Alright... gonna try this NL thing again.. :D

[euphoricism]

Well, this month I've slashed my bankroll at LHE by approximately 80%. So on my off-hours I've been playing low stakes NL, and while losing my ass at it, dropping eh 10 buyins or so at 50NL, I'm enjoying it. First off, its fairly new to me. Second, the opposition is incredibly bad. Or maybe I just don't understand it. Probably a bit of both.

Anyway, way back when, fnord suggested buying in short to the games until I get a solid feel for it. I was thinking about this, and how short is sufficiently short? Buying in for the minimum? Buying in half?

Also, my bankroll is now a meager 1600ish (yeah its been THAT kind of month..) and while I'm a complete newbie to SHNL, I've played poker for a while. I *used to be* a solid LHE player. So, where do you suggest I start playing? Right now I'm at UB -- and the games seem very soft -- but the lack of easy poker tracker importation makes it feel like a bad idea when I'd like to be able to see frequent stats.

Are the party games goot?

Finally, list your number one piece of advice for someone new to SHNL.

Thanks guys,
Euph

[LeFou]

Okay, I'm no expert but here's what I think is the most essential skill in SHNL (a skill that I don't possess):

Reraise.

Study the reraise. Shorthanded is a knock-down, drag-out fight for the chips that have made their way to the middle. PF reraises can add megawatts to your power to take those chips. Your LSCs are garbage. Any couple big cards can often reraise and swat down a conservative opp.

Study the reraise like it's the Tax Code, and you stand to write off thousands if you figure it out.

Experts can now chime in.

[aislephive]

I played a bit of 50nl at party and ran at like 14ptbb/100, but I was like 100000x better than everybody there, which isn't hard. It's a very very soft game down there.

And Lefou, while reraising preflop is a good arsenal to have with a wide range, it's hardly nessecary and I don't think a NLHE newbie should be reraising preflop without a big hand often because they don't have near enough experience.

I don't really reccomend party though for 50-100nl with the new monster promotion. 50nl isnt affected yet but if you plan on moving up soon I think it's best to just find a different site. I used to be a big time UB player but have moved solely to party. I think you should check out Stars / Full Tilt, I have a bit of experience on both sites and they're both solid. A month or two ago I took the $60 I had on FTP and ran it up to $300 in only a couple days playing an hour or so at a time two tabling 50nl. The games are very soft there as SSNL as is on stars. Stars doesn't have rakeback though which is a real bummer and a huge reason why I don't play there regularly. I play 6 tables on party and can only fit a few on FTP, which is a good reason why I don't play much there either.

[LeFou]

And Lefou, while reraising preflop is a good arsenal to have with a wide range, it's hardly nessecary and I don't think a NLHE newbie should be reraising preflop without a big hand often because they don't have near enough experience.

I agree entirely. A new player should not be ultra-aggressive. But any player who isn't ultra-aggressive (at least sometimes) shorthanded is in fact being robbed blind and should make it a goal to (eventually) master the skill.

[drmcboy]

get UltimateHistory if you want to stay at UB, I think there is link off the PT page. If saves the HH automatically, you just have to have the HH window open, which may get annoying depeding on how many tables you have up.

[jackvance]

I agree entirely. A new player should not be ultra-aggressive. But any player who isn't ultra-aggressive (at least sometimes) shorthanded is in fact being robbed blind and should make it a goal to (eventually) master the skill.

Sounds more like something you just discovered for yourself, rather than universally crucial advice.

Finally, list your number one piece of advice for someone new to SHNL.

Buying in short makes your decisions easier and your mistakes less painful, so it's definately a good idea if you don't have confidence in your ability yet. You have to play less marginal hands and can stick more to the preflop powerhouses. Buy in for like 50-60BB imo.

My piece of advice would be this: if you don't really know what to do.. just try to keep the pot small and overplay your hand (like, even overbet the pot sometimes) when you hit a big one (like 2p+). This is far from an ideal playstyle ofcourse, but I think if you try it, it'll teach you some valuable lessons and if your opponents are very fishy (or you hit a rush of cards) you can make good money too.

[sandstorm]

Finally, list your number one piece of advice for someone new to SHNL.:

I discovered this myself: You don't have to be loose. Play TAgg, at least for a few k hands until you get a better feel for the game and can start opening up. Obv don't play like a full ring nit, but you get the point.

[midas06]

[Fnord]

I discovered this myself: You don't have to be loose.

shhh....

This is part of it, but I think pot control is much more important. SH players give way too much action, but in doing so don't play as badly against pure aggression.

A big "ahhh ha!" moment for me was when looking at my PT database I realized that I rarely limped, but made over 30% of my money when I did. Me play smallball g00t.

I had a guy re-raise my JTs pre-flop, then check/call both barrels on Q9x flop, turn Q when he had AK. I considered a river push, then wimped out. 2 orbits later, he calls a baby board when I lead my set into him, turn is a Ace and all of the money goes into the pot.