ABC poker wins. There's no need for fancy slowplays, check-raises, raises with air, stop 'n' gos, etc. at the $5.50s. Wait for good hands and bet them hard. Conversely, if you pick up AK preflop and raise, get called, flop comes T74 rainbow, throw out a 1/2 pot c-bet, get called again, miss the turn, betting is often spewing chips unless you hit.
b) Never minraise preflop
This is a waste of chips. At the low buyins the BB and often the SB won’t fold for another 1-1.5x BB. Plus if you have a strong hand like AK, over the long run you win by getting your opps to put more money into the pot when you’re very likely ahead.
c) Don’t minbet postflop
This is a complete waste of chips and achieves nothing. If you have a hand with which you’d rather not get any calls, a minbet won’t get the $5.50 players to fold. If you have a hand with which you would like calls, then bet more to build a pot. Betting is the best way to get their chips!
d) Almost never minraise postflop
The only time I will minraise is to induce a push over when I flop the ‘non-vulnerable’ nuts (quads or full house) and opp leads into me.
e) Don’t worry about varying your play so people wont get reads on you
They simply don’t pay attention, you don’t have a table image at low buyins. Also, don’t worry about playing with marginal hands so you’ll get action with your big hands – if someone else has a marginal hand like JTo you’ll get action with your AA even if you’ve folded the last 3 orbits.
f) Don’t call all-in early in the tourney with less than two pair if your flop bet is called and opp pushes on the turn
Sure, sometimes you fold the best hand but more often than not opp will have the goods.
g) Don’t bluff loose passive players who will call your preflop raises with crap then keep on calling to showdown with bottom pair
This is spewing chips. It’s similar to what Doyle Brunson said – you can’t bluff a calling station, you have to show them the best hand at showdown.
h) Don’t ever fold AA or KK preflop
Rarely fold QQ preflop unless there is serious action in front (e.g. raise, push and call) or there is some unusual bubble situation (e.g. it’s 4-handed, you’re second stack, the small stack has 2x BB and the big stack pushes).
i) Don't get married to hands like AK and low pocket pairs that need to improve if you miss the flop
I've seen countless times when players limp preflop with 55, flop comes all overcards, bet, get called, miss the turn, bet again, get called again, miss the river, bet yet again, get called and end up losing a big pot to somebody who bet all the way to river with TPNK. With low/medium pocket pairs, remember SET OR FORGET, with missed high cards like AK/AQ remember all you have on a missed flop is ace high.
j) Don't play when you are on tilt, tired, drunk, grumpy, just had an argument with your wife/girlfriend/boyfriend, whatever
Recognising when you are not playing your best and just NOT PLAYING is very +EV. Even more important, if you're on tilt because you've just taken six bad beats in a row don't move up buyins to try to recover what you've lost. There are enough sad statistics on Sharkscope of players who usually play the $6.50s, lose 6 in a row then proceed to spew even more money at the $16s, $27s and $60s...
k) Don't believe "I can't win at the $5.50s, I will win more by moving up and playing with players who respect my bets/raises"
This is plain wrong. Sure, players at higher buyins may play tighter and may well fold a bit more often to your preflop raises or postflop bets but there are so many other ways which they can own you - they will be MUCH more aggressive, generally displaying a good understanding of bubble play. If you can't consistently beat the $5.50s over a few hundred SnGs then you will NOT beat the $22s, $33s and $55s.
l) Don’t get defensive when people review your HHs and tell you that you played wrong
Justifying a bad play to yourself won’t make you money, improving your play will
Originally posted on www.flopturnriver.com |
