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2 Questions I need help with

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  1. #1

    Default 2 Questions I need help with

    I need some help with 2 questions I am struggling with. I would appreciate any feedback that can provide some guidance. I play micro and low stakes No-Limit Hold’em cash games.

    #1. Quitting
    I don’t know how to phrase this so I will just put it out there. When is a good time to quit a session? I tend to get up a ½ to full buy-in just to hand some back. If I lose a big hand, I can get it to even or show a small profit after a little while, but it seems like I will lose a hand that strips some profit away. I tend to play short sessions, (45 minutes to 1 hour) and wonder if I should set a target amount. It seems over the course of a longer session I get myself into a tight spot and seem to lose some profit. Is my thinking flawed regarding a target or could there be some validity to it.

    #2 Reads
    I have seen some trouble with reading my looser opponents. It seems I have a hard time with the player who plays either 60/13/1 to 34/28/7. I have a hard time putting them on hands. The loose/passive plays anything and to the river and the super LAG raises anything to the river. I tend to get stuck when I raise 99 from the button and get called or re-raised by the super LAG and the flop is 372. I tend to C-bet for value, and POW re-raise or the calling station is stuck to me. I guess the premium pairs are good against them both, but those damn middle pairs and draws. I tend to play the smaller pocket pairs (22-88) for sets, but the 99-JJ hands? How good are those hands against those types of player ranges?
  2. #2
    1. You're underestimating the power of short-term variance. Someone who's thoroughly beating the game can be a loser over 3000 hands.
    2. It's all one big session.
    3. Quit when you're feeling you're not playing well, or you want to quit, or the game starts to suck (an influx of TAGs often kills a game). If the TAGs arrive and you don't want to quit, find a better table.
    4. Think about your opponent's ranges.
    5. Think about your equity.
    6. Don't think in boxes (Top pair isn't worth more than $20, for example). Think about ranges and equity.
    7. If you're following correct bankroll management guidelines, you shouldn't be scared to put money in the pot if you think your equity is good.
  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    8,697
    Location
    soaking up ethanol, moving on up
    1) quitting. A question i often need to ask myself is "am i playing differently now that i've doubled my buy-in?". e.g seeing more flops, calling more draws. This is cash play, not a tournament, so the game shouldn't change, but occasionally it does...
    Target amounts - i think these are a bad idea, there are too many things that are beyond your control. Target times (I WILL stop after 90minutes), maybe a good thing sometimes.
    I think you should keep playing as long as you are playing well and the table doesn't suck.

    2) Reading. Wow. I struggle. Stats help though, someone who is 13-3 won't have 2/7o, someone who is 70-30 is unlikely to limp aa. Etc. Good luck, and if you figure it out please let me know!
  4. #4
    spoonitnow's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    14,219
    Location
    North Carolina
    If you're going to set limits to your sessions, it should be in terms of time instead of win/loss, and the motivation should be to only play as long as you can play well, not to play as long as you're winning or something.

    Having said this, some players do have a stop-loss amount for their sessions, that is if they lose so much in a session no matter how they're playing they quit for the day, or for a few hours, or whatever. The reasoning behind this is that even if you're playing well, if you're not well-disciplined, losing a relatively large amount of money has psychological implications on your play.

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