Ok, I now have *Exactly* 10k hands of 0.5/1 LO8. I promised myself I would get that amount before considering moving up and I finally reached my target. I have over 600BB in my BR so that's not a problem, skill and experience however is. I'd appreciate some feedback on these numbers so I can improve my game a bit more now that I intend to move up in limits.

Vpip: 23,9%
SB: 49,7%
Won $ wsf: 31,4%
WTSD: 39,8%
Won Hi: 8,4%
Won Lo: 3,3%
Scooped: 5,9%
BB/100: 2,37

I think I am a bit too loose, especially from the SB. My "went to showdown" seems too high as well so I probably need to fold more often on the flop (not chase backdoor draws?).

Aggression:
Pfr: 3,1%
Flop: 1,8
Turn: 1,7
River: 1,4

This looks reasonable to me, but maybe I am off? Do they need to be higher?


Position stats (vpip/pfr/ptbb100):
SB: 49,7 / 3,9 / -0,06
BB: 7,7 / 2,8 / -0,25
UTG: 22,5 / 0,8 / 0,09
UTG+1: 22,7 / 1,5 / 0,07
MP: 20,6 / 0,8 / 0,05
MP+1: 18,9 / 1,5 / 0,09
LP: 22,8 / 2,3 / 0,09
LP+1: 23,2 / 4,3 / 0,06
CO: 24,1 / 4,8 / 0,11
Button: 25,7 / 6,0 / 0,09

At least I am making money from all positions except the blinds. I was however a bit surprised to see how little difference there is in vpip from EP to LP, I probably need to tighten up a lot in the early seats, right? As you can see I raise a lot more often from the late seats which I think is good.

Five most profitable hands:
1. AT52
2. AJ32
3. AAQ2
4. A952
5. AAT4

I would say that having A2 or AA seems *pretty* important.


Five least profitable:
1. KJT9
2. AQ83
3. AJT5
4. QJT6
5. KQQT

Need to dump these ones. Semi-decent high hands are obviously crap in my hands. I'll probably keep playing KQQT though, it should be good enough to make a profit in most conditions.

So... how does this look? Should I be moving up to 1/2 now or do I need another 10k hands?

Well I took your advice and moved up to 2/4. After scooping a $50+ pot early I got my ass pounded like MVP's on a saturday night. Absolutely brutal. Deck wasn't cold, it was freezing. I was at 14% vpip for most of the night, how's that for being too loose?

I basically got f-cked in every orifice. I *think* I was playing much better than I did at 0.5/1, and my table selection was good (35-50 vpip averages). I just kept missing and getting sucked out on.

After the last two days my BR is right under 300bb so I may have to drop down, which is discouraging to say the least.

yeah... be ready for the variance.

i'm not sure how many BBs you were down, but my experience in LO8 is that i yo-yoed a lot. i'm not sure there are bigger swings than LHE (actually seemed smaller to me), but the ups and downs seemed more frequent due to the increased number of ways to make or draw to a hand and all the donkeys who chased with ANY kind of draw.

fwiw, i definitely DO NOT suggest that you play above your BR, but I do suggest that you think differently about what an adequate BR is. cites Malmuth as saying that 100 BBs at 3/6 is adequate for an "average" player. i think this might be a bit low for party lo8 games (esp. if you multitable), but i think you get the point. i'd probably go with 200 bbs (i tend to be conservative on BR issues). that being said, do what's right for you and your situation.

hang in there.

Aggghhh. I just hate that low buy-in advice, for any number of reasons I can't be bothered to list. That said, I'm guessing Stone has the means to rebuy a few hundroid if he busts out in a bigger game so it's not the worst idea in his case. But jeez, $600 for 3/6 that's just ridiculous. I'm a pretty good LO8 player (I'd say a fair bit better than my fairly average PLO8 play) and I've lost $400+ in a session of 3/6 on at least 2 occasions.

I think a lot of this advice is tailored towards the REALLY bad loose passive LO8 games you find live. The online games are still bad but a LOT tougher than the typical live 3/6 dickfest....

I also don't agree that the limits play the same way up to 5/10... the little games are noticeably worse, I'd say, but 3/6 and 5/10 still play similarly and pretty badly. Stone would be a winner in them no doubt.

The shorthanded 3/6 games on Party are very tasty but you'll need a fuckload more than any $600 to play them effectively....

Ok, yet another losing session of LO8 2/4. Now I am starting to worry that there is something fundamentally wrong with my game. So far I am down $221 (which ironically is *Exactly* how much I have won in 0.5/1) for a not-so-hot -7,14/100.

I am really trying to beat this game. I feel like I am playing *better* than I did at the lower limit but I am losing big time. My current stats:

Vpip: 19 (14 UTG and 21 OTB)
Pfr: 3,2

My biggest losing hand is A23T suited. I'm thinking I shouldn't be losing money with that hand (it's not exactly junk).

My table selection is good. I never sit at a table with lower vpip than 35, usually it's about 40, today it was even higher. The sample size is only a measly 800 hands so of course this could be variance but still...

My BR just went under the 1k mark so I think I'm going to have to move down. Too bad, I really like LO8 (even more than PLO).

How many times have you had A23T suited? Not many i'm guessing? I agree that it's just variance; with your stats/style of game you will kill these games in the long run.