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Legitimate Hands in Loose Games
What about legitimate hands? In a loose game people are willing to play a hand that is relatively lower in value than the average.
Therefore, you own legitimate hands don’t need to be quite as good as in a normal game since your opponents are likely to be staying with you with even worse hands.
This becomes especially true when you get heads-up against one opponent.
However, because of the action and the participants’ style of play, loose games frequently tend to have multi-way pots.
With many players staying in, you would be wrong to loosen up with hands like two small pair or one medium pair.
Even though these marginal hands might be favorites to hold up against each of several loose opponents individually, chances are they will lose when there are several opponents in the pot.
By the same token, if you bet with these hands, you are much less likely to get two, three, or four opponents to fold, particularly when they are loose players, than you are to get one opponent to fold.(*The mathematical principle here is the same as the principle that governs bluffing against more the one opponent.)
Come Hands in Loose Games
In contrast to other semi-bluff hands and small pairs, come hands increase in value with many players in the pot because you are usually getting excellent pot odds to draw to them.
Furthermore, when the game is loose, you figure to get paid off well once you’ve made a straight or a flush.
Therefore, in a loose game with several players in the pot, you should play more drawing hands, such as big
three-flushes on fourth street in seven card stud, than you would usually play.
In loose games, then, you should tighten up considerably on semi-bluffs but loosen up with legitimate hands.
However, you would not play loose with marginal hands like two small pair or one medium pair when several opponents are in the pot.