Small Stakes Softness (2/4, 5/10, 15/30)

[Poet MP]

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The 1/2 games and even 2/4 games had way too many callers and my AK,AQs couldnt carry the weight after raising with 4-5 callers and me missing my flop while others bet.

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"Way too many callers" is not a problem. A skilled player welcomes 4-5 callers when he has AKs or AQs. If you think that $5/10 is easier to beat than $1/2, something is lacking in your poker fundamentals.

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You say that, and while I agree with you, you hit a bad run, with umpteen 1-6 outers hitting against you from ridiculous holdings, you genuinely start to yearn to play against better opposition. Or at least want your luck to change and for your massive percentage hands to actualy come in for a change.

This comes from someone who has lost to quads 7 times in 7 days now (5 with Aces full) and has about 200 river bad beat stories, also from the last 7 days, all at 2/4. May be tainted with the smell of total depression.

[Misja]

I play mostly 5/10 and sometimes 15/30.
I find that most of the time the 5/10 is a little softer than the 15/30. The strong players are a little too passive on 5/10, and most of the time there are more fish per table than on the 15/30.
However at times the 15/30 can be exceptionally soft. This seems to happen mostly when it's evening in the USA. Unfortunately I live in Europe, so I can't join as many of those games as I would like to ..

[UCLAseetoK]

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Im currently playing in the 1/2 games but Im thinking of moving up to 2/4 pretty soon and would like to know what the games are at the higher stakes compared to each other. I did some datamining (Mostly between 18-24:00 ET) and found that 1/2 is quite similiar (confirm?) to 2/4 and 5/10 is super tight and that 15/30 is a dream game. Reason for that is that the rake is very small compared to the pot size (only 1.2% compared to 4.2% at 1/2), and that 15/30 is actually ALOT looser then 5/10... I find this quite odd. So my questions are how tough 5/10 and 15/30 are compared to each other and how tough they are compared to 2/4 and 1/2?


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I played at 1/2, 2/4, 3/6, 5/10, 10/20 (went over my head) yesterday and I really did the best at 5/10 on Pacific. The 1/2 games and even 2/4 games had way too many callers and my AK,AQs couldnt carry the weight after raising with 4-5 callers and me missing my flop while others bet. Once I was up a significant amount I thought I could to in a steal a one in the the 10/20 game and I did but it was just a little much for me at my skill level.

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Clearly the correct line here is to jump from 1/2 to 15/30... or wait, clearly the right line is to start off at the 15/30 and move up to 1/2 once you get better at poker.

[Hobbs.]

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Im currently playing in the 1/2 games but Im thinking of moving up to 2/4 pretty soon and would like to know what the games are at the higher stakes compared to each other. I did some datamining (Mostly between 18-24:00 ET) and found that 1/2 is quite similiar (confirm?) to 2/4 and 5/10 is super tight and that 15/30 is a dream game. Reason for that is that the rake is very small compared to the pot size (only 1.2% compared to 4.2% at 1/2), and that 15/30 is actually ALOT looser then 5/10... I find this quite odd. So my questions are how tough 5/10 and 15/30 are compared to each other and how tough they are compared to 2/4 and 1/2?


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I played at 1/2, 2/4, 3/6, 5/10, 10/20 (went over my head) yesterday and I really did the best at 5/10 on Pacific. The 1/2 games and even 2/4 games had way too many callers and my AK,AQs couldnt carry the weight after raising with 4-5 callers and me missing my flop while others bet. Once I was up a significant amount I thought I could to in a steal a one in the the 10/20 game and I did but it was just a little much for me at my skill level.

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Clearly the correct line here is to jump from 1/2 to 15/30... or wait, clearly the right line is to start off at the 15/30 and move up to 1/2 once you get better at poker.

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clearly! make sure to pm me your pp handle before you start as well...

[chrishungerford]

So does this mean if you start at 1/2 you play until you get to 30 or 60? Im just not sure if you play until you get 15BB at the level you are at, or for the level you will move up to. Thanks for clarifying.

[SMB]

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So does this mean if you start at 1/2 you play until you get to 30 or 60? Im just not sure if you play until you get 15BB at the level you are at, or for the level you will move up to. Thanks for clarifying.

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You can set the goal however you want, 30/60, 10/20 or whatever.

Example: you normally play $2-4. 15BBs at the level below is $30. Start at $1-2, when you reach 15 total BBs at $2-4 ($60), then move up. 15BBs at $3-6 = $90, etc.

[tom10167]

He's saying set up an artificial bankroll and see if you can freeroll your way in to higher games, worst that happens is you lose 8BB.

I hate tons of callers with powerful drawing hands like AKs.

[Machinehead]

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The 15/30 might have bigger pots, but, you will be playing much better players. You might not noticeit much, but once you get value bet by 3rd pair a few times, you might start to notice that you suck and they are good. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

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I think this is a common misconception about these higher limit games. A lot of SS players think these higher limit games are like sharkfests, but they really aren't. Sure most of the pros there are better than the 3/6 or 5/10 pros, but there are plenty of live ones, probably more so than 3/6. I think it takes a slightly different skillset to adjust to the looser game, but I definitely wouldn't call it harder.

[jschaud]

Someone mentioned it, but i think it bears repeating. Yes,some of these higher limits have looser play due to the blind structure. You are also forgetting that these player know when to release a hand unlike the 1/2 level. you raise preflop with your ak get called by the BB with a10. at the 1/2 level, you are going to get called all the way down and get paid off when he doesnt hit his ten. at 15/30, you arent going to get paid off the same way by the guy with a10 or second pair.