Hands to open up beyond 12% VP$IP

I wiggle between a PT mouse and rock...12-15%ish VP$IP, 3-4% PFR, 2-4 agro factor, 20ish% went to showdown, 51%ish won at showdown. BB/100 in the 8-10 range.

These stats (though I don't have 15k hands in PT yet) are similar to what Muxy posted for his 9-tabling set-camper stats...so that's basically what I do.

I'm wondering if this is the right approach to $25 NL play (that's how I played $10 NL as well) or if I need to open things up to get closer to 20% VP$IP.

Hands I play:
AA/KK/QQ - open raise, reraise AA/KK, sometimes QQ depending on raiser, # in pot, amount of raise etc.
JJ/TT - raise in MP+, limp to set early (sometimes raise JJ, depending on table conditions etc.)
99-22 - typically limp to set, call appropriate raises to set and dump otherwise (ocassionally calling down obv cont bets etc.)
AKs/AKo/AQs/AQo - open raise, generally reraise AK
AJs/ATs/KQs - open raise if folded to in mid-late, cont bluff flops depending on board texture, size of field, stacks, etc. - fold in early position, or limp on a passive table, limp behind limpers in LP
AJo/ATo/KQo - open raise if folded to in late position, cont bluff flops as above etc., limp or dump behind limpers
KJs/KJo/QTs/QTo/QJs/QJo - fold in early-to mid position, depending on action before me (will limp along with limpers, fold to no limpers) - limp or raise in late position for steals etc. - don't tend to cont bluff these so much without a strong draw etc.
T9s/T8s/98s/97s/87s/86s/76s/75s - limp in LP behind limpers, sometimes blind steal with these - generally folding in EP and MP unless table is really passive in which case I may limp, but not often - will occassionally call a raise in LP with these hands depending on raise amount, # of callers, stacks, etc.
Q9s/J8s/T7s/96s - limp in LP behind limpers, sometimes blind steal - same as connected and 1-gapped for EP and MP play - tend to dump these to raises unless a good chunk of the table is going at it
Non-suited connectors - very occasionally limp behind a bunch of limpers in LP something like T9o/T8o/98o, but not much more than that

65s or unsuited down to 32s or unsuited - dump outside of BB.
Suited crap (Q8s, T2s, 84s, etc.) - dump preflop outside of BB unraised.

Axs - limp in LP behind a few limpers, dump in EP and MP except on extremely passive tables
Kxs - very rarely limp in LP

All other hands (unless I missed something important) - dump preflop outside of unraised BB.

There are plenty of times where I'll look down at a T9s in a raised pot where I would be the only, or 3rd caller, even in position I tend to dump preflop, figuring that there's not much chance to chase, as I don't chase much at all without good odds.
I don't call raises, other than minraises preflop with easily-dominated hands like KJ/AJ/QT, etc. - basically calling raises with pairs - I'll even dump AQo to an EP raise most times.

Postflop play? Cont bluff missed overs into a max field of 3 in position. Cont bluff missed overs and nut flush draw even out of position into max field of 3. Sometimes check missed overs behind, but generally cont bluff as it has been profitable for me.
Overpairs I play aggressively as expected - I will bet QQ on a Axx flop and lay down to aggression, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary with these - they are all winning hands for me so far. I can lay down to sets, though I have a much harder time doing so on the turn (and typically this is where you can break me) especially on draw-heavy boards where the draw has not yet completed. I don't tend to lay down KK to AA preflop unless it's just butt-obvious that's what is going on (hasn't happened very often at all and not once yet to me at $25 NL).
I play sets+ aggressively post flop, unless there is not much to worry about but this is the exception.
I will reraise with flush/straight draws, though it depends on the strength I can guage of the bettor's hand, strength of my flush draw, # of callers etc.
Can't think of anything else to discuss. I am not a losing player, but I don't consider that I'm all that hot or tricky either.
Just wondering how the heck I can improve from here...I'm a bit of a bankroll baby which may be the biggest deterrent I have to improving - I don't like big losing streaks, and would tend to just ride out runs of bad cards/beats.

May need to grow an extra set of balls

Any advice appreciated - seems like I play a lot of hands, though I don't tend to call raises with very many of them, which is probably where I end up with the 12% ish preflop hands played I'm guessing.

Woops - I should also mention that this is playing at full ring, not 6-max.
And I'm not complaining about my winrate or anything...just wondering if there are ways to go beyond it, or maybe just confirmation that this is the (generally) correct style for $25 NL play.

If you are playing all those hands behind limpers in late-MP and LP your VPIP should be higher than that [I dont play 2-gappers and run at about 16-17/8]. Play the suited connecters more liberally in LP and raise with a wider range. Having such a tight range is a dead giveaway to your hand strength, include more PPs and SCs in your raising range in LP.

Out of curiosity, what are your blind steal stats?

(1) To answer your question first, the blind steals are around 5% - dunno if that's low or not - I don't steal a whole bunch...

(2) I don't 'always' play the suited connectors and 1-2 gappers in LP - if no one has entered the pot and I'm not gonna steal it I fold - not much sense in limping 85 suited when it's me and the blinds. And I don't generally call raises with these suited hands - will do it occassionally when the mood strikes (feelin lucky).

(3) When you say, play the suited connectors more liberally - do you mean that I should call raises or open-limp/raise them? I do play them, but I generally play as a raise to steal, or limp-behind 2 or so EP limpers...owise I much em.

(4) I agree with you that I am pretty damn readable - fortunately that hasn't affected my game much to date, due to the levels at which I play I believe - most people just don't notice - if they are gonna chase or call you down, they're gonna do it - they don't notice much that you've only shown down strong stuff for the most part.

(5) Raising PPs - say 66+? And are you implying that this be done in LP behind limpers, or assuming no limpers? What about in MP?

Thanks!

1. Thats very low, try to do it more, it is an easy way to add to your winrate. For a comparison, my attempt to steal blinds is 32%, I wouldnt want to go much higher, but I also wouldnt want to go much lower.

2. Suited connecters are good hands to steal with, if nobody has entered the pot and you are in LP with a SC, I would raise. I also wouldnt play 85s or even 86s, but some people can play them profitably.

3. Mix it up a little bit, call raises from tight players with them and try to stack their overpair when you hit, call raises in multiway pots, etc. Calling raises with SCs isnt bad as long as you believe you will get paid off and are good at getting away from 2nd best hand.

4. At $25nl and lower this is true, at $50NL its still fairly true as well, but as you move up you need to start being harder to read. Its better to develop this early on as its not going to hurt your game and will only make the transitions up easier.

5. This Im still not very sure on, Im experimenting with opening up my own game. I will raise nearly any PP in LP unless Im in the HJ or CO and feel a call from CO or the button is likely [for low PPs] with only a few limpers. The more limpers, the more likely I am to limp behind with the lower pocket pairs, but it is much much easier to get a set paid off in a raised pot than an unraised one.


Im still very much a beginner, so I would appreciate if anybody would critique any of my thoughts.

I wrote a post below about my recent experiences in moving back down from $100 and $200NL to $25NL and due to a large withdrawl. I actually decided to change websites, I had always played at mainly party or pokerroom, but I find almost every $25NL table is %50 full of super tigh idiots who buy in for $5, which as I referenced in my post slows things down tremendously and almost forces u to play a pretty tight. Furthermore almost nobody is paying much attention to ur playstyle so u can get action even when u play ridiculously tight (I did an experiment where I only played PPs and AK and found it to be very profitable at $25NL), though very boring), also any hand I played I was betting preflop which helped to generate action for the sets or big pairs down the road, I was surprised by how little i ever got a RR, ull see JJ-AA flat call ur little preflop raise much of the time in $25Nl thinking they are gonna "slowplay" you. People do remember if u bet alot tho (as opposed to if u dont) so often times if u want to fold someone who u think is ahead of u but has a marginal hand u can change things up and start checking, most likely they will assume ur trying to "slowplay" some crap on them and get out of the hand..

Aside from that little gesture tho I found LAG play at $25Nl to be very inefficient. People grow attached to their hands and wont fold even to dangerous boards, and u wont get near the action u deserve.

$25Nl seems to me almost a grind within a rigid ruleset (tho u do have to do the odd thing to keep everyone a little on their toes) without a ton of room for creative play. I moved to titanpoker because oddly enough I observed there are a much smaller amount of $5 tightwads there. (which seems counterintuitive since u cant use pokertracker for titan so u think they'd relish some anonymity) I think the final straw was when I sat down at a table without checking it out ahead of time at party and of course i had bough in for full stack, $25, only to look out at 6 guys with between $3-$5 , one with 7.50, and lastly a guy with .93 cents. So far Ive been much happier with titans players.

I am in fact going at it on Party at the moment (they gave me a rinky dink $20 bonus that I've already cleared).
I have noticed a few shortstacks $5 buyin around, but not a table full of em - if so I just don't join that table.
I started off using the 'join any table with 8 players or more' waiting list and then bailed outta that aproach.
Now I just pull up tables with $6-$10 avg pots and join the waiting list if it's 5 or fewer to wait.

I agree that it's tough to open-raise 78s in LP at these tables...there are just too many limpers for that and I would have to commit a good bit preflop to narrow the field. Fine if I wasn't getting called down, but so far I am regularly enough to make my AA/KK/QQ/JJ good winners.
That's why I've hesitated to make this type of LAGgy move.
I kid you not I sat at a table today with 1 75% VP$IP player and 3 40% VP$IP players, 1 of which was a ridiculous calling station chase monkey. For whatever reason I couldn't catch cards on that table and ended up just $2.50 whereas I was up $10+ on my other 2 tables with fewer bad players.

I may need to step down a level and give the semi-laggy game a shot and see if I have the balls for it or not

Andy, when you speak of raising SCs and mid pairs preflop (mainly to steal but also to deceive/create action for better hands) - are you talking about open-raising in LP only? Meaning HJ/CO/Button - or is MP acceptable depending on tightness of players behind u?

I am astonished you have a 12-15% VP - I have to agree with Andy's comments, as I am a 19/7.5 player and don't play 2-gappers either! I also can't see why your PFR stat is so low - you don't seem to raise much less than me and mine is double yours. Perhaps I raise a lot more in position after limpers?

Damned if I can figure it out...may just need to let my sample size increase - but I've had 3k hands in one spot - only have 700 hands at party right now (just got poker tracker last month I think). So my sample size isn't worth much, but honestly I think it's a pretty good indicator as is.

Ok - so yesterday I was 3-tabling with similar stats as what I mentioned before. I know that I've already done this, but as an example I want to post the session and you can scan it and see if there is anything that stands out - spots where I could steal and I'm limping or folding etc. Because I can't include all the action to me on every hand, it may be hard to tell, but I will try to do that for HJ-Button hands. Let me know if you have questions about any spots in particular.

The session (I will post it next in the same thread) was pretty dull - I had crap for cards for a while, then suddenly hit a string of good stuff - I had been just slightly down or hangin and ended up ahead by 50bb basically.

$12.28 (+49bb) winning session
130 hands, 18.89 BB/100, VP$IP 13.08%, PFR 3.85%, Agro Factor 4.33

See anything unusual here? Any hands you would raise with that I limped or folded? Any stealing opportunities missed (you'll have to speculate here).

BB QTo limp with limpers - miss, fold to A on flop and no draw
SB 62o fold preflop
Button 87o fold preflop to UTG 3x bb raise - would have won a small pot with a straight on the river (checked thru)
CO 32s fold preflop
HJ 96s fold to raise and reraise before me
MP2 A5s fold preflop
MP1 74s fold preflop
UTG+1 QQ raise 5x bb preflop - no callers
UTG K4o fold preflop

BB Missing hand in PT?
SB Q3o fold preflop
Button 63o fold preflop (one EP limper - could have tried a steal but not a stealing hand)
CO J4o fold preflop (EP raise so couldn't steal)
HJ J3s fold preflop (could have stolen here - folded around - unless BB had something - but again, not a great stealing hand)
MP2 J2o fold preflop
MP1 A6s fold preflop to EP raise (would have folded anyway in this position)
UTG Q6o fold preflop

BB J3o one limper, checked preflop, flopped two pair and won on the turn A to a flop floater
SB 83o fold preflop
Button QTs UTG limps, folds to me, I limp along with SB - hit nothing, fold to river bet K -- this is probably a stealing hand for this position given the action - probably could have grabbed the blinds and limpers blind
CO T9o fold preflop - table had limped to me - could have stolen here too
HJ Q5o fold preflop
MP2 A5o fold preflop
UTG+1 A8o fold preflop
UTG 75o fold preflop

BB A4o checked preflop - checked down - my pair of fours won small pot
SB Q6o fold preflop
Button 83o fold preflop
CO AJs UTG+1 limps, I raise 4xbb, cont bluff flop - am minraised and fold -10bb see hand #4294317539
HJ 73s fold preflop
MP T3o fold preflop
UTG+1 A8o fold preflop
UTG ATo fold preflop (standard preflop fold for me)

BB A6o limped, caught nothing, fold flop
SB T6o fold preflop
Button 97o UTG+1 limps, fold preflop - might could have stolen here - hard to say - would have to raise to at least 5x bb to do so
CO Q5o fold preflop
HJ K9o fold preflop
MP2 QQ UTG+1 limps, I raise 5x bb, SB calls - bet 2/3 pot on 723 flop take it down +7bb
MP1 67o fold preflop
UTG+2 43o fold preflop
UTG+1 Q7o fold preflop
UTG 93o fold preflop

BB K9o catch nothing against 1 limper, fold turn
SB 62o fold preflop
Button K8o fold preflop
CO 92s fold preflop
HJ 95s fold preflop
MP2 Q9o fold preflop
MP1 A9s fold preflop
UTG+2 A8o fold preflop
UTG+1 74o fold preflop
UTG 52o fold preflop

BB 97o check-fold to flop bet and Q25 board
SB 85s fold preflop (i prefer this hand from late position behind 2 or more limpers - I will complete the SB with it if there are 3 limpers ahead, sometimes 2)
Button T4o fold preflop
CO J8o fold preflop to EP raise
HJ 65o fold preflop to raise and reraise before me
MP2 JTo fold preflop - was raised after me
UTG+2 63o fold preflop
UTG+1 A5o fold preflop
UTG K3o fold preflop

BB T7o fold to bet on K56 flop
SB AJs fold preflop to EP 5x bb raise
Button KJo UTG+1 limps - I limp, SB completes - checked down AQJ board BBs pair of queens beats my jacks -- is this another spot where I should steal? I'm pretty wary of KJ but I do have position and the blinds are likely to fold
CO J2o fold preflop
HJ A6s UTG,UTG+1 limp, I limp and fold to flop action with nada
UTG+1 A4o fold preflop
UTG Q3o fold preflop

BB Q5o check-fold to flop bet
SB A6s two limpers, I complete, checked down - I turn a pair of 6s on a 4K36Q board, checked down - they were best
Button KJo fold preflop --- no limpers, should have probably raised this to steal the blinds - the problem I have with doing this is it just becomes butt obvious that I am blind stealing when folded to on the button - believe it or not people are aware enough to know that - I have raised TT on the button to be called by BB A2o or some shit - so I like to raise with a real hand most of the time here - however, since i had not raised in ages I should have raised here
CO 77 limp after 4 limpers - no real steal opportunity here - folded to bet before me on J96 flop
HJ 42o fold preflop
MP A9o fold preflop
UTG+1 QTo fold preflop
UTG 42o fold preflop

BB 54o fold to turn bet on 33Q9 board
SB J3o fold preflop
Button A4o fold preflop
CO J6o fold preflop
MP ATo fold preflop (this may be a bit weak - depends on table conditions but this is probably standard for me)
UTG+2 A2o fold preflop
UTG+1 82o fold preflop
UTG J7s fold preflop

BB 74o nothing to speak of
SB 55 early limper, I limp - I don't much consider stealing here - fold to bet on QJ8 flop
Button 43o fold preflop
CO K9o fold preflop
HJ AJs limped behind 1 limper for a little deception - doh - monotone flop - still caught 2 pair and won 7bb - this turned out to be a weak stupid hand on my part - I think I had a better hand going at another table simultaneously so I just ignored this one
MP 72o fold preflop
UTG+2 54o fold preflop
UTG+1 64o fold preflop
UTG 63o fold preflop

BB Q3o nothing to speak of
SB Q4o fold preflop
Button 42s fold preflop
CO AKo fold preflop to raise and reraise before me
HJ QJs I limp behind two EP limpers, hit nothing, fold flop
MP2 KQs I limp behind 3 EP limpers, reraise to EP betters pot bet to 3x ($1 to $3) on AT3 board of my suit - folds to my raise - should I be raising preflop here? In general I won't do so behind 3 limpers, I'll just counter-play it a bit...
MP1 97o fold preflop
UTG+2 86o fold preflop
UTG+1 AJo fold preflop - this is a little weak I know, but AJo is my least fav hand so I just dump it in EP unless the table is just super weak/passive
UTG 52o fold preflop

BB KTs folded on AA2 flop
SB A8o fold preflop
Button K7o fold preflop
CO 64o fold preflop
HJ K7o fold preflop
MP2 J6o fold preflop
MP1 KK raise and take it down on the flop - see hand #4294827314 below +13bb
UTG+1 T7o fold preflop
UTG A6o fold preflop

BB A7s I call down the dumbass min-betting his AQ on an 83382 board (started with the min-betting on the turn)
SB KK raise and +24bb - this hand is just silly and I'm suprised I made even a quarter off it see hand #4294864492 below
Button A2o fold preflop
CO 53o fold preflop
HJ KJs limp behind 1 EP limper - should have raised here probably - but CO and Button limped too - folded to BB special on 2666 board
MP2 K9o fold preflop
UTG+2 K5o fold preflop
UTG+1 T6o fold preflop
UTG 97o fold preflop

BB ATo fold preflop to EP raise
SB A6s 2 limpers I complete, flop top and bottom on A6KA8 board - flush chaser missed and folds the end +10bb
Button A9s 2 limpers, I limp - nada
CO 95o fold preflop
HJ K9o fold preflop
MP2 64o fold preflop
MP1 T8o fold preflop
UTG+2 Q4o fold preflop
UTG+1 96s fold preflop
UTG 73o fold preflop

Stand up and leave table...


***** Hand History for Game 4294317539 *****
$25 NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, May 17, 17:20:26 ET 2006
Table Table 97147 (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 3: luckybug98 ( $18.86 )
Seat 4: Twoody ( $34.75 )
Seat 7: IglooMaker ( $25.90 )
Seat 8: unreal15 ( $26.58 )
Seat 9: mechjojo3 ( $5.85 )
Seat 1: xTheHorrorx ( $25.60 )
Seat 6: deknor ( $24.70 )
Seat 2: marko280 ( $24 )
Seat 10: ElGringo315 ( $24.40 )
Twoody posts small blind [$0.10].
deknor posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to xTheHorrorx [ Ah Jh ]
IglooMaker folds.
unreal15 calls [$0.25].
mechjojo3 folds.
ElGringo315 folds.
lordinho has joined the table.
xTheHorrorx raises [$1].
marko280 folds.
Twoody folds.
deknor calls [$0.75].
unreal15 folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6h, 4s, Qc ]
deknor checks.
xTheHorrorx bets [$1.50].
deknor raises [$3].
xTheHorrorx: ick catch a set?
xTheHorrorx folds.
deknor does not show cards.
deknor wins $6.60

***** Hand History for Game 4294827314 *****
$25 NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, May 17, 18:29:55 ET 2006
Table Table 97147 (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: xTheHorrorx ( $25.70 )
Seat 5: lordinho ( $36.02 )
Seat 3: DP144 ( $24.80 )
Seat 9: redtailfly ( $23.74 )
Seat 7: RatsAsss ( $51.23 )
Seat 4: cmcmanus13 ( $42.10 )
Seat 8: Joce2424 ( $20.15 )
Seat 2: matt68228 ( $24.65 )
Seat 6: SLIMYPUMA ( $26.10 )
Seat 10: flipmindanao ( $5.08 )
SLIMYPUMA posts small blind [$0.10].
RatsAsss posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to xTheHorrorx [ Kh Kd ]
>You have options at Vita Bella Table!.
Joce2424 calls [$0.25].
redtailfly calls [$0.25].
flipmindanao could not respond in time.(disconnected)
flipmindanao folds.
xTheHorrorx raises [$1.50].
matt68228 folds.
DP144 folds.
cmcmanus13 calls [$1.50].
lordinho folds.
SLIMYPUMA folds.
RatsAsss folds.
Joce2424 calls [$1.25].
redtailfly folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7h, 6h, 4s ]
Joce2424 checks.
xTheHorrorx bets [$4].
cmcmanus13 folds.
Joce2424 folds.
xTheHorrorx does not show cards.
xTheHorrorx wins $8.85

***** Hand History for Game 4294864492 *****
$25 NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, May 17, 18:33:46 ET 2006
Table Table 97147 (Real Money)
Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: xTheHorrorx ( $29.63 )
Seat 5: lordinho ( $36.02 )
Seat 3: DP144 ( $25.37 )
Seat 9: redtailfly ( $22.99 )
Seat 7: RatsAsss ( $51.13 )
Seat 8: Joce2424 ( $18 )
Seat 2: matt68228 ( $24.65 )
Seat 6: SLIMYPUMA ( $26 )
Seat 10: flipmindanao ( $5.08 )
Seat 4: janeuhau ( $24.75 )
xTheHorrorx posts small blind [$0.10].
matt68228 posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to xTheHorrorx [ Ks Kh ]
DP144 folds.
janeuhau folds.
lordinho folds.
SLIMYPUMA folds.
RatsAsss folds.
Joce2424 calls [$0.25].
redtailfly folds.
xTheHorrorx raises [$0.90].
matt68228 folds.
Joce2424 calls [$0.75].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Jd, Kc, 7c ]
xTheHorrorx bets [$1.75].
Joce2424 calls [$1.75].
** Dealing Turn ** [ Kd ]
>You have options at Vita Bella Table!.
xTheHorrorx bets [$1.50].
Joce2424 calls [$1.50].
>You have options at Table 96465 Table!.
** Dealing River ** [ Jc ]
xTheHorrorx bets [$2].
Joce2424 calls [$2].
xTheHorrorx shows [ Ks, Kh ] four of a kind, kings.
Joce2424 doesn't show [ Qc, As ] two pairs, kings and jacks.
xTheHorrorx wins $12.15 from the main pot with four of a kind, kings.

Forgot that it might be useful to see my PT stats for this session directly.

General Stats:


Position Stats:

I don't really understand why your VPIP is so low - I play FAR less hands to start than you and I'm still at 16%, planning on loosening up a little.

I don't play any two gappers/three gappers at all and anything like QJ I just throw away, A10 is even too low for me unless there are just the blinds in front of me. Of course, it is always a matter of reading the table.

I don't want to overexagerate my use of the suited connectors and gappers.
For 3k kinda blah hands at Interpoker while clearing a bonus, here are my suited conn/gapper stats in Button, Cutoff and Hijack seats:



The 97s I flat-called a bet on the end by the BB special who had weak bet 2-pair rivered boat that also gave me a flush with no one else interested in the hand. That explains most of the loss there.
The 76s hand I had 2 pair and the board made a full straight and I called what looked like a donk bluff of an obvious split that turned out to be the nut straight - dumb river call. Small pot but that's why a loss there.
The rest of the losses are primarily calls and misses.
The wins - 96s flops a straight, T7s flops top pair and flush draw, J8s floats on a donk bet and ends up with top pair flush draw.

But we're talkin 55 hands out of 3000, and only half of the 55 I played these hands...

It may be that the hands I elect to play is pretty avg and I just get a whole lot of crap ass cards or playable cards in crappy position - and again, my sample size is very small - maybe I should play 15k more hands and get back to this just to be sure where I'm at.

So you played 1/5 hands on the button and zero UTG and UTG+1. Maybe try to be a bit *less* focussed on position? I mean, a good hand is still a good hand. Yes position is very important, but there should be a balance between your cards and your position. Maybe this can help you?

Also, I think you need to raise more. You played 1/5 on the button, and none of them were raises?! Start with raising Axs (x=1-5, 10+)/KQs/KJs/QJs on button, CO and CO+1 or something. Unless the tables are really loose, which justifies tightening up, such a low PFR means you give your hand strength away so easily.

I am playing pairs and AK/AQ UTG and UTG+1 and that's pretty much it, at least at full ring.

Let's look at the hands I had to play UTG and UTG+1 for this sample:
UTG - ATo, J7s, 93o, 52o - I just don't consider any of those playable UTG in general
UTG+1 - A8o, K7s, K4o, K3o, Q7o, 75o, 74o, 73o, 63s, AJo - with the exception of AJo none of these I care to play UTG+1 - and I hate AJo so I dump it a lot of the time in EP - just a personal pet peeve hand kinda thing

On raising more from LP, from this sample set it looks like you are right, I am not trying to steal and cont bluff quite enough.

HJ
AJs - should have raised this hand after 1 limper - intentionally weak in this case
KJs - could have raised this hand to steal - is this standard?
QJs - two limpers before me I'm not raising this one - standard?

CO
AJs - I raised after 1 limper this time - cont bluffed the flop 2/3 pot, was minraised and gave up on a Q46 rainbow flop
77 - limped behind limpers - didn't set and folded out

Button
A9s - not typically a raising hand for me after 2 limpers - standard?
KJo - could have raised at least one if not both of these
QTs - could have raised 1 EP limper here to steal

Thanks for the comments.

Hard to compare since I play 6max so I'm not accustomed to full ring, but you could raise AJo, the rest indeed seems kinda unplayable. If you want to Lagg it up a bit, you can contemplate a raise with J7s and K7s, but clearly not advised.

HJ: I woulda raised atleast 2 out of those 3 hands.
CO: ok
Button: Again you can raise 2 out of 3 of those.

Well I gave it a shot today with general success...a few KJo raised in LP etc. - pretty much stole the blinds or cont bluff every time.

Here's an example (probably shoulda raised to 5xbb preflop, though if I wanted a call in LP with AA and only 1 limper I would just go 4 so...)
On the flop, my hand was best:

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

SB ($23.75)
BB ($23.37)
UTG ($15.49)
UTG+1 ($24)
MP1 ($32.70)
MP2 ($41.24)
MP3 ($24.20)
Hero ($25)
Button ($37.85)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 6, 6. SB posts a blind of $0.10.
UTG calls $0.25, 4 folds, Hero raises to $1, 2 folds, BB calls $0.75, UTG calls $0.75.

Flop: ($3.10) 8, 5, 2 (3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $2, BB folds, UTG folds.

Final Pot: $5.10

Results in white below:
No showdown. Hero wins $5.10.

Hm c-bets are a bit risky in a 4-way pot but due to the texture of the flop, your hand is indeed probably best, so more of a value bet. I like it. I think you can get more action on your real hands if you keep this consistent. Just don't go crazy doing this.. being able to lay it down if someone has you beat is crucial.

It was only 3-way against two loose preflop easy foldout on the flop types- I wasn't worried too much about anything other than a flush draw chasing on this flop. If I get much action here I'm done with the hand...it was a steal gone pretty well.

hey.... my play almost exactly matches yours, except I dont think QJo is playable out of blind steals, and my blind steal attempts is 25%.

I also frequently raise SCs 45-KQ in most positions, yet I still have a VP$IP of 13%. This baffles me why it's so low.

I've started calling raises with a wider range of hands from LP including SCs and suited 1-gappers, 2-gappers, etc. We will see what kind of effect this has on my vp...

BTW, I 5 table 200NL on party.