Folding for a looooooooooong time...(lower stakes)

[RHCNNN]

Those of you who play small stakes (like .5-.10 NL ring) do you ever have sessions where you find yourself pretty much folding for as long as an hour without really doing anything significant?
On a normal session I will win at least a small amount if I'm getting at least average cards, but for the last few hours I haven't gotten much of anything and have been folding pretty much the whole time (and picking up a few small pots).
At the lower stakes do you ever find yourself on a huge folding streak? Or can you manuveur your way around without cards?
I've opted to take the folding route this time because too often after a big winning streak I find myself trying to make things happen without the good cards I had just been getting, so now I'm just waiting for 'em again.
(I'm talking ring games specifically here btw)

[BigmacAg]

From my expierence you need really good hands at low limit because people will call almost anything down with as little as one pair. You need to have a good hand than can stand up to a lot of people and the potential suck-outs. But if you are patient, you can make a lot when you do hit your hand.

[easterdm]

I'm on a streak like that right now. I've been playing for about an hour now, two tables, and have only played out one hand, and that was an accident! I don't know, maybe I'm playing a bit too tight. I have never had a streak of cards this bad before. It's sad to watch you money go away just from blinds.

I agree that you have to have monster hands at these low limit tables because these people seem to call EVERYTHING and play everything.

[whileone]

Play some other stuff with potential. limp suited connectors from mid to late position. they can become real big hands real fast. it's nice when you have six people in the pot, and they let you see the flop with 78s for cheap. they're easy to let go of as well. Playing the speculative hands will help your post flop game a bit as well.

[Iconoclastic]

You're probably not playing a lot of hands that can be played profitably. But then again, maybe you're just picking up an inordinate amount of Q2o.

[RHCNNN]

don't get me wrong, Im not waiting around for high pocket pairs the whole time, I am coming in with suited connectors (maybe even gappers) also, and have taken down a couple of pots with them.
And just to clarify Im not complaining that I never get good cards, I'm just wondering about when those dry spells do happen, are "good" players at the small stakes still able to make things happen, or do they just wait it out like me?

[Iconoclastic]

don't get me wrong, Im not waiting around for high pocket pairs the whole time, I am coming in with suited connectors (maybe even gappers) also, and have taken down a couple of pots with them.
And just to clarify Im not complaining that I never get good cards, I'm just wondering about when those dry spells do happen, are "good" players at the small stakes still able to make things happen, or do they just wait it out like me?

In THAT case, an hour is nothing. I've went whole days worth of sessions playing like 10% of hands just because I pick up bad cards.

But then there are the days I play like 50% so it evens out.

The significant word there is SMALL stakes. You simply cannot bluff the unbluffable. Daniel Negreanu and Paul Phillips have mentioned this and it's true.

[FlyingSaucy]

No one knows you are on a run of bad cards. They are seeing you as a rock. When that Q7 offsuit comes around, give it a big preflop raise in late position if no one but limpers are in.

Of course only do this if you expect to be able to man handle anyone post flop.

[Alibi]

The problem is you doing that relies on the fact that they are paying attention to your constant folding which is not usually the case

[JeffreyGB]

This is yet another reason I happily multitable. I don't recall ever going incredibly long with no cards at any of my tables. That said, when cold streaks happen, I work on my reads. If you get them down well enough, you may end up able to pull some bluffs that everyone always tells you aren't possible. I've done it. But you really have to know who you're bluffing at small stakes for it to work.

- Jeffrey

[Greedo017]

you can bluff people sometimes at the real low tables, but it has to be the right people. if i can bluff someone once i can do it over and over, but most tables, if i don't hit i fold. AQ and a king comes, i used to try to bluff at it, but now i realize its useless. they'll call me down with second pair and i'm f'd.

[wobbler]

Yes, best way to deal with cold streaks is to add more tables. Playing more hands is asking for trouble, imo.

If I raise preflop, and it is checked to me on the flop I almost always bet even if I don't have anything. More often then not everyone folds, so I think bluffing is profitable even at lower stakes.

[lolzzz_321]

This is yet another reason I happily multitable. I don't recall ever going incredibly long with no cards at any of my tables. That said, when cold streaks happen, I work on my reads. If you get them down well enough, you may end up able to pull some bluffs that everyone always tells you aren't possible. I've done it. But you really have to know who you're bluffing at small stakes for it to work.

- Jeffrey

Es un hombre inteligente!

[Waggho]

I had the worst run of cold card this morning. I thought I would play an hour or two before going to class, so I sat down at four tables (I was clearing a bonus). I think I sat an hour at those four tables and got at most five hands worthy of playing, and they were all like KTo, I think AJo was the best I got. Every hand was 93 or Q5 or T5 or 72 and I thought about how it would be like to go through that playing only one table, I probably would have died of boredom.

But it just to wait it out.

[Khabbi]

Yes, best way to deal with cold streaks is to add more tables. Playing more hands is asking for trouble, imo.

If I raise preflop, and it is checked to me on the flop I almost always bet even if I don't have anything. More often then not everyone folds, so I think bluffing is profitable even at lower stakes.

I have been very profitable lately using this same strategy at the .01/.02 tables, so it does work, even at lower limits. Every time I play a hand it's for a 4x raise pre-flop (.1). The on the flop if it's checked to me I usually bet 1/3 the pot. It's easy to get away from for me if I get called/raised.

But when you get the fishies on a hook at this level it's easy to reel them in on the turn and river if you hit. Once you get past the flop though, you better have at least TPTK cause you aren't getting them off the pot at this point.