question Lately, even the soft tables are fighting back preflop

Been a bit of a shift lately, hey. Even the softer 1/2 games and low-stakes online pools don’t feel as sleepy as they did not long ago. Guys who used to limp-call any two broadways are opening cleaner, 3-betting the blinds more, and at least pretending to know what boards are good for who. Not saying every table has turned into some wizard fest... just enough of a change that the old autopilot ABC stuff isn’t printing like it used to.

Reckon a heap of it is coming from all the training clips and hand breakdowns getting passed around everywhere now. You can really feel it in the small stuff. More tiny c-bets, more delayed turn barrels, more folds in spots where people used to do the old shrug-call with one pair. Then again, plenty of them only learn one bit of the playbook, so you get this funny mix where preflop looks tidy and then the turn decision is absolute chaos.

I’ve been adjusting by flatting a touch more in position instead of going to war pre, especially against the blokes who are a bit too keen with the squeeze button. Also cutting out some of the cute bluff lines at lower stakes and just leaning harder into clean value when their story falls apart. Funny thing is, some of the newer aggressive players are way tougher before the flop than after it. Once the pot gets awkward, they still end up putting in chips where they really shouldn’t.

Curious if other regs are seeing the same thing right now or if it’s just the games I’m in. What’s actually working for you lot against this newer, more studied crowd? Keen to hear if anyone’s made a solid adjustment that’s held up for more than a session or two.

Seen it too, mostly on regular tables where you can actually track people. Biggest change for me isn't who enters pots, it's the sizing patterns. A fair few of the more 'studied' types use the same tiny flop bet on autopilot, then the turn size suddenly gives the whole hand away. Been taking way more notes on that and it's helped heaps.

Leo LuckyPokie wrote >

Not saying every table has turned into some wizard fest... just enough of a change that the old autopilot ABC stuff isn’t printing like it used to.

yeah nah, I reckon you're giving the pool a bit too much credit there. Plenty of them cleaned up the opens and copied a 3-bet chart, then torch it the second a pot gets weird.

I sort of land in the middle on it. They're still making bad mistakes, but the preflop cleanup changes what spots are worth taking in the first place. I used to overcall late with all the pretty junk because family pots were everywhere. Now those cheap multiway flops dry up faster, blinds squeeze more, and hands like KJo/QTo just turn into awkward dominated rubbish. Folding more of that stuff felt nitty for a while, but the ugly spots dropped off straight away.

My little rule now is stop paying off rivers just because a line looks weird. Mate, low stakes is full of people taking bizarre routes with value and then bombing late. If the earlier action was messy and the sizing goes chunky at the end, I muck a lot more bluff-catchers than I used to.