New to the boards, analyze my strategy please

Hello all. I have been playing now for a little over a year. I totally understand that I am a very new player, but I have confidence that I have managed to learn it rather well.

In the past two weeks I am about $200 up total from playing at a local casino at a 2/4 table. Some nights, of course, have been better than others; but all together I seem to be doing ok. Here's a copy of a portion of the hand groups from this site:

Group 5: KJ 77 QJ KT QT JT A7s K9s Q9s T9s J9s
Group 6: 66 55 44 33 22 A5s A6s A4s A3s A2s

Personally, I have a problem playing T,J,Q,or K with a suited 9. At least with K9s and Q9s, you seem to need to much help to make a straight that it isnt worth it, and the chances of making your flush and losing to an A high flush is rather possible. Is this wrong? Should I play more of that second half of Group 5?

The best bit of poker advice I ever read was one of the pros saying "Fold the second you think you lost the hand." This was said in the context of you never have too much invested in the pot to fold at any time and you never, never think "Well, I know you beat me, but I gotta see" then call a bet. It may only be a dollar or two dollars here and there at the 2/4 level, but over the course of several hours it will kill a bankroll.

This has become the centerpiece of my very conservative strategy that has worked pretty good thus far. I know I have a lot to learn about the game, but can anyone suggest some improvements for my young strategy?

Limit or no limit?

Im sorry...all of my casino experience so far is 2/4 limit.

For what it's worth I play all those hands (many of them UTG in a really good game), call all the time when I think I'm beat and have made well over $10k so far this year playing far tougher games than your local 2/4.

Buy a copy of Small Stakes Hold'em by Ed Miller. You don't understand Limit, are probably playing too weak/tight poker against horrible players in big pots and misvaluing your hands pre-flop.

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...pic.php?t=6613

Yup, take Fnords' advice!!

If you play 'conservatively' you are going to miss out on collecting value-bets. You also won't be properly prepared to play against more skilled, aggressive opponents. If you play too weakly, they will pick up on it, and push you off your hands, and eat you alive.

Also, don't worry too much about coming up against a higher flushes (unless there's 4 to the flush on the board); it happens, but not very often. Don't take that to mean that you shouldn't be aware of the possibility of higher flushes, just take it to mean that you shouldn't devalue suited starting hands just because they are not ace-high.

Fnord, thanks for showing me that thread. Here's my answers:

You play too many hands - I feel like I dont play too many. I have gone 90 minutes without seeing a flop.
You ignore the size of the pot (including chasing with bad pot odds) - I never chase. If I dont have at least a pair, or A high flush draw after the flop I will fold.
You call 2+ small bets cold pre-flop with unpaired offsuit hands (AQo, AJo, QJo, KTo, etc.) - This I am guilty of. I will make adjustments.
You don't raise AKo,JJ,TT - Guilty as well.
You don't 3-bet/cap AA,KK,QQ,AK - Guilty. I will try this.
You fold pretty good hands for 1 bet in big pots - I will fold KK if an ace comes out on the flop and somoene's raising.
You open the pot for a limp outside of UTG/UTG+1 at a full table. - Very seldom, but yes.
You think you can push out a flush draw - Please define "push out"
You play unsuited cards with one big card and a little one - Negative. This I can say I do not do.
You play suited crap out of position and for more than one bet outside of your blinds - Again, negative.
You play your blinds too much when facing a raise (particularly heads-up) - Depends greatly on what I have in my hand.
You think playing over-cards is your biggest leak - Can you clarify?
You don't bet the river often enough - Possibly, but again it depends on what I am olding.
You go all-in - Never...it's a limit game. I can't go all in unless my bankroll is totally depleted.
You over-value deception against poor players - I tend to all but ignore deception in a 2/4 limit game. At that level, deception = bad players making bad decisions.
You under-estimate how much of your profit comes from AA,KK,AK - Guilty.
You under-estimate how much of your profit comes from players that suck worse than you and fail to seek them out. - I seek them out and do a fairly good job of exploiting them with only 2-3 particular instances.
You under-estimate the impact and diverse forms of luck over the short term. - I slightly underestimate luck until it comes down to winning a big pot when i'm all in with my last 4 bucks.
You under-estimate what long term is. 10,000 hands isn't long-term. - i dont consider myself a long term poker player by any means. I know I have thousands of hands ahead of me and alot to learn.
You expect to beat the rake for a healthy rate in any live game smaller than 4/8. - Please clarify.

Please don't think im being a smart ass for responding to your suggestions in that manner. I am just trying to learn what I can and I want to be as direct and concise as possible. I value your input very much. Thanks.

Originally Posted by hagakure

You ignore the size of the pot (including chasing with bad pot odds) - I never chase. If I dont have at least a pair, or A high flush draw after the flop I will fold.

Guilty. When the pot is big you should chase. Limit is a game of sucking out and I'm really g00t at it.

Originally Posted by hagakure

You expect to beat the rake for a healthy rate in any live game smaller than 4/8. - Please clarify.

How much rake + tip are you paying on each 2/4 pot? How much would you pay in a 4/8 game? How much better are the players in a 4/8 game?

Rake is 0-10% so the rake does tend to cut into the pot more in a 2/4 game than a 4/8 game. I very rarely drink at the table so I dont tip waitresses, and only tip the dealer $1 if it's a small pot and $2 if it's a fairly large one that I win. The players here are supposed to be a little better on 4/8 but I have never played 4/8.

The all-in item in Fnord'st list is there to say that its never a good idea to be short stacked. If you get that way, you should buy more chips, otherwise, if you get a big hand you won't be able to maximize it's value.

e.g what if on the next hand you flop a full house, and there's 4 other people liking their hands too, but you had to go all-in on the flop. You could have made more, but .....

In other words, you should really always have enough chips in front of you to cap the betting on every street.