General 2-6 Spread Limit Question

chuck_mingus · **Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2012 11:40 am

In preparation for an upcoming trip I was wondering how the 2-6SL games on the Strip generally played, particularly at the Monte Carlo and Excalibur. For reference, I'm typically a high-rolling $2/4 or $3/6 limit guy. I do understand the basic rule and strategy differences between limit and spread, I was curious more about the general size and action of the game. (Granted, there's always variation from table to table.)

My one experience with $2-6 spread came at a little casino in Montana. At that game there was a lot of pre-flop limping. Pretty much every subsequent street bets were the full $6, but three and four betting was moderately rare. There was more folding than say a $2/4 game, but it was still a fairly loose passive affair. $100 seemed the standard buy-in and was plenty enough to handle most swings (though more than a few folks were also buying in short.) Is that pretty pretty typical, or are games in Vegas bigger/smaller, more/less action, etc?

Thanks in advance for any insights.

axb001 · **Joined:** Mon Nov 03, 2008 2:15 pm **Posts:** 1533

chuck_mingus wrote:

My one experience with $2-6 spread came at a little casino in Montana. At that game there was a lot of pre-flop limping. Pretty much every subsequent street bets were the full $6, but three and four betting was moderately rare. There was more folding than say a $2/4 game, but it was still a fairly loose passive affair. $100 seemed the standard buy-in and was plenty enough to handle most swings (though more than a few folks were also buying in short.) Is that pretty pretty typical, or are games in Vegas bigger/smaller, more/less action, etc?

My experience at the Monte Carlo is pretty much as described. The dynamic of the table is of course vulnerable to the actions of just one or two players, but in general terms there was lots of limping pre-flop and max-betting on the turn and river. It typically did not go much beyond a bet and single raise on any street.

Overall I did not feel the variance was appreciably larger than you might expect for a corresponding 2-4 limit game.

chuck_mingus · **Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2012 9:24 pm

Sounds good, thanks for the info.

Dap Poker · **Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2012 10:52 pm

I played at Monte Carlo my last trip and I'd say that limping was fairly common and that there was generally not more than 1 raise per street. I did notice that after I started raising pre-flop with any good hand, my table adjusted and started doing likewise. But overall, it is a fairly passive and loose game, just like most limit games.

One strategy note, I think you need to max bet every street, but especially on the flop. It really gives player the worst odds to chase and since most people don't adjust to this game versus a straight limit game, I think that it's an area where you can make people make the biggest mistakes (e.g., chasing weak draws on the flop for a full $6, when in a $3-6 game it would only cost them $3). Also, I noticed a lot of people who wouldn't do this, particularly pre-flop, but would raise to something like $3 or $4, instead of going the full $6. This really make no sense -- if someone is going to limp-call $4, they'll likely limp-call the full $6, so make them pay it.

Dave

chuck_mingus · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 6:16 am

Thanks for the info and the strategy advice. Always good to force your opponents to make bad decisions. I really enjoyed the homey vibe of the MC on my last trip and am looking forward to getting back.

Local Rock · **Posted:** Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:39 am

I wouldn't count on getting much of a game at Monte Carlo. I like the spread limit format and have played more of it than fixed limit or no limit (some places outside of Las Vegas it is the main standard game and has been for years) but I didn't have much luck trying to get a game to play at Monte Carlo. After three attempts to play there I gave up. There was a recent room review by someone posted here: http://www.allvegaspoker.com/player_review_39451.html I had exactly the same experience, for the same reasons described in that review.

It could be that I was just unlucky in my timing and that on different days or times of day or night I'd have found something playable. But each of the three times I tried playing there the games were kept chronically short, resulting in no chips in the pot nothing much to be contested and no interest at the table, as described by that recent reviewer. I managed to get in a halfway interesting only somewhat short-handed game with two hotel guest/tourists at the table for about 15 minutes one evening, before the game broke and the room emptied due to another table being opened without players to sustain either. Also, there seems to be a big emphasis on a high dollar freeroll. I recognized almost every face in the room, they were mostly just hanging around to log hours for that, and seemed to find it strange that I wanted to actually sit at the table with my chips to play for some pots rather than log hours. Several thought I was joking when I was asked how many hours I needed and said I wasn't doing that. But the room is a nice physical environment, and if you've had better luck with finding interesting games, then maybe I just need to figure out the right times/days to be there and what shifts to avoid.

Of those two I think I'm more inclined to try Excal first, though their games seemed to go mostly just in the evenings last time I was there, several months ago. In my little time playing there on several evenings last year my tables varied all over the map from typical loose passive to loose aggressive on other nights when as many as three or four LAGs were in the game.

chuck_mingus · **Posted:** Thu Jan 12, 2012 6:33 am

Thanks for the info. Good to know, albeit a bit disappointing to hear. I'd missed that review somehow.

General 2-6 Spread Limit Question

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