frustrating live play...

i'm 18 years old, and have been playing live poker for the last 2 months at morongo casino.i play everyday online also. Before i turned 18, i was always playing cards online and reading books. i have read a total of 9 books including doyle's super system, and sklansky's theory of poker. This may come off as a little cocky, but i tend to think of myself as a good poker player, with a tight-aggressive playing style. just stating this to tell everyone that im not a donk.
Ok, now back to my main problem. I play 3 times a week live and always sit down with $100 (maximum buy-in for the table) at the $1/3 NLHE. i play tight waiting for premium hands, but i play with retards so even if i raise with premium hands, everyone calls and always catches. I can't bluff them because they call everything. I learn on countless times that i cant bluff the 1/3 tables. so im forced to play strong hands and even when i do catch them the flop always screws me over.
Also, ever since i started playing, i have not been getting ANY good cards... i get cold cards EVERYTIME i go. For example, the best hands i saw today for 8 hours of play was JJ and AKoff. On the JJ i caught a J on the flop and doubled my $60 up. Eventually since the cards never come my way, i cant really play that many hands. dont get me wrong i do limp in with suited connectors and higher no suited connectors like J10 or 10-9, im not that tight of a player. but i eventually get blinded slowly and slowly till im out of money. each of the tables i know im one of the best sitting down at them.

ok, i have come to a series of conclusions:

1.) my friends tell me im too good to be sitting at the 1/3 tables playing against people who have no idea about poker.(sounds stupid to me, though)

2.) the table buy-in is so low that it leaves me with only 33 big blinds and forces action and not enough time to actually play cards.

3.) more reasons from my friends. i should move up limits to $2/5 where its an unlimited buyin, and there are actually good players playing in and know what they're doing.

4.) stay in $1/3 and ONLY play the cards and NEVER attempt to bluff. but that also has its flaws like cold cards and not enough blinds.

ok, thats it. i just want to see what you all think of this and what you would do, since most of you guys know what your talking about or have been in this situation yourselves.

thanx

pokadave

if you are going to play in this game ( I am not advocating moving up as that seems like a really bad idea. rather i would suggest looking for another place to play that offers a bigger buyin for the blinds) then bring more than 100 and rebuy as soon as you fall below. you cannot limp suited connectors profitably with only 33BB unless there are a lot of people in the pot and they will all stack off at a moments notice. it seems that you will basically be playing as though it were late in a tournament. raise pf and push flops with big cards and big pairs. it will be swingy but it should get the better of the game. I cant really think of a better way to play in this game, perhaps others can.

thanks pgil, that really helped me, anyone else got anything to add? please don't be shy, because it's called "constructive criticism"(sp?)

I think that's a tough game, especially depending on the rake.

You're only 33 blinds deep. No playing suited connectors. I wouldn't play in that game personally, but if I did and the players are truly terrible, I think I'd open-push everything I was going to play, probably AQ+, TT+. I would think that range is way ahead of a terrible player's calling range, and I would expect a LOT of calls. I don't know if you'll keep your head above water, though, and you certainly won't learn much poker.

I don't think I could play a game anymore less than 50BB deep, and I prefer 100+. I've been playing Absolute with 200, and it's sweet.

The 2/5 game sounds nice, but that takes a big 'roll to play in properly. Like 7500-10K+ for a winning player.

Basically, I don't think you have a good answer to this dilemma. You might search the forum for short-stack strategy and get some good tips for playing 33BB deep against terrible players. I'm sure it could be profitable to some degree.

i'm also 18 and have a similar poker history to you. i'm from the UK.

whenever i play live i'm always playing with massive donks.

your friends advice that you're too good is rubbish. you can't move up to 2/5 unless you have the bankroll to play at those stakes.

i think you should just stick to playing the best cards. definitely don't try any bluffs. play the cards not the players. there's nothing you can do about a cold deck. just wait for a hand and take their money. there will be outdrawn on and bad beat quite a lot but you just have to live with that and remember that in the long run you will make a profit.

you're limping might be costing you too. the stacks are only 33bb deep, as you said - which means you don't have the implied odds to play these sorts of hands. playing these hands in position with a lot of limpers might be ok. but i think folding is probably better.


i have played in places with some really crazy places. i've seen 8 high win at shown down in a £400 at a live £1/£1 PL table. at this place you can go in with the best hand but even when you do you need a lot of luck to win because of all the other players in the pot but in the long run at this place - i would make huge profits (any ftr member would). the players are just huge donks.

If your problem is that too many people are calling your preflop raises, continue making them to the point that the pot is heads up postflop.

If this means open-pushing then so be it!

Originally Posted by Ash256

If your problem is that too many people are calling your preflop raises, continue making them to the point that the pot is heads up postflop.

If this means open-pushing then so be it!

Agree with with this.

If they seem to call too much of your 3BB pfr, make it 4. If 4 is not enough, make it 5. Just keep rising your pfr till you get one or two callers max.

You can make huge profit on such tables, as people are asking to pay you.

Btw. with a buy-in that low, just play AQ/TT+. Stacks, as said before, are not deep enough to play SC's.

all this really helps guys, usually a 3BB pfr will bump most people out cept a few.

so im just gonna play tight-aggressive? bet alot when i got the hand, and keep my money safe when i dont.

Originally Posted by pokadave

all this really helps guys, usually a 3BB pfr will bump most people out cept a few.

so im just gonna play tight-aggressive? bet alot when i got the hand, and keep my money safe when i dont.

a 3xbb raise is way too small.
you need to bet 3.5xbb + 1xbb for every limper at least. if you are playing at really loose tables you might even need to open raise 5xbb-10xbb or even push allin as Ash256 said (if it is really really really loose). i dont think open pushing is a good idea but definitely bet more preflop

Raise 5x pre +1 for every limper. Suited cards don't matter as much when you are 33BB deep. Don't cont bet without a hand against people who are going to call, especially if you aren't HU. two barrel sometimes if someone calls a lot of flops but folds turns (a lot of casino players do this.)

reraise your premiums. Don't play the higher buyin, there will be some good players there and it's prob too much money for you.

Always make sure your stack is 100 dollars or over.

If you are really good then you should be able to beat these games.

i always make sure to buyin the max...

so 3.5-5X+1 for each limper...

do pretty much a $12-15 minimum raise.

It's interesting that the tables you're telling seem to have the same behaviour as fun tables in online poker rooms... Why don't you give your strategies a chance on fun tables???

May give you some ideas.

Originally Posted by Belt

It's interesting that the tables you're telling seem to have the same behaviour as fun tables in online poker rooms... Why don't you give your strategies a chance on fun tables???

May give you some ideas.

I must be missing something here

Originally Posted by AHiltz

I must be missing something here

Belt is saying to practice on play money games.