I was playing $1-$2 NL last night at the casino. The game was pretty tight, not a lot of action going on. Then this guy sat in, said he was going to play a few hands, gave the impression that he was just trying to pass some time waiting for a friend to get off work. The dealer and a few players at the table seemed to know him and he was carrying around a cardplayer magazine that featured a pic of him. No, not a pro, just a guy that has a lot of money and usually plays the $10-$20 NL game or bigger. Made a big deal out of the fact that the limit was too low to bother being serious about and flashed a thick stack of $100 bills when buying in. He sat at the only seat available (to my misfortune) on my immediate left and proceeded to raise every hand PF to at least $15-$20 to go. Also did a lot of straddling and calling and raising in the dark. Within an hour it seemed as though the whole table had gone crazy and I was completely card dead and unable to play my marginals because I knew any hand I entered was likely to be for all my chips. I know the usual strategy would be to wait for good hands and let him do the betting, but the hands he actually ended up showing down were almost always winners. He had rockets 4 times in an hour and the junk hands he showed mostly caught lucky on the board. I ended up just slowly bleeding out about half my stack till he finally left and then fortunately I was able to build it back up. Is there any strategy that you guys can recommend for playing against someone who is playing way below their limits and has a total disregard for the chips on the table? Or should I just change tables when someone like that sits down? He ended up distributing about $600 to the table, I just wasn't one of the lucky recipients. He also felted about 3 people. Any comments appreciated.

don't go card dead next time.

hopefully you did not join just to post this.

my recomendation is that you sit down at a 1/2 table every single time you see him there if he is going to play like that.

you would rather him to your right though....


loosen up with him, you should be able to find plenty of spots to shove all your chips in ahead if he is going that crazy

ive heard a great position to have when there is a truly maniacal person playing is on your left. that way you can confidentally pull of the limp re-raise. you may get multple callers trying to stand up to the bully and you are just waiting in the shadows to shove and and possibly price him in with a weak hand and knock all the others out and collect their dead money. just a thought....

peace

(1) Sucky game -- I always like a loose player sitting down.

(2) Warning, will robinson, warning!

(3) This is what you want; except for the going card dead thingie. Too bad.

(4) Stay out of his way then.

(5) Exploit them if you can.

(6) "He ended up distributing about $600 to the table..." Too bad you weren't one of them.

(7) Better luck next time?

basically, you just sit there and post your blilnds, soo 3 dollars every 20 mins lets say.. not too bad. considering once u get a decent hand you could double your stack. (whats the goin rate of a movie? bout 10 bucks for an hour and a half?) i'd pay the bllinds just to watch this guy go to town

I play guys like that all the time, sometimes i'l join em, other times i'll just wait for big hands or pots thy decided to fold. although immediate left sucks for you.

you know you could have taken a "dinner break" and the STFU about this all together