Tighty-whitey's downward spiral.

[Keyser.]

[ QUOTE ]
Play more 6-max. Look for more spots to steal. Look for better tables .. these LAGs sound *way* more aware than the guys at my PartyPoker 6-max NL50 tables.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would be very surprised if the people at the NL50 tables on Party are paying that much attention to your game.

[2Paul2]

I've been around a 18/10 guy for a fair while now specifically because I feel like the 100/200nl tables I play out have so many atrocious lags that this is the most profitable way to play. If I find I'm at a tighter more predictable table but there's a huge fish I want to stay for I open up a bit and play the isolation game but even then I dont get that much over 25/15.

16/9 isn't a whole lot tighter than the 18/10 game I play and the majority of the guys you play with(cant remember what you play 50/100nl?) won't notice your playing tight. To me it just sounds like your running bad. Bad lags catching hands against you is the epitome of running bad if you ask me.

Also if you feel like people are taking shots at you then start calling down more. For example you have Aces and the flop is J76 or whatever with a flush draw and you get raised. Just call down. Don't worry about the flush draw. If people are really taking shots at you they will have air/middle pair type hands most of the time anyway. The villains will soon get the message that you can't be pushed arounbd if you call them down a couple of times. Also if your continuation bets are being messed with start chkraising some flops when you've missed and when you have an overpair/monster. You would be surprised how many people will stack off the flop in my previous example with TJ if you chkraise the flop and push a blank turn. Also think about that flop and having AK. You bet and getting raised by stuff like 88 is probably a common thing for you at the moment. Think about the problem villain has with 88 if you chkraise the flop instead.

Paul

[Isura]

[ QUOTE ]
here's GOT to be a happy medium that lets me win a big pot on occasion, but still play tightly.

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This sentence indicates to me that you are not taking the correct approach to playing this game. I'll let others elaborate.

[yad]

Bluff more. Especially when your cards have been running cold. I really don't know what more there is to say.

[Simplistic]

i've been 4-tabling and I find that especially when the tables get shorter i.e 4 or less then i'm put into uncomfortable situations of basically being run over. i also play too passive so I'm going to be cutting back my tables to 3 or so. ugh. i hate the feeling of being run over, but then you start playing back in marginal situations and lose then the tilt compounds [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[Fly]

I think that loosening up your pre-flop play in late position could do wonders for your game. Raise any hand you would normally raise, any pair and any suited connector. Also if you do not already do so, reraise almost anyone who opens from middle or late position AK (suited or not) especially short stacks.

[3 minute hero]

I have been in the same spot and there is not much you can do but change table. However, i read somewhere (cannot remember where) that you should play a bad bluff and get caught - this shows you are not infallible - obviously not for too much money. Your opponents see a weakness, close in for the kill, you then play top starting hands and trap them. I think that was the way it was supposed to work.
I change table or play another table as well, sticking to my original game on first table, when people leave the new arrivals take a while to get settled and during that time they can lose money.

[ticks]

Bet, bet, raise, bet, and raise.
Fold to a minraise.
This works for me.

[DonkBluffer]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
here's GOT to be a happy medium that lets me win a big pot on occasion, but still play tightly.

[/ QUOTE ]

This sentence indicates to me that you are not taking the correct approach to playing this game. I'll let others elaborate.

[/ QUOTE ]

Would you explain already? [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[Sidekick]

Pokey,

I just went through exactly what you are talking about. My stats are very similar to yours. When what you describes starts happening you actually have to loosen up. As one poster said, even the most unobservant SSNL players will notice when you are down below 15% VPIP and will only play back at you once they hit a really strong hand.

In order to effectively fight this situation you really need to loosen up some and get involved in more pots and marginal situations. Once the table accepts that you have loosened up and they are willing to call your raises, then you can tighten back up again if that is your comfort zone.

Despite the common post here that says that most SSNL players are completely oblivious to what is going on around them, this really isn't accurate. Most of the people playing SSNL are somewhat observant and will notice obvious things, it is how they interpret and act on this information that gets the typical SSNL player in trouble.

They ARE noticing that you are playing incredibly tight, so they won't get involved with you unless they think they can beat your strong hand. The only way I have found to effectively fight this situation is to loosen up for a while.

What I have done on occasion is when I have late position I raise 2-3 hands in a row (with ANY 2) for a couple of cycles on the table. At first, they will fold to your raises but generally by the second cycle on the table people figure out that you don't have this many good hands in a row and start playing back at you again.

I always like your posts, so I hope this one helps you out a bit.

Best of luck Pokey.