NL Holdem Strategy for Vegas

[Technooo]

Just moved to Vegas, interested in getting back into poker and wanted to run my strategy by you guys. This is for full tables mostly.

For NL $50 min buyin, $200 max buyin (lowest stakes in vegas), playing with some good/some terrible players.

Hand out of Position:
AA, KK, QQ - Reraise/Raise
AKs - call a bet w/ position, fold to a raise.

Cutoff:
AA, KK, QQ - Reraise/Raise
AKs, AK, AQs - Reraise unless villain is supertight, Open/Raise hard vs. limpers
JJ - Open pot gently or call a raise and play the flop.

Button:
AA, KK, QQ - Reraise/Raise
AKs, AK, AQs - Reraise unless villain is supertight, Open/Raise hard vs. limper and aggressive raises.
JJ - Open pot gently or call a raise and play the flop.
JTs, 98s, 76s - For street cred, allows me to show down any number card without playing many low value hands, hit big hands against players that peg me as tight, etc., without leaking alot of chips.

Bluffs:
Lol who bluffs anymore

Out of Position Play
Flop Play:
Continuation bet on good hands and draws in position
100% of the time out of position check, if I have something fierce check-raise, to get people to my left in the habit of betting me there, unless I feel that they would call or raise a bet against my aces/kings with a weaker hand, or I have a strong hand and draws permit.

Turn Play:
Strong hand or fold. If the board is generally uncoordinated (like a K963 with two clubs) I might shove for a decent pot, if I think that at best they have like top pair or a scruffy draw and unless there is a set lurking I'm in the money alot of the time, but that sort of thing will be very rare.

In general I'm good for taking advantage of opportunities, for example med pocket pairs in mid pos with a lot of limpers and high pots I'll join the party.

River Play:
Extract money, or just fold if everything checks down.

Position Play
Generally with tight play I should be ahead, so I'll come out betting, if I have a draw I'll take a free card, and generally I'll fold to a bet from a tight player who is out of position when I have no hand. Strong hands obviously I'll raise to see what's up but I know how to lay down aces if they shove.

[Technooo]

Bump for reviews...

[BankItDrew]

don't forget to limp QJs on the button if everyone limps in front.

I don't really understand your strategy with AKs in early position preflop. Are you limping it then folding to a raise?

I just don't think you should exclude other conditions at the table when you are using this guide. Things like overall aggression at the table, individual images, moods, etc. And why not try to take down any pots when you have a draw? Then again, you didn't mention # of players in the hand... gl man, i just think your notes are all over the place, not a bad strategy preflop for begining players i suppose, no offense.

Why did you move to Vegas anyways?

[thizzSantaCruz]

uh yea i dont know about your strategy guide. quit obsessing over your own cards and just play in the best way to exploit your opponenet. there are going to be games where you want to raise liter than this, there are maniace you are going to want to 3bet a lot more. there is so much variation to the game i dont think you can just come up with a super simplistic pf guide and ask how its gonna work in vegas.

[nickthefool]

It seems overly tight to me, unless the games are manic and you want to try and avoid variance as much as possible. But, it's probably a winning strategy if you play ok postflop, imo

[Verde]

Over tight to me, but nice when have a short stack and alot of time

[Ash256]

Just learn lots about poker and play dynamically.

[Technooo]

It's very tight; objective is not to lose my money and to make money consistently by exploiting players that take their hands too far, which is common at low limits in Vegas. Additionally, playing at least semi-tight at low limits in Vegas is more correct due to the high rakes.

Removes a lot of the guesswork from postflop play as well and enables me to protect myself somewhat due to under rolled.

I already know plenty about poker I've been playing forever and have read a ton of books (most of Sklansky and both Harrington books, enough FTR to kill a man, assorted lesser known players)


With AKs, I'm playing it tightly preflop out of position because:
1) A bet indicates a strong hand.
2) A raise indicates a pocket pair or better, against which my hand is disadvantaged and I could lose a chunk of cash against 2pairs and sets, while I have no guarantee that 99 will go the distance with a face card on the board. Even if I'm up against a superdonk that will raise AJo and better against pockets, it seems incorrect to push against him because there's a similar chance that he might have me dominated, and a much higher chance that I'm a 45% underdog and am leaking chips.

With position it's much easier to see a flop and judge his hand based on his first action instead of having to wait for a potentially expensive turn for info.

I didn't mention that if the pot isn't raised when it gets to me and I'm oop with AKs I'll put in like a 4-6xbb raise to give me a good heads up (low stakes vegas is a little slow to catch on and thinks that 3xbb=blinds)

Postflop play is easssssy with position. Fold to a strong seeming OOP bet unless you're strong. Raise it if you're strong unless you suspect a monster. If it's checked to you, take a free card or place a nice odds-based bet if you think you can improve easily, otherwise make a strong bet to drive out their odds.

In a multiway, either A) Milk it. or B) Make an exit. Chances are someone is strong or will draw strong enough to beat a pair often enough to make pushing the margins break even or worse, and why fight over 50 cents?

[shazbox]

I don't want to sound like an asshole, but you sound really robotic to me.
A very tight robot at that.

[Technooo]

That would be fairly accurate; my goal at this point is not to win to the maximum, but rather to win consistently.

[Ragnar4]

naah dude.. if you want to be consistant with your wins, and always push an edge, play limit.

Don't play NL unless you really wanna kick someone's head in. Robotic play at an NL table will probably just cause players to get creative against you when they hit monster hands and start trying to figgure out ways to stack you.

I just can't imagine that anyone would ever be a consistant winner at NL without pressing every edge possible, because one bad beat takes you off of your stack.