Questions (Lookin for some Insight)

[Stacks]

I have a few questions I'm needing to get answered. I have read HOH volume 1 through once about a year ago. I'm starting it again. I will be picking up HOH volume 2 soon. Some of the things might be covered in those books, and I'm sure some of them have articles that can be found on the net. I have read alot of articles, but still need some of these fairly basic questions answered.

1) Is tight/aggressive the only way I should approach Micro NL cash games? Wait for the premium hands (AA, KK, QQ, AK, JJ, AQs) and raise aggressively. If I hit the flop bet it to build the pot, if not unless I'm fairly certain I can continuation bet and take pot, just check fold (unless odds are great)? Also limp in LP with suited connectors with a few limpers in front, and limp with Low PP against deep stacks in order to flop a set? Is that a generaly solid way to approach the micro cash games?

2) Pertaining to SnGs and MTTs, should my 'm' determine how aggressively I am playing? And when does it become a fold or push preflop play? I'm not certain, but did I correctly read that at <10 m I should be looking to get a marginal to good hand all in preflop? If that is incorrect, please correct.

3) Also pertaining to SnGs and MTTs, what is the ideal way to play with each stack size. I realize that with a small stack, I'm looking for a good situation to take 2 modest cards and shove. But what about big stack? Should I be opening my playing range, or should I keep a fairly tight game? (I don't intend this to be during bubble play when it's ideal to open my playing range to pick on the players who tighten up)

4) What if near the bubble of a SnG or MTT, I am a midsized stack at a table with both big and small stacks, and the big stacks are playing correctly by pushing around the other stacks. Does that mean I need to tighten up as it would be very dangerous to have a mediocre hand butt heads with a bigstack who pushes assuming I'll fold due to not wanting to bust on the bubble? What's recommended?

5) I have no problem playing the early stages of MTTs and SnGs. I am effectively patient enough to wait around for my premium hands and push them aggressively. However, I have a rough time when it comes down to loosing up (Bubble play). I don't have much experience in MTTs (kinda new to them), but in SnGs I can generally make to 5/4 players left. But then I see that I don't open my playing range enough and get crippled by the ever-increasing blinds. How do I help this? I've read that on bubble play that I should open a pot with
-Any Ace
-Any Suited King
-Any Two cards 10+
- Any PP
Is that a fairly good way to approach bubble play and opening up my range in general?

7) When making my calls. I have learned to do pot odds by taking the ratio and putting that into percentage form then compare that to the percentage that I will make my hand given the outs I have. I.e. There is 500 in the pot with bet of 200 to me. That's 7:2 or 2/9 = approx 22.2%... I believe. (correct if that's wrong)
Well I however have found that can be quite a pain to always have to do that division, and have seen people on here just use the rations to determine the call. Well Using a chart I have found, which I will soon commit to memory, you have about 2 to 1 odds to make a flush by river from the flop. Does that mean that if the pot odds were more than 2 to 1 I would call or less I would call? Say the 7:2 from above. That's 3.5:1, so I should call correct? However if I was only getting 1.3:1 on the pot I should fold if I only had 9 outs, right?

Thanks for any help you can give. These are the few questions I can think of that I feel is really holding my game back. I know by learning all this, I still have tons to learn, and I still have plenty of holes to fix, but these are the areas I know I need to work on right now and am asking for your help. Thank you.

XxStacksxX

[XTR1000]

Hi and welcome !!


to 1) solid taggy ABC poker is very profitable and, whats more important, it´s easy to learn compared to other styles. Basically you exploit the shit out of guys who call too much and take top pair hands too far. By playing your premiums fast and setmining you´ll move thru 5NL-25NL pretty fast.

to 2) comparing pot odds to your odds aganist hitting is a short verson of eV calculation. If the pot odds offered are greater than the odds against your outs coming in, your call has a positive expectation.

for instance $500 in the pot, $200 to call (assume this to be an AI bet to make things easier) you´re getting 3.5:1 with odds against hitting your flush 2:1. Two of three times you lose $200, one in three your flush comes in and you win $700 for an expectation of $700-$400 = $300


Hope this help

[Stacks]

That's for the help. Any insight on the other questions I asked?

THe main problem now is that I can't play due to some problem I haven't figured out yet.

[taipan168]

I will answer the questions from a single table SNG perspective since I don't really play cash or MTT. When I refer to SNGs I am going to refer to single table games.

2. In SNGs, generally speaking people use multiples of the big blind to measure your stack. The general rule is that if your stack is so short that a standard raise and c-bet on the flop would leave you desperately short if you have to give up, then you should just shove preflop. Where this happens is a bit of a grey area but my sense is that it is around 13x BB, but it depends on your hand. For example, I might open shove AKo with 12x BB but if I have KK or AA I might raise 2.5x BB. If your stack is <10x BB however, you should pretty much be shoving rather than standard raising.

3. Hard to give general advice because as in everything in poker it depends on a lot of factors (positions, reads, stack sizes, cards), but if you have a big stack and the table has tightened up as the blinds increase then you should be opening up your raise range to steal the blinds and consolidate your lead.

4. On the bubble of a single table tourney, if the big stack(s) arae being very aggressive and you're the third stack and the short stack is shorter than you, unfortunately the best play is to avoid confrontation with the big stacks. This is because the payout structure of SNGs is steep between 4th and 3rd places but reasonably shallow thereafter. In a MTT I would worry less about the bubble because the real money is in the first few places whilst making the money just gets you a little more than your buyin back. In general though, if you have a big stack you need to be careful about tangling with another big stack without a big hand or lots of fold equity.

5. In a SNG once the blinds increase such that your stack is say 10-20x BB, developing your push/fold game becomes very important. There are tools out there such as SNG Wiz which can help you calculate the +EV or -EV of pushing or folding depending on what hand ranges opps will call with.

I do not think it is possible to give a generic set of hands that are playable in this situation, it is so dependent on each situation. For example, if it's folded to me in the SB with 13x BB and the BB has 7x BB left I will very often shove any two cards, even 32 offsuit. However, if I have 11x BB and am UTG on a 6-handed table, I need 77+, AJ+ to shove.

7. Your second way of calculating odds is correct, and the odds (rather than percentage) method is much easier to apply in a game.

The only thing about your example is that you are right that you are about 2:1 against to hit a flush on the turn or river if you have a 4-flush on the flop, but the pot odds calculation only works if you don't have to decide whether to call another bet on the turn, ie. either you or opp is all-in on the flop.

Overall, the best way to learn is to post hands or tourneys for review, it is much easier to give advice on a specific situation than by explaining general concepts since so much in poker is situation-specific.

[Chopper]

taipan, i'm surprised you didnt recommend posting some of this in the SNG forum.

since you didnt, i will.

great first post, and i cant help much with the SNG questions. those are better posed to those guys...like taipan.

as for the cash question, i will tell you that TAG is the "easiest" style to learn, and learn well. but, it may not be the most profitable. it WILL show a profit most of the time, but to get the most out of your game you need to learn bits and pieces of other styles, and learn WHEN its appropriate to incorporate them....and against who.

that all comes with experience. start with TAG, but remember to occasionally mix it up using other styles you learn along the way....when comfortable and confident in doing so.

[taipan168]

taipan, i'm surprised you didnt recommend posting some of this in the SNG forum.

since you didnt, i will.

Thanks, I usually do but I do come to the BC every now and again and am happy to answer SNG-related questions whichever forum they might be in.

But yes, OP - if you have SNG questions feel free to come post in the SNG forum. Full tourneys are probably better posted there, and if you post hands there you'll probably get more responses.

[Stacks]

Thank you all for the advice. I'll definately try to use this advice and become a better player. I'll also be posting ny tricky hands that I get into asking for advice.

[TLR]

I will try not to repeat what was already been said

2.Tai refer to BB as the standard measurement, I will just add that M is a more accurate measure since it takes into account the antes as well. Regarding your original question M does not neccessarily dictate how agressive you should be (except when short stacked) but which means you can apply this aggression with (i.e. raise/push/ call)
One thing you have to take into account with HoH is that it refers to tournaments that are usually deep stacked compared to standard online Sngs

5. There is no 'textbook' answer to playing the bubble, the key is agressiveness, but a lot has to do with stacks, reads etc...
best way is to post specific bubble hands and get comments on them

7. A few points about pot odds - one is that unless you are closing the action you cannot determine pot odds, you need to take assumptions on what people behind you will do, lets say you have an open ended str8 draw on the turn, so you have about 18% to make your hand, the pot is 5 way and you are 2nd to act, if 1st position bets even if the pot is giving you correct odds it is often correct to fold because someone behind you may raise, denying your pot odds.

Another thing that you have to learn are implied odds and reverse implied odds, since pot odds calc by itself is often not correct

last thing - if you are playing Sngs / MTTs, pot odds is still important but play a lesser role in your decision as compared to cash games, that it, there may be situations when it may be correct to call from pot odds point of view but incorrect to do so from the Sng point of view due to stack sizes