How to deal with people who keep straddling to 0.16 in 0.01/0.02?

I joined a table where there was a villain who kept straddling every hand to 0.16 at a 0.01/0.02 PLO table, then kept calling and raising. It made the game very difficult to play and I lost so many buy-ins at the table, and he once got to more than $10 in his stack, until I found out that he shoved a lot with 4 rubbish cards. Other people at the table mostly had a low VPIP and only played with him with premium hands.

And only after more than half an hour at the table I started to take advantage of him shoving rubbish hands, and I started to play aggressively with not-so-rubbish hand and buy insurance for that, and eventually see him losing more buy-ins than me, and I recovered my initial losses. (My bankroll had only 5 buy-ins at 0.01/0.02)

What should be the correct way to play with such a villain who raises the stake every hand to a level I am not comfortable with?

If there is any option to change tables, that’s the most likely thing I’d do. Adjusting you play (as you detailed in your post) is really the only way to handle someone so loose and aggressive.

If he is straddling big your blinds are small so just wait for strong combos . In any case it sounds like you eventually did fine .

So in summary, someone was really bad at poker and at your table. Sounds like a dream spot.

Fold alot and play good hands v someone who is putting tok much money in with trash hands

Well you shouldn't be playing with only 5 buyins... but besides that the reason cash games are much more entertaining and

profitable is you can do exactly what you did, which is play the player..., set him up and knock him down,

play your game, ... but next time play within your br level for your own sake👍

miklcct said:

(My bankroll had only 5 buy-ins at 0.01/0.02)

Click to expand...

This is the issue. PLO is a high variance game and obviously even higher variance, if there are big straddles involved. Even without straddles you should plan on having a bankroll of at least 50 BIs of $100 for a 2NL game. For NLH you can away with a bit less like maybe 30 BIs or $60 for 2NL.

Know when the villain is going to bet heavily and bet even more to scare away the other players with strong hands, allowing you to beat the villain with your medium hand!

MK_ said:

Well you shouldn't be playing with only 5 buyins... but besides that the reason cash games are much more entertaining and

profitable is you can do exactly what you did, which is play the player..., set him up and knock him down,

play your game, ... but next time play within your br level for your own sake👍

Click to expand...

I'm already playing the lowest level on the platform which is 0.01/0.02.

That's usually a pretty profitable place to be in however as you said it can be difficult to play against.

Usually you'll want to sit back a little more and wait until you have a hand that can call more bets as we're expecting him to be aggressive, however we can also use what we know about his tendencies to help us make money from him. If he's really aggressive we can use that information to bet less in spots where we're not going to want to face a raise, and alternatively we can pile money into the pot with a strong and and expect that he will be putting money in the pot fairly often with a weaker hand.

Also depending on the formation and play on previous streets sometimes you just need to close your eyes and hit the call button. He's going to have more air more often giving combos that would have been losing or break even calls more profitable due to his increased amount of air and bluffs he'll have.

I'm not totally sure about PLO so I can only give you generic advice but I hope this helps you think about poker in a deeper level and helps you epand your game.

GL

EDS

miklcct said:

I'm already playing the lowest level on the platform which is 0.01/0.02.

Click to expand...

Yes so you need to find some more money for a poker bankroll and deposit it. $10 is not nearly enough.

fundiver199 said:

Yes so you need to find some more money for a poker bankroll and deposit it. $10 is not nearly enough.

Click to expand...

Do you think it is a good idea to withdraw some of my winnings from other platforms to place it here?

I am staying away from deposits because I went from $20 to $0, then $0 to $20 back to $10.

Btw I have grown my bankroll to $30 now playing some fast fold PLO 0.01/0.02 which is less vulnerable to specific opponents on the table.

miklcct said:

Do you think it is a good idea to withdraw some of my winnings from other platforms to place it here?

Click to expand...

Even if you have money set aside for poker elsewhere, any reasonably multitable cash game session require, that you have at least 10 BIs in the account and preferably more. You do not want to end up in a situation, where you can not reload on a good table, because you ran out of funds. So yes you should top your GG Poker account up, if you want to play cash games.

fundiver199 said:

Even if you have money set aside for poker elsewhere, any reasonably multitable cash game session require, that you have at least 10 BIs in the account and preferably more. You do not want to end up in a situation, where you can not reload on a good table, because you ran out of funds. So yes you should top your GG Poker account up, if you want to play cash games.

Click to expand...

I only play up to 2 tables at most, and if I play 2 tables simultaneously, one of them will be a freeroll.

miklcct said:

I only play up to 2 tables at most, and if I play 2 tables simultaneously, one of them will be a freeroll.

Click to expand...

I dont recommend mixing tournaments and cash games in the same section especially as a beginner. But if you only play 1-2 tables at a time, then I guess 5 BIs is ok to play a cash session. Can work as a stop-loss strategy as well, since you will then simply be out of money, if you lose 5 BIs. But of course you will then need to deposit before your next session.

miklcct said:

Do you think it is a good idea to withdraw some of my winnings from other platforms to place it here?

I am staying away from deposits because I went from $20 to $0, then $0 to $20 back to $10.

Btw I have grown my bankroll to $30 now playing some fast fold PLO 0.01/0.02 which is less vulnerable to specific opponents on the table.

Click to expand...

Fast fold is not a good option--while yes the game is more straight forward to play, the rake will eat you alive.
As others have said we want weak Villains on our tables but if you cannot handle variance due to BR then leave the table when the weakness is maniac and go to a table where the weakness is passive payoff instead. You will have to trade time for bankroll--only playing on the right tables but it would be your best choice

Your study point is Villain recognition so start taking copious amounts of notes on your player pool. You cannot do that on fast fold tables because the V are not playing full range poker, they just fold the lower middle part of their range which gets played on normal tables.