Beating the Tourists in Vegas

Most poker rooms around the country serve primarily a local clientele. Las Vegas is different. The cardrooms in Vegas get a mix of locals, tourists, and even people who have moved to Vegas expressly to play poker. This causes the small-stakes games in Vegas to play a bit differently than games anywhere else. In this column, I’ll run down a few of the player types you’ll encounter among the tourists in a Las Vegas $1-$2 no-limit hold’em game, and how you should play against them. My next column will discuss playing against Vegas locals.

The First-Timer

If you play at night, you’re fairly likely to have a first-timer at your table. He often doesn’t know the basic rules, and finds himself making basic errors, like string-bets, playing out of turn, and so on.

First-timers don’t understand hand values at all. Also, they typically are impatient players. If they don’t win any pots in the first 20 minutes or so, they’ll be looking for a place to put their money in. It’s not unusual to see a first-timer call an all-in bet with ace high against someone with an “obvious” big hand.

Playing against them is simple. Bet, bet, bet for value. Flop a pair, and bet it. If it’s a good pair, keep betting it. They may beat you a time or two, but eventually they will inexplicably pay off your nut straight with king high. I almost never see a first-timer leave the table with chips. For however much they buy in, they’re going to lose, and it might as well be to you.

The Playboy

The playboy is not in Vegas to play poker. He’s dressed for the club, and that’s where he’s going after he busts out. He’s sitting in your game for only an hour, just long enough to pound four free Red Bull and vodkas.

The playboy has played poker before, though. He knows the rules of the game better than the first-timer. (Playboys who don’t play poker get their free drinks in the pit, instead.) Otherwise, he plays a lot like the first-timer. He’s looking to get his money in, and he’s impatient. He’s not timid, though. He’s just as happy to run a ridiculous all-in bluff as he is to call down with ace high.

Against these guys, you still should bet, bet, bet for value, but you also should be willing to call some of their wild bets with hands that you would fold against a regular player. If you open with A-Q for $10 preflop and a playboy shoves for $70, call.

These guys don’t leave the table with chips, either. When they get sick of playing, they’ll start sticking their money in the middle until it’s gone. When you sense this happening, get it in with them if you have something decent. You’ll win more often than not.

The Timid Tourist

There are lots of these players in the Vegas $1-$2 games. They clearly have played plenty of poker, and they have no trouble with the rules. They understand hand values and know that they should fold hands like top pair to serious aggression. Their flaw, however, is that they are too timid all the way around. They don’t bet for value with good hands when they should. When they do bet, their bet sizes often are too small. And, they are far too willing to fold.

I played a hand recently against a timid tourist. It was a $1-$2 game, and he had about $150 to start the hand. I raised two limpers to $13 from the button with A-J suited. The timid tourist called from the big blind, and one limper called. The flop came K-6-2 rainbow with one of my suit. Both players checked, I bet $30, and the timid tourist in the big blind called. When he called, he sighed and made a face that I’ve seen hundreds of times before. It meant that he felt like he had too much hand to fold immediately, but he was really worried about his hand and wouldn’t want to face a stack decision. We each had about $107 left at this point, and the pot was $102. I resolved to shove nearly any turn.

The turn was the 10 of my suit, so it gave me a flush and a straight draw. He checked, and I shoved. He hemmed and hawed for a while. “You put me in a really tough spot,” he said. “You’ve got kings, don’t you? You have to have kings.” On the flop, I figured that he had a king with a weak kicker, a pocket pair from sevens to queens, or maybe a 6. Now that he seemed worried about a king, I put him on a premium pocket pair like Q-Q or J-J. I expected him to fold. He did fold — faceup — showing 6-6. The guy had flopped middle set! Only one hand beat him on the flop, yet that was the hand he thought I must have.

It’s an extreme example of timidity, but these guys make big folds in silly places. They generally are far too willing to fold top pair, overpairs, two pair, small straights, and so on.

So, how do you take advantage? Step one is to raise preflop, especially with position. These guys like to limp. Don’t let them in for $2. Build a pot with most of the hands that you normally would play. Tight folds aren’t bad in small pots, but when the pot is bigger, these guys leave too much dead money. So, if a timid tourist limps in, and you have, for instance, A-4 suited in the cutoff or K-10 offsuit on the button, raise.

Step two is to bet the flop. I bet most flops against timid tourists. They don’t understand that my hand range is weak, because I’m raising and betting the flop with a lot of hands. And, they are fearful of losing their stacks.

Step three is to follow up sometimes with turn and river barrels. When to do this depends on what cards come (and what pained expressions an opponent may make), and is a subject for another column.

Beating timid tourists is not all about bluffing, though. You also can call them looser on the flop with hands that you might have to fold against a tougher player. Weak pairs and weak draws are often worth a flop call, because timid tourists make bets that are too small compared to the pot size, and they also check hands down too often after getting called. This tendency gives too many cheap and free cards, and rewards you for sticking around in hands. You can be that annoying guy who just won’t go away, because timid tourists make it cheap enough to play that way.

Finally, still bet your good hands for value. While these players sometimes fold hands that they shouldn’t, they also sometimes pay off in silly spots. If you have a good hand, bet it. ♠

Ed’s latest book, Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em, is available for purchase at smallstakesnolimit-holdem.com. Find him on Facebook at facebook.com/edmillerauthor, and you also can check out his online poker advice column, notedpokerauthority.com