Always ending up multi-way in cash (4 Viewers)

[dylanthepiguy2]

playing 2/3 at the casino and this happened a lot

opening to 5-7BB depending on limpers before me and the 3 guys left to me (2 fish and the leftmost a studied semi pro) all call

I’m opening a tight range (slightly wider than GTO) yet these guys are calling a much much wider range (semi pro guy calls even J7o from the BB). I’m playing a pretty much pure raise/3b or fold preflop strat. Mostly limps before me so rarely get to
3b.

Semi pro would 3b premiums including AK
Fish to my left would flat AK

I always ended up post flop a lot of the time out of position (and even sometimes in MP or IP) but always missed the flop

The semi pro often ended up IP and just stabbed a lot of flops because I was checking range (not that they would perceive it that way)

What are you supposed to do there?
Check range and fold any misses every time to a IP stab?
Just open smaller if people are gonna call anyway?

I’m used to online play which is almost always heads up so this is a little hard to adjust to so far
But I think my leaks are postflop

Any help would be much appreciated

 

[demonnic]

Live is definitely a much different beast, but the good news is they tend to play worse, it's just frustrating because you see less hands per hour and the bad beats feel worse.

You can open a little smaller to better control the size of the pot if they're just going to come along anyway. This way when you do have to fold you're losing less money.

In addition, you should probably start c-betting some of these flops if the semi-pro is just taking them all when you check. I'd focus on c-betting the high, dry boards (one broadway and 2 lower cards with little connection) which are more likely to hit your RFI range than their weak calling ranges. If they push back, you can call and probe the turn or fold and pick a better spot.

Speaking of better spots, check raise that fool a few times. If you bloody his nose when he's taking stabs with complete air he'll either slow down or spew more chips at you when you've got the goods.

GTO is at best a good baseline to know for live poker, the magnitude of the deviations and mistakes being made by your opponents throw you pretty immediately out of solver land.

 

[allforcharity]

My completely uneducated view in this specific scenario is that you should be raising pre-flop if the best player is flatting. Having two calling stations along for the ride is great and best when you are in position. Nit up if someone changes strategy and starts bullying.

 

[JackJack]

When in early position you could tighten up your range, continue your 3b or fold strategy, and check raise the semi-pro with a higher frequency (even when you miss the board).

Check raising is useful, but probably should coincide with a more disciplined range (10+, & suited connectors, top end semi-suited connectors).

Be prepared to lead out after the turn and fire a second barrel should he call. He may call with a wide range expecting you to hit the brakes. When you fire again it will drive him away when he lacks strength.

 

[Taghkanic]

The various advice above seems good. You may need to both cbet small and checkraise more often to avoid being exploited this way.

You might also want to experiment to see how large you have to go preflop to actually narrow things to heads up. (Unfortunately the answer in some cash games is “ridicilously huge.”)

Anyway, I feel your pain.