Sunday - Being a Crazy Nit

Last day of my vacation, so decided to grind it up a bit to end the vacation with nice result. One thing I noticed a lot during my vacation is how the games have changed at NL100. Everyone seems to know nowadays that a reraise does not always mean a strong hand. And it seems that every time there's a raise and a call everyone and their mother squeezes with any two cards. People are 4-betting with all kinds of trash hands and polarizing their ranges.

Some people try to exploit that by being a Nit. Never getting into marginal spots, only playing strong hands and never getting out of line. Only while that seems a good play, everybody who's somewhat decent uses a HUD nowadays which means those 15/11 players just don't get any action. They still beat this game for marginal winnings in general, so something like 2-3ptBB/100.

I decided to experiment a bit on sunday. I was not going to 3-bet light that often, never was going to squeeze or 4-bet bluff, never were going to call a 3-bet with a marginal hand, but I was going to play in such a way that my table image, at least the stats people got on me in their HUD's were still going to be somewhat crazy.

So I played like a total nit other than a few minor adjustments:
- Nits don't steal enough preflop, generally around 20% or less. I kept my attempt to steal as high as possible and on some tables I raised every single button when folded around to me. My attempt to steal was 52% for the day.
- Nits play too tight. I ran around 24/21 for the day, which quite disguises that I'm trying to be a Nit.
- Nits don't do crazy stuff. That's good, I didn't either. Other than some random large river bluffs when having a decent read about opponent's hand strength.
- Nits don't defend their blinds enough. I didn't either, I played extremely tight from small blind, never stealing or restealing, same for the big blind. Yet if the SB even so much as glanced at my BB fireworks were going to show at the table. I think I 3-bet every single hand in the BB if the SB opened a bit too often into me. Play me out of position? Pay for it!

So my stats were going to be all in the red for people who trust their HUD stats, and my table image should be somewhat of a total nutcase, even while I played an extremely standard postflop game with only a few bluffs tossed in. I valuebet thinner, in one pot even with ace-high getting called by a worse ace-high, which was quite funny:

$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($67.90)
UTG+1		($92.80)
CO		($131.55)
BTN		($102.45)
SB		($10.50)
Hero		($198.45)

Pre-flop: ($1.50, 6 players) Hero is BB

2 folds, CO raises to $3.50, 2 folds, Hero raises to $12.50, CO calls $9

Flop: ($25.50, 2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($25.50, 2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: ($25.50, 2 players)
Hero bets $16, CO calls $16

Final Pot: $57.50
Hero shows:
CO shows:

Hero wins $54.65 ( won +$26.15 )
CO lost -$28.50


This was pretty standard vs that opponent though. The villain in question is a pretty moody player, hates to fold, and cbetting that board with AK is something you only do vs that player when you dislike money. But on the river it was pretty obvious villain either held nothing or dueces. As played, I expected my river bet to get called by a worse ace-high or even a king. Villain in question is also prone to tilt, so I cannot let such an opportunity pass.

Another fun hand was vs a player who played quite solid, but I think he thought I was a total nutcase. It was pretty obvious that he either had AK or AQ in this spot, perhaps AJ, and was slowplaying vs me to extract more value. So I decided to pot the turn and overbet the river, not really expected villain to fold much:

$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($108.75)
UTG+1		($105.95)
CO		($115.60)
BTN		($63.85)
Hero		($217.10)
BB		($113.05)

Pre-flop: ($1.50, 6 players) Hero is SB

4 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($7, 2 players)
Hero bets $5, BB calls $5

Turn: ($17, 2 players)
Hero bets $17.50, BB calls $17.50

River: ($52, 2 players)
Hero bets $101, BB calls $87.05

Final Pot: $226.10
Hero shows:
BB shows:

Hero wins $237.05 ( won +$110.05 )
BB lost -$113.05


I managed to drag in over 3 buyins in 1.5 hours or so and quit for the day. I think I'll experiment with the Crazy Nit style a bit more often.