40/4 Fish seeking transformation to 30/15 (long)

stargazer · #1 10-09-2006, 05:47 AM

I'm a fish (LP, 40/4/1) :-(

I'm genuinely profitable (+15BB/100 over past 20k hands) playing 5-handed $2NL and $4NL. But the 30/15 players on my site are doing way better than me. I hope to find out what they are doing.

So I'm going to try to describe my game and invite those 30/15 players here to point out the differences and invite your critiques, suggestions, or ridicule :-)

First, I look to find a table with a huge average pot size, which indicates a super LAG (75/35) maniac or two there, someone tilting, whatever. You can frequently find one. (Usually the $4NL tables run ~$40/hand avg, I look for $120+). Then I wait to make great hands and play them hard, but everything else I stay pretty passive, get out of the way if I don't connect. This (really) does work great against the maniacs. I abandon a lot of blinds and limped pots and preflop calls, but when I'm involved in a big pot the maniac frequently overplays lesser hands and draws into me. And the 5-handed game seems to "encourage" maniacs.

Preflop:
AA, KK, QQ, JJ I'll always raise or re-raise (QQ & JJ I'll reconsider if facing a 3-bet).
TT, AK, AQ I'll usually raise or flat call a raise in late position, or limp/call in early position.
I limp/call with pp99 and lower in every position.
I limp/call with KQ thru JT, suited connectors.
I limp/fold A-rag.
I limp/fold the gapped connectors, various rags when it looks like I'll see an unraised flop.
I nearly always limp my SB.
I rarely steal blinds. (If I'm raising the button, it's with good cards to begin with).

Postflop:
If I raised I'm putting out a 3/4PS continuation bet most of the time and gauging the hand from there.
I'll occasionally fire again 1/2 to 2/3PS on the turn with whatever I'm trying to do, if it's heads-up. I get a LOT of folds on the turn...
If I called a raise with AK-AT and missed, I'll fold to their continuation bet most of the time.
If I called a raise with AK-AT and hit, I'll usually call the flop continuation bet, bet out or raise on the turn.
Almost never lead out into a raiser.
Otherwise (KQ thru JT, suited connectors, etc) it's basically a cautious "hit to win" mentality.
Rarely lead out on a draw when someone else raised preflop. A limped pot, sure.
Top pair, I'll play. Middle or bottom pair, or pocket-unders, I'm folding to any real pressure.
I'll chase draws to a point, heavily influenced by position, implied odds, whether its a nut draw, and pot odds.
I don't bluff much, other than continuation bets after raising with AK/AQ preflop or after raising with a big pair but finding an overcard on the flop.
I almost never bluff the river after a missed draw.
If I _bet_ the river I believe I am in great shape.

My style works great against maniacs but doesn't work very well when the table is running tight.
It works just OK in a B&M live game, but those are 10-player, they see I'm not the aggressor so I must be a fish.

Things I need to fix. (advice welcome)

1. I'm being way to passive, limping with hands i should be raising. But I find myself getting into trouble when I raise more hands because I play them strong postflop to try to take down the pot. 30/15 players, what are those added 10% hands you're raising with? How are you playing them postflop? How much are you raising preflop?

2. Is this find-a-crazy-table and wait for big hands approach part of the problem, "stunting my development"? (despite it being a profitable approach) -- do others look for particular avg.pot amounts? It's clear my particular "fish" style of play works great in that situation but other styles aren't working for me in that situation, and that style isn't working elsewhere.

3. I need to figure out how to change gears better post-flop. In really thinking about it, I see that my customary betting pattern is to start very strong and persist strong through the flop and turn, and taper off at the river if I didn't have it, or if I get worried about scare cards.

I notice one group of players (better than me) who start strong, then play easy on the flop, play easy on the turn, and by the river there's a medium-sized pot built up, and then bet out BIG on the river. Particularly when a scare card hits. Haven't figured out the right play against this style. They take down a lot of decent sized pots.

I notice a group of players (better than me) who seem to nibble away at every pot, a little bet on every street. They take down a lot of small sized pots.

I'm usually raising to 3.5x-5x the BB, depending precisely on how many limpers ahead of me. Preflop, some players make really small raises, some minraise 50%+ of the hands, some to 2.5xBB 30-50% of the hands. What's the thinking for how to do this successfully. These guys (frequently) end up being maniacs later and I trap them for their stacks when I pick up a hand.

4. I need to figure out how to steal more pots. Postflop, some players consistently make 1/2PS bets into 4-way pots and take them down. I need to adopt this, but it doesn't seem to work at all for me on the maniac tables.

5. I need some advice for when to be _leading into_ the raiser postflop.

6. I've got to quit limping with big hands. Since I frequently limp my AK/AQ from EP I wind up with these hands out of position in a multiway unraised pot fairly often as a result. OK, I miss the flop most of the time, and fold when there's much betting. But I could probably be raising these preflop and then taking the pot down with a continuation bet. But as in #1, postflop I get into trouble with these bluffs.

Thank you all [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

ps. First real poker post here. Been a lurker for over a year now, Frist's folly inspired me to register.

ArturiusX · #2 10-09-2006, 05:53 AM

Start by reading books.

Dory · #3 10-09-2006, 05:57 AM

If you are really 15BB/100 then there is very few if any people doing better.

But to do that and run at 40/4/1 I would be very surprised if you weren't running insanely hot.

heresjohnny · #4 10-09-2006, 06:51 AM

[ QUOTE ]
If you are really 15BB/100 then there is fúck all if any people doing better.

But to do that and run at 40/4/1 I would be very surprised if you weren't running insanely hot.

[/ QUOTE ]