Quote Originally Posted by bjsaust
I really struggle with that opening up plan. I'd love to get better at it, but I dont seem to handle it. I really seem to struggle with working out exactly when is the right time to apply extra pressure and when is the right time to stop (i.e., refuse to pay them off). I dont know, maybe I should take your approach and spend some time at 10nl or 25nl working on it.
It's been a long journey for me. I was one of those 45/25 feesh when I first started playing - I loved to gambool it up. I started winning by learning poker discipline. My game hasn't changed much from the 16/12 10nl game I learned 1.5 years ago. Until late April, my style was still 16/12 together stealing liberally in LP from the TAGG-reg multitablers who don't defend. It's a rare 2k hands where I play 20% of my hands at 6max. Probably a heater.

My progression went like this. First, I ditched a large percentage of small pp's from my UTG and MP ranges, and added 87s and A5s to my opening range from all positions. Second, I found that at 50nl+ they are giving you credit for a range, so 87s plays well from UTG on Axx and Kxx flops with maximum deception when you cbet the 356 FD flops. Third, I ditched even an even higher percentage of small pp's and started opening 76s - T9s and A2s - A5s in all positions. That happened about a week ago.

The experience I gained playing just a single sc and a single Axs hand UTG helped me when I opened up more. I'm still experimenting, but here's generally what I'm opening when I'm playing that 30/25 w/ 10% 3b style:

UTG: AQ+, 88+, AJs, KQs, T9s - 76s, A2s - A5s and 25% of small pp's
MP: Add AJ, ATs, KQ, all sc's 65s+ and 50% of small pp's.
CO: Add A9+, Axs, all pp's, any two suited cards T+, lots of 1-gap sc's, etc.
BTN: Anything I can get away with.

3bet (ip): QQ+, AK, Axs (except AQs - ATs) and sc's 65s - 98s
Squeeze: hands as weak as 86s +

Part of the lower stakes experiment was to learn about playing in 3bet pots - they squeeze and 3bet so much at 100nl that I needed tons of practice reading the ranges and reacting correctly. That's why the squeeze/3b range is so wide. I'll tighten that up when I move up where they can play with me postflop in big pots. You can still run over the TAGG-nit regs at 50nl with massive 3betting, tho, if you're willing to stack off a bit in the search for weakness and opportunities to steal it when you don't hit.