Ok Is this a bad beat!

[EscapePlan9]

Stick with the "tight" starting hands in Small Stakes Hold'Em as long as the table is loose (more than 3 people seeing the flop on average). Raise when it says raise, call when it says call, fold when it says fold. Don't stray from the guidelines when you're starting out. This should bring your VP$IP down to around 15-20%.

With experience the pot odds will become easier to calculate. When the flop comes, quickly glance at how many other people are in the hand. That's how many small bets are in the pot in an unraised pot. (If it were raised once pre-flop, then just multiply the people in the hand times 2, since they all called 2 bets.) From there the calculations should be simple:

6 people in the hand. There's a bet and call before you. That makes it 6 bets (people in the hand) + 1 (the bet) + 1 (the call) = 8 bets. That means it costs you 1 bet to see a pot of 8, so you're getting 8:1 odds. When you call there's now 9 small bets in the pot.

To calculate the turn just divide the amount of small bets in half. That's how many big bets are in the pot. In this example, there would be 9 / 2 or 4.5, which you can round to 5 to simplify things. Now it goes bet-raise to you, making it 5 (initial pot) + 1 (the bet) +2 (the raise), making it 8 big bets in the pot, and 2 to call, giving you 4:1 odds.

Practice calculating the odds that way and it'll become easy.

As you may recall from reading SSHE, Sklansky and Miller heavily researched which hands have positive expected value from which positions. Anytime raising pre-flop has positive expected value, you should do it. That's why you raise AKs nearly every time from every position. Sure, the flop might not pair up your A or K, but sometimes you'll pick up backdoor straight and flush draws, and plus, sometimes your ace-high might be the best hand right then. AK is simply such a monster of a hand that you should raise it pre-flop.

Raising the suggested hands pre-flop will show a profit in the long run. Your winnings will increase by raising these hands pre-flop. You WANT more money in the pot with these strong hands.

[spoonz]

hello chaps

decided to move up the stakes to see if I can find games that arent just "card catching contests"

Been playing 1/2 now for a few days and have taken you advice on board.

here are my stats over about 200 hands. not a great sample but at least its a start. feeling a little better about my game now im not playing such numpties

VP$IP 18%
PFR 4%
PFA 2
WTsD 23%

Whats this look like?

[EscapePlan9]

[Ichoi]

[spoonz]

raising preflop with

any pairs done to 99 and AK, KQ KJ suited. thats all

[Ichoi]

Why KQ but not AQ? Why KJ but not AJ?

[spoonz]

i forgot those

[Ricardooon]

Whats your Won Seeing Flop%. That is often the once that validates your style of play. I am currently working with the missus who is playing $0.50/$1 and seeing all the sickness that goes on. A few hard lessons we have learnt.

1. Always raise your good hands, no matter what. Since you know there are going to be some very loose calls all you can do is put your money when PF you have the best of it. This is sometimes tough when you get AKo for the 5th time, have the possiblilty of 5 way action and have missed everything all day but do it. When you do hit you will get paid off more than maybe you should because of the "stoopid" factor.

2. Don't be fancy. Believe me, this will make you money in the long run. Things like chk raises are great but you have to be sure you will get the bet. I would say you should rarely chk raise on the river, I know I missed zillions of bets doing this. When you do have strong hands it is important you maximise the value you have since you have to factor in a few good hands going down in flames to cheese.

3. Look closely at the other players and really play them. If you are using GT Plus this is great. Its too easy to look at the people on your table all with VP$IP higher than 40% and think of them as one big mob of idiots. You need to look at them and see how long they stay in, what they stay in with etc then you can play them more effectively. This way when situations come like AKo missed, you are HU against and idiot you decide whether to bet the turn or not. There are several players at that limit who will call down with any piece of the board, recognising these and saving a few bets when you don't hit is only going to add to your bottom line.

4. I think this is the most important. In limit there are basically two sides to your play. The bets you win and the bets you lose. Playing your strong hands aggressively to win the max will add to your plus side. Playing your weaker or drawing hands right to so you lose the least when its bad will reduce your negetive side. If you think of it like a company with profit and loss, you want to maximise profits and minimise losses. This means you should be looking at loose calls, staying in hands to long in the same why you would see missing bets and raises. If you go through your hands adding the missed bets and raises, then look for the loose calls you can easily put a dollar figure on it. See the difference this might have made to your bottom line had you played it that way.

It is too easy to get caught up in trying to win as many pots as possible and spend too much chasing them. Its not about the pots, its about the money.

Rich

[StarlightCoast]

reply deleted

[spoonz]

Cheers ricardoon

After paying some tighter games at 1/2 which really helped my game, i dropped back done last night for a few hands and had to readjust again.

It is very important to watch first as you say as you get all sorts. some tables are tight and some are just full of imbeciles, although these are equally as hard to play against unless you spend time watching them.

I managed to turn an abnormally high profit in a few hours ie double my money, only $30 up but its higher than normal so i get the feeling Im learning quickly which is noce to know

back to the books.................