raises KQo and bets KT7ss board and C/C's 7 turn and checks river flushcard, C/F on 77Tr board after UTG raise, C/MinR turn on Q68ss3r board and folds to shove, potcontrols turn with AQ on Axxx board, squeezes AQ and checks Q97r flop

As you can see these are quite 'random' and unstructured notes (esp because I've been playing with them for longer then a month.

I would love some advice from people who play without statts what kindof extensive reads they have on players and what is important to look for and what not.

Because I don't have any statts I have absolutely no idea about stuff like cbet%, aggression per street, C/R flop% and so on. However it's not really possible to be on the look for all of this when playing 4-6 tables (even though it's with all the same people usually).

I was thinking I would focus each day on something else.. for example on the first day I would focus on how often people double barrel or potcontrol and another day I would focus on 1 player specifically. But this approach does not really seem good/optimal.

Help me make a plan on how I'm going to exploid these regulars. Any advice is appreciated!


(I know, I could play a normal site and also play vs fishes but I'm playing here because of a rakerace and because I think this will be very very good for my own game for the future when I'll be playing a whole lot more with lots of regulars on the higher limits.)

[benve79]

Very nice post!
i'll write 3 things in 3 situations i think are important in shorthanded games:

3betting and 3bet pots are very important imo.
- what do they 3bet PF against a BU/CO opener
(AQ? AJ? KQ? JJ? TT? small pairs? suited gappers?)
- after 3betting, on flops like Thigh, do they double barrell the turn with overcards?
- are they capable of floating or raise-bluffing a 3bet pot?


In 2bet pots, as the callers
- do they raise or call the cbet with toppair good kicker?
- how do they play sets on drawheavy/dry boards?
- how do they play draws?


In 2bet pots, as the aggressors
- do they double barrel TPGK/draws?
- do they cbet a lot also on boards like 678?
- do they check 2nd pair or smthing like QQ on AT5?

[Robin_Ripper]

Thanks for your reply Benve79.
Because note-taking is not that great on the client itself I'll be keeping a txt file with my notes for each player and you've given me lots of good things that I will look for to put into my notes.

For each player I think the most important things to note are:
- Is their UTG openingsrange different from their BTN openingsrange? (might seem a little silly but you'd be amazed how many peoples UTG range = BTN range)
- How do they play their top pair hands (as aggressor and as caller).
- How do they play their weak/strong made hands.
(almost everyone plays their draws fast so that's not really that noteworthy)
- Whether they float me in 3bet pots and how they react to floats in 3bet pots.
- 3betting ranges from the blinds and from late position.
- Can they 4bet bluff? Can they 5bet bluff?
- Betsizing/timingtells.

It might seem like a lot of things to note but because I'll be playing them so much I think it is really important to have very long notes.
I will give some examples of the notes I'll be making starting in 2 days and see if you guys can help me either refining the notes or how to exploit them using these notes.

Are there any important things missing from my notes as they are now? (stuff like, can they make big laydowns, do they call me very light, will they C/Rbluff me etc..)

Edit: One more thing that might be important is that you are unable to see mucked hands at the river, which means that if you make light calldowns they don't see you made a light calldown (except when you win ofcourse).

[jaymesbond]

One thing to think about may be if you are really trying to get "meta" with the regs, then make one insane play against them. With this u might lose a stack or something, and hell you might win, but doing something insane to build an image against a specific opponent will last a long time, a lot longer than one or two sessions because they will remember you making such a goofy play.

Example:

I just started playing NL200 6max on stars and there is a reg named Gregy2034, and he seemed to be a good reg but i had position on him on three tables....so i decided to play really aggro against him, to the point where it really frustrated him because i know he is a LAG who like to be the aggressor in pots. So. I have 54hh on button and he opens in the cutoff. I three bet and we are playing 100bb effectively. He 4bets to 61 and i know that he is capable of 4betting light especially when it looks like im 3bet position raising. So i shove he tanks and mucks and i Show him, this being the important part that will stick in his head. The rest of the session and up til now he gives me know respect and i KNOW it was because of that instance. So make sure you note some of your moves and not just how he plays against you.

GL sir

[benve79]

Originally Posted by Robin_Ripper

Thanks for your reply Benve79.
- Is their UTG openingsrange different from their BTN openingsrange? (might seem a little silly but you'd be amazed how many peoples UTG range = BTN range)
.

interesting, how do you determine this without using tracking software?
is it from what they showdown after opening utg, stuff like A8o, KTo, 57s?

as i side note, especially HU, i noticed some people have some fixed ranges for playable hands. (stuff like 30% or 40% of hands if HU). so they will raise their button if the hand fits their raising standards and will also 3bet OOP with the same range. in general they will not fold preflop then, and will always call 4bets-3bets.

[Robin_Ripper]

Well I found that out while still playing with software. However it showed that more then half of the regulars still does not use their position like they should!

I did not continue playing on this site after all when they changed the rules for the rake-race which was total BS. But I still think there is alot to discuss about exploiting regulars.