Playing some limit to clear bonus's

[Rhound50]

Since party broke away from the network I have some bonus to clear. The NL games are freakin horrible so I decided to work on my limit game a little. I played my first session last night and was hoping to get some pointers.

What hands do you play from the SB?? In NL I play almost every hand because of the idea of implied odds, being that with a good flop you can always stack someone.

What is a good VPIP to shoot for?? Over 500 hands last night I was at 15%

What is a good VPIP for a table?? Do you look for a the largest VPIP possible?? Or does that add to much to your variance, since the pots get so big that you cant protect your hand?

What is a good PFR$ I was am at 5%

How to play PP. Again without the ability to stack someone it seems to me the streghth of small pairs in early and Mp goes down a lot.

Also suited and unsuited big cards. Do you play KQ and QJ stronger in limit since you cant be forced to call a huge bet and have to worry about your kicker.

The one thing I do like about limit is I get to see my draws, you are almost always given proper odds to see a draw.

Any other suggestions are much appreciated.

[Ichoi]

About the smallblind, play far tigher than you think you should. You're going to be out of position against anyone that you end up playing against postflop.

The time when the small blind position becomes strong is if you get someone raising preflop, and then a bunch of people calling. Then you benefit from enhanced position on the flop. Able to ram and jam and trap a lot of people stuck between you and the original raiser.

I play smallblind almost like I play EP except that I very frequently end up playing almost any pair if there's a few people in the pot. I often see the flop from the sb with any pair (depends how tight the table is), whereas I don't play lower than nines in EP.


A good VP$IP? Depends on the limit/table. If it's 8 or 9 handed with lots of loose/passive players, a good VP$IP is a lot higher than it would be if you're playing 10 handed against a tight aggressive field.

On the old party network over about 60000 hands my VP$IP in 9 and 10 handed games was around 13% playing mostly 5/10 - 10/20. My PFR was 9%. I think 5% PFR is low.

About PP's, this again depends on what kind of table it is. There are some loose tables where you could get away with playing any pair in any position. Other times you'll rarely get to see the flop with any pair unless you open raised with it or are in the blinds.
Calling cold an EP raiser with low-mid pairs is not a good situation if you end up HU with them. Even if you got paid 3.5 bets everytime you spiked a set you wouldn't be winning enough

My advice, either get in cheap against 4+ players, gladly cold call if it's gonna be over 5 people, or open raise with them. (My personal guidelines, I'll open 99 UTG, 88 UTG+1, 77 UTG+2), I don't start open raising 55-66 until the CO and 22-44 on the button, if at all, depending how loose/aggressively the blinds defend.

About big cards. Be careful. They're not as much trouble as they are in NL, but they're still trouble if you got a raise before you from most players, or if it gets 3 bet, if you opened.

[Nortonesque]

[EscapePlan9]

Read 'Small Stakes Hold'Em' by Miller and Sklansky, play some LHE, read some more, play some more.

[Rhound50]

One important question: What is a good table in limit?? In NL I want a VPIP as big as possible because I can make a big raise when I make a monster and protect my hand. Last night when i was playing the tables had VPIP between 20 and 25, is that good/bad?? What do you guys look for in a good limit table???

[EscapePlan9]

I personally love BIG VP$IP tables. I get to play many more hands in many more positions profitably. Instead of playing something like 14% of my hands (tighter tables), I play closer to 19% of my hands in these loose tables.

When the tables are extremely loose, you'll have the odds to play many more suited connectors and nearly every single pocket pair. I like the VP$IP being around 35-45%, but I cannot argue with higher. When the VP$IP is less than 30%, I'm usually leaving the table. There's more profitable tables to be found!

[Nortonesque]

I like 25 or higher. What limits are you playing at?

[Rhound50]

[EscapePlan9]

Where are you trying to clear this bonus? On PP, Empire Poker, and probably a few others, you can easily clear the bonuses at .5/1 limits. I highly recommend playing at the lowest limit possible (to clear the bonus) until you gain more experience with limit.

[redhouse]

Just wanted to add... if you're playing 1/2, you're going to run into a lot of high VP$IP fishy games. I recommend reading Izmet Fekali's Playing with the fish. http://izmet.desetka.si/

[Rhound50]