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Wild Games
We’ll now address the question of wild poker games. Suppose you are in a game where seven people regularly come in for the maximum.
What kind of starting hands should you play?*(*This would be four or five bets preflop depending on the rules of the poker rooms.)
Well, it’s a two-edged sword. On one hand, because you have seven opponents you want to have a hand that does well against many players, that of course being the suited hands and the pairs.
On the other hand, because the pot is being “capped” you are getting very poor implied odds.
Obviously, if seven people came in for a single bet, hand like is very nice. There are two reasons.
First, it does well multiway, and second, if you do make your hand someone is there to pay you off, meaning that your implied odds are much higher than 7-to-1.
However, if seven people come in for the maximum, you have very little in the way of implied odds.
This means that once you are in a game where the Pots are being constantly capped, you want to play hands similar to the hands that you would play if there was no betting from the flop on.
When you are in this type of game you would actually win if you only played aces, kings, queens or AKs.
For instance, at the $20-$40 limit it would cost you about $3 per hand if you were.
It differs from merely loose games where many poker players see the flop, but only for one or two bets never to enter the pot.
Waiting for these hands only would cost you about $180 between plays, but those hands should win that back.
Playing this way is both boring and certainly doesn’t guarantee a win for any session.
You are going to sit there for hours until you get one of these hands. But this strategy will “get the best of it” because too much money is going into the pot compared to the initial blinds.
When all that money is incorrectly put into the center of the table, if you just wait for aces, kings queens, and AKs you must win.
Whether you want to splash around with as little as two tens or AJs is up to you. They will win a little, but they also add to your fluctuations.
Which other hands, if any, you should play is highly questionable. The problem is that if they are playing that way, and if they are putting pressure on you after the flop, how are you going to play a hand like two nines?
For example, suppose four people are going crazy for $100 each in a $2—$40 game and you know that they are doing it with almost anything.
You probably still should throw the two nines away even though it appears that you have the best hand.
You might show a small profit with them if you play them well. But the situation is, if there are only four people in and they are capping it, and you are sitting there with two nines, you are not getting your odds to hit a set, even including your implied odds.
Most of the time there is going to be an overcard. What are you going to do then? Are you going to come in for another $100 on the flop, and then again on the turn?
As we said, you don’t have to throw this hand away. If you want to add giant fluctuations to your game you can play those two nines.
But they don’t play well in that kind of game, and the same is even true for two tens. So a good poker strategy in this type of game would be to play jacks or better pairs, AKs all the way down to maybe AJs, and AK.
If there were more players in, then you could play the two nines because you would now be getting proper odds for your set. However, fold them when you are only against four people.
This strategy may seem too tight because a hand like can look pretty good when your opponents are constantly capping it on anything.
But unless you are on the button you don’t have to play them. You should understand that you have the “nuts” if you don’t play any of these hands.
In games where they are all playing crazy there is nothing wrong with playing tighter than what is theoretically proper. Calling or reraising before the flop.
It may reduce your win rate a little, but it will reduce your fluctuations greatly.
Furthermore, this style will make it less likely that the live ones will quickly make a big win and quit on you.*(*Keep in mind of course that this strategy is only for those multiway pots that are likely to get capped. Even wild games sometimes have normal pots. For those you would revert to normal loose game strategy.
We understand playing this tightly can become aggravating when you lose several hands in a row and you have to wait many hours before the chips are pushed to you.
But eventually you will win that giant pot and be ahead. We also understand that this is a stupid way of playing poker. It’s not very satisfying. But it’s profitable.
So again, stay away from the two nines type of hand. You’ll look down and you’ll say, “This is the best hand.
These idiots are putting all this money in and I have the best hand.” Yet, if you don’t flop a set, get stubborn and stay to the end, somebody with a ridiculous hand beats you.
The problem is that the Pots are so large that they are not making a mistake chasing you all the way down.
Their mistake is simply putting in all that money before the flop with hands they shouldn’t. You don’t make that mistake.