Texas Holdem Poker
I play online tournaments mostly the $5/$1 and the $10/$1. I play SNG and multitable. In the last month I am down 250 dollars. I win the SNG's here and there but maybe once every 7 or 8 times. Multitables I'm respectable but out of the money. I believe I am a tight player I see the flop with pocket pairs ak aq etc. I will only see the flop with low pocket pairs and a/low kicker in the early stages if there are no raises. and only A/low kicker in a late position with no raisesIt seems I sit and sit and sit and don't seem to get a chance to play because i am getting cards like K5 37 J8 Q4 When I flop the highest pair I bet it like I should 2 pair or trips I raise but my problem seems to be i sit there hand after hand maybe seeing a flop and if its a low pocket pair folding after or not being able to call to see the flop. Do I need to loosen up? Perhaps I should see the flop with any facecard that comes in the pocket, but from the things I've read that seems to be a losing play but how could I do worse? Many thime in the SNG's i seem to finish 4th 5th or 6th. Comments.....opinions......advice.....Help!!!!!!! Also when a SNG is down to say 5 people what should I have in my pocket to call the flop? How loose should I be then?
You could just be having a cold wave of cards. You get those in tourneys too you know. It's more of a losing run.
I'm assuming you play NL. Being you're a tight player maybe you should try buying more pots. If you play tight most of the time and you raise on something weak (KTo, JTo etc.) they'll respect you more. Just an idea, it may not work depending on the table and the players you play.
Yes I play NL I am in a freeroll right now playing loose. My loose is seeing the flop with any facecard. So far its working. Thats what I love about freerolls. Great place to test new theories and tactics.
Some people have different opinions on this but if you only play the the top 5-7 hands you will slowly lose your chips. Even when the time comes and you do have a good hand, half of the time someone beats you with a worse hand but good flop. In my opinion that method will get you nowhere. You should read a few books. Also, try to play by the moment. Every situation is different. Positions are a big deal and the later your position the more hands you should play. Try playing suited connectors and A/x suited cards. Also, try to read people, remember you don't always have to have the cards or the best hand. Sometimes you should know your opponent has nothing and you should raise him and make him fold. And be more aggressive on the flop to know where you stand on the hand. Theres many things and this is all basic stuff but I'm just giving you a few ideas, hope it helps.
Early off in tourneys it's sometimes good to play a looser game than you would with larger blinds. The first 3 sets of blinds I tend to play more JTo, Axs, and things like that.
Playing freerolls is a good idea to practice any ideas you might want to work out. However, calling every face card wont work in the long run.
In a SNG you can often literally fold your way to the money. I find that at the $5 tables many of the players are so bad that they will self destruct before the second level. If the table is loose aggressive, it's probably best to play very tight-only play premium hands, and enter the pot for 5-10 X BB. If the table is aggressive and I can be sure of a raise behind me, I will often limp from early with AA or KK. Then when it gets raised up, I move all-in.
If the table is more passive, I will play some non-premium holdings in late position, but I won't take a hand too far if I don't get substantial help. In the first few rounds of a tournament, forget about bluffing-with one exception. If I enter the pot for a raise and I end up seeing a flop, I will usually make a pot sized bet regardless of the cards that fall. If someone bets into you, or you are checkraised be ready to give it up unless you are pretty sure your hand is good. Be very wary of trying to make steal raises-bad players will look you up, especially early on. There's something about the small blinds early on that makes poor players play really bad. And what ever you do, never,ever,ever,ever call a pre-flop raise with garbage like AQ,AJ,AT,KQ,KJ,KT,QJ,QT, and JT, especially out of position. If the raise is less than 5% of your stack and your stack is not small, AQs, and AJs can probably be played, but you are looking to hit a flush or straight draw with them. Forget TP/TK, and even two pair, your hand is probably no good. If the pre-flop raiser has AA,AK,KK, or QQ, none of the above hands are any good. This applies mostly to early stages of the tournament when the table is still full and your stack is near or above average. For me, AJ is an auto-fold from EP, so is AQ. In MP or later I will limp, but if I'm first in, I will probably raise it up, figuring that if I hit TP/TK my hand will probably be good. I will play any PP from any position, even for a moderate raise. On the flop, set it or forget it-unless your pair is an overpair to the flop or you get your set, you're done.
A big loser mistake I see is people moving all-in with AQs,AJs,KQs,KJs, and pairs QQ and below. DO NOT do this. AA and KK are the ONLY hands worthy of an all-in before the flop. Even AK is a hand that you only want to move in on certain occassions. If you get called, you are either going to be slightly ahead, or way behind. I'm still speaking about early on in the tournament when your stack is average or above. This is one point in the tournament where I beleive that the bigger your stack, the more risk averse you should be. I often see poor players get an early chip and then chip off by making it their duty to go out of their way and break every small stack. What they usually end up doing is paying off idiots who really should be out of the tournament. Let them steal the blinds, at these levels, there's just not enough money in the pot, and knocking someone out early really has no bearing on your overall chances of a money finish. DO NOT bully people with your stack early on unless a perfect opportunity arises. It just won't work, and short stacks will probably move in on you anyway. If you are fortunate enough to double up early, save your ammo for when the blinds go up, you don't want to be bringing a knife to a gun fight. Think about stealing and bullying this way-when the blinds are 5/10, risking a lot of chips for 15 chips is just plain stupid. There's a long way to go, and being chip leader now is meaningless. So if you are in the lead, don't risk it.
When the blinds start to matter, that's when you need to change gears and turn up the aggression. In a 1000 chip tournament, this is 30/60 and above. By now some of the loose cannons and calling stations have probably knocked themselves out. This is also the place where the rest of the bad players start to drop. Since the blinds are bigger in proportion to their stacks, playing loosely will chip them off in a hand or two. This is also where the weak tight players start to blind out. By now the better players will start to get more serious. They have invested some time in the tournament, and they are eyeing the money. This is the time to get aggressive. When the opportunities present themselves, steal the blinds. If you still have 1000 chips, stealing the blinds at 30/60 will increase your stack size by 9%, as opposed to 1.5% at 5/10. If you have a big stack, this is where you can start bullying, but you still need to pick your spots. At this point, consider raising with any hand you would call the BB with if there has been no raise in front of you. As the tournament progresses, it's important to avoid confrontations with the other big stacks unless you have a big hand. I try to win most of my pots without a flop, or if there is a flop, take it down there. It becomes much easier to bluff now because people are scared of being eliminated. As the blinds grow, it is no longer necessary to open raise for 5XBB, 2 or 3X is usually sufficient.
The next phase of changing gears is the bubble. This is when there are 4 or 5 players left. How you play the bubble depends on your stack size and the stack sizes of your opponents. Since there is not a huge difference in payout structure between last and first in a SNG (as opposed to a multi) if you are not in the greatest shape, it wouldn't be wrong to try and fold your way into the money. If there are four or five players left and I'm in third, I'm going to play super tight and wait for the small stacks to get broke or blind out. If I'm fourth out of four, chances are my opponents are waiting me out. At this point I often can't wait forever for someone to screw up or for pocket AA. I think at some point you have to just decide to push all in and reach out for lady luck.
Being the big stack on the bubble is a good thing. You can really use your stacks to steal from the short stacks. My advice from before is still true-don't get involved with the other big stacks. I was once in 4th place with no chance in hell of making the money. The first and second place stacks got involved in a big all-in pot, and the second place player got the short end of the stick and I slid into the money and got blinded out two hands later.
Once you reach the money, it's time to turn the aggression back up. In a typical SNG, by the time you hit the paydirt the blinds are at least 100/200 and it becomes pretty much a crapshoot at this point. If you enter a pot, almost always raise, 2-3XBB is usually good. With big hands like AA,KK,QQ,JJ,AQ,and yes even AJ-push it all in. With two opponents, if you get called, your hand figures to be a favorite. If you steal the blinds, you now have more ammo. If I'm in third place, it's all in or fold. Pure aggression is the name of the game when it gets down to three players.
One final note on playing with a short stack. I am working on a strategy of all-in or fold. Unless you are on the bubble, consider moving all-in with any hand you would call with if your stack is 10BB or less. By doing this, you are using the gap concept against your opponents, and you are increasing the equity of your cards by giving you two ways to win-you can steal the blinds, or you can double up if you are called and win. The earlier in the tournament it is, the more of a longshot you are for a money finish unless you get lucky. You will never get lucky if you don't try. If you just blind off, by the time you do get a hand, you are guaranteed a call, and even if you win, you still are in bad shape. The sooner you start to push, the more of a threat you are to your opponents. Simply calling or making a small raise as a small stack is wasting chips, and the less chips you have, the less steal equity you have. See "Tournament Poker for Advanced Players" for more detail on the all in or fold method.
What methods did you use to determine when you were ready to move up limits?
I've been very methodical with poker. I played for play money for months until I could dominate those tables, while occasionally watching the $.50/$1.00 tables at Paradise to get a feel for them. When I felt I could beat the $.50/$1.00 I deposited $50 in mid september, 2003, and beat those stakes very easily, earning about $4.50/hr (often 2 tables) over around 125 hours. After beating that game for a while I began watching $1/$2 tables until I felt I could comfortably move up to them and beat them. I've now been beating those consistently for around $3/hr (considerably more since my move from Paradise to Pacific, but $3 overall) and I am ready to continue to move up.
A method I've been considering is moving up limits when I make 200BB at a certain limit. Then if I lose 50BB or so at the higher limit I will move back down and make that money up at the limit I have proven I can beat. Do you think this is way too slow of a process?
There's no question that I can beat up on weak players, but for some reason I'm always convincing myself that moving up too fast is going to blindside me with players way over my head. I'm not much of a gambler, but I don't consider playing smart poker a gamble. At the same time, I don't 'need' the extra money I hope to gain by moving up limits, but it would be nice to see a little higher return for the amount of hours I put into this hobby.
So back to the point. I'm curious how you knew it was time to step it up.
What all did you take into account?
Are higher limits more of a matter of bankroll than skill?
Am I wasting a lot of potential profits by playing the very low limits when the players at $3/$6 and $5/$10 are not a whole lot different?
I think your pretty much on track here, in fact that is the same thing that I did as well. One thing though, if you are staying on Pacific you will want to get your BR up to 250 to 300BB before moving into the 5/10 or 10/20 territory. The play is really not much better than your average 3/6 game but the bad beats get a bit more expensive.
I never play online poker for real money, and I'm not old enough to go to casinos yet(18) so I never really had the opportunity to start out small like 0.01/0.02 which would have been the smart thing to do. But, after playing poker (primarily hold'em) with my friends/acquaintances 3 to 4x a week for a few months, I recently decided to take my chances at a local game where they play 5/10 and 10/20. It was quite a jump compared to what I was used to but I figured I had to play there to find out if I was ready and if I got crushed, I'd stop going, and improve my game by playing against my friends. Most of the players at these limits are solid, but according to my records I have been beating the game consistently for two months. I don't know how much this well help you, but I would say try experimenting at the 3/6 and 5/10 games you were talking about and ALWAYS keep detailed records of your progress. You will see if you're ready for those limits after playing several times. I hope this helped, good luck.
low limit will make you a bad player.
people will call anything if its under 5 bucks, 72's 96 103 what ever j2 q6 just to see a flop. Higher limit poker makes you play better hands bluff and learn people. seeing more flops doesnt make you better its just luck, you cant win with all 5-9 people at your table in to see a flop cause your ak aa or jj will be killed by a 52 when the flop comes Q52
No offense, but you're crazy if you think you can't win with 5-9 people seeing the flop. And you're equally crazy to think that playing low limits makes you a bad player. If anything it teaches you the very fundamentals of poker and gives you the skills you'll need to expand on to beat the higher limits.
The variance might be greater, but a low limit game is easily beatable for more big bets than a high limit game, assuming the competition changes with the limits.
Your AA will be killed by 52 when the flop comes Q52, you're right. But what about when the flop comes Q52, and 1 person holds QT, one holds T5, one holds A5, and one holds KQ? These fools are calling you down all the way to the river drawing pretty thin with 7 outs collectively. You can't focus only on the times you get handed a beat and then try to draw conclusions from that.
If everyone looked at isolated situations like that, all of a sudden you'd hear people blaming their losses on faulty RNG's. Now what kind of world would that be to live in?
I have to disagree. I dont know what you concider low limit but I try to watch the 15-30 and 30-60 hold'em games at Partypoker when I have the time.
I see alot of guys that doesn't seem to know what they are doing. Calling to the river with bottompair, calling 2 bets cold with gutshots. You know the deal.
Bottom line is that you will find fish at almost any limit you play at. You will get outdrawn by weak hands no matter where you play.
I think you can and should learn alot about playing in lowlimit games ($1-2 - $3-6).
If playing lowlimit doesn't make you a better player I don't know what does.
1. I'm I truly beating the limit I'm playing at now?
2. Do I have a big enough bankroll to move up?
3. Do I feel comfertable playing at this new limit? I don't wanna play scared.
4. Can I handle the swings?
Well for me knowing when to move up, is when I felt comfortable, and when my bankroll afforded it. I started at 2/4 at canterbary, and then slowly moved my way up to 6/12, recently moving to the 8/16 game, and hopefully by the end of summer taking a shot at 15/30.
I dont play ring games online hardly at all, and if i do the 3/6 no limit games and have just started entering multis. Sngs from 10-50 have been a pretty profitably game for me.
I would recommend taking a shot at moving up a level, if you feel comfortable, but obviously dont play with scared money. Give it shot, and find out where your at.
Theres no shame in folding
I definatly have to agree with 3 things that are stated above, when you feel comfortable, when you bankroll is sufficiant, and keeping good records.
I believe keeping good records is the most important thing. One of the things that I do is keep a chart beside me, when I make a bet, raise and call. I also have them divided up into several catagories, such as betting with a lead(at least when I think I am leading, which is not always true), when I am on draws, and bluffs to name a few of my catagories. This keeps me from going overboard with any tendencies or bad play. I usually do not keep track of starting hands because I usually do not vary to much in those.
Recently I have been playing single table NL tornts. almost exclusively. I have been enjoying the play, It has been a bit profitable, and I think It's great practice in several facets of tornt play in a relatively short period of time. (The 5-10% entry fee hurts though!) Anyway, this particular play has been really bugging me and similar situations seem to arise for me often. Please give me your opinion on the proper play here. 4 players left (Final 3 in $), blinds 500/1000
Seat 2(BB)- $3205
Seat 5 - $1490
Seat 6(ME)-$3120
Seat 8(SB)- $2185
I was dealt JJ-
Seat 5- who was playing marginal hands aggresively all tornt went all in ($1490)
I called, BB & SB folded.
My JJ were up against a A7 off
Flop: 2d, Qs, 7s
turn: 10d
River: 7h!
This left me with $1630
The next 3 hands I was dealt J-rag and each time seat 5 bet aggresively and I was forced to fold (losing blinds)
With $880 left and the blinds coming my way I was dealt an As 5S - as usual seat 5 bet 2700 and this time i called (went all in)
seat 5 had a-q-- flop QQA-
Im toast, Im history, 1 hr spent to finish as Bubble Boy. Very frusterating.
My question is what do you think of the call with the JJ's. I try and play conservative as possible and avoid big confrontations untill I am in the $. Obviously it was a lucky draw for seat 5, but should I have waited for a better opportunity? I think I played OK, but yesterday contained 3 4th place finishes and Im trying to examine things.
Thnaks for your feedback
Oh-one other thing
Has anyone come accross any sort of EV for playing these types of tornts. on a regular basis. I am having trouble coming up with a reasonable goal to shoot for. I have been playing $50 +5, $100+9 & $200 + 15. Do you think it is possible to be profitable long term? WithEach tornt taking 1 hr, Playing these hard for 4 months I find my profits constantly flucuating from being + $1,000 to +$200, and I have dropped to neg a few times.
The JJ call was fine. No problem at all.
I also think the Ax suited was a good call. You were low in blinds and had to make a desperate call hoping to get lucky. It was raised before you though, Axs would be no problem if you were in the position and were first to bet out. That hand might have been best to let go of.
As far as the EV on tourney play you'll have to ask one of the guys, I haven't put much thought into it.
This is a very tough situation. At this point, the blinds are so high that the tournament really has turned into a crapshoot. Unfortunately, the small stack is in a pretty favorable position as I see it. There are three outcomes he is facing, and two of them double him up. If no one calls his raise, he wins 1500 chips from the blinds and he doubles up. If you call and he wins, he's now the chip leader becuse not only does he double up, but he still gets the blinds, and what's worse is you will now be in last place, and unless lady luck hits you hard, you will be blinded out in a couple of hands.
From your post, I'm guessing he's UTG and you are on the button. It's a very close decision, but I'm leaning toward folding JJ. My reason for this is that unless he makes a hand, he will be blined out or busted before you get blinded out. Let him take the blinds, or let one of the blinds try and take him out.
Say you folded, he has 2990 after winning the blinds, the very next hand he's in the BB and back down to 1990. If he doesn't win that hand, he's in the SB and back to 1490 (where he started), and you will be in the big blind and down to 2120. You still have him outchipped, and unless he wins another pot, he will be through the blinds again before you are, and hopefully he will be blinded out.
I just finished a stint (2months) of playing all $30 tournaments, as a change of pace from the limit grind, and i won pretty regularly ($8/tourn avg return). you should know that JJ vs. A7 was a good call/bad beat. You shouldn't need reassurance. Second, you seemn to be break even player at these levels combined...4 months is a long time to stay around even. Just stick to $50 for a while and see if a trend developes. Dont shoot for an average win goal...try to figure out what yours is, and then try to improve it. If you dont see any trending, drop down to $30 tables.
i dont two all-in hands says too much about your play, most people would have done the same there.
