Opening Up Your Eyes and Your Game (very long)

[junkmail3]

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get ready for me to start 4 betting you light b*tches

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Holla.

-JP

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Get ready for me to start 5-bet pushing you light batches.

[Rick305]

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Awesome post. Thank you.

How successful do you think the 'open' game would be in the mid stakes Party games? Meaning, would it work as well versus more fishy players?

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Does anybody think this post would apply to a game like NL200 6max on party??

[CamelZoo]

it's strat posts like this by AJ that have helped me develop as a poker player, and he writes well on top of it. thanks, and well done man. i think the strategies outlined can be applied in pretty much any NL game, esp shorthanded. id say that most winning players employ a great deal of its aspects. vn post AJ, im glad you are a mod too.

and to mcshove, he was already man enough to apologize so no need to comment any more on him.

[DJ Sensei]

jesus, AJ... thats a hell of a post. much respect.

[UOPokerPlayer]

AJ, this is one of the better things i've read on this forum. I think you get it.

[Bigmoney]

really cool post

[Karak567]

McShove has made it clear he should be banned, as he is just a leech and does not plan on helping the forums at all.

[ahnuld]

Good post. Something I just wanna add is if you've been at the table for a bit and people are noticing you often give up after cbetting and getting called, a good line to take it either 2 barrel bluff (which im not crazy about cause I often play for pot control when OOP and check the turn with many good hands) or go for the CR. The opponent jumps on your weakness, bets pot which should be 20bb and this point, and allows you to CR him allin. If you have an overpair on a 262 board or a good hand that your willing to go broke with (and often you should against someone whos calling to float), this play works amazing becuase it makes them afraid to float you if you not only fire second barrels, but have the balls to CR their asses allin. Do this play with the goods most often, and sometimes just whiffed AK hands, and thell lay off.

[goodguy_1]

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Good post. Something I just wanna add is if you've been at the table for a bit and people are noticing you often give up after cbetting and getting called, a good line to take it either 2 barrel bluff (which im not crazy about cause I often play for pot control when OOP and check the turn with many good hands) or go for the CR. The opponent jumps on your weakness, bets pot which should be 20bb and this point, and allows you to CR him allin. If you have an overpair on a 262 board or a good hand that your willing to go broke with (and often you should against someone whos calling to float), this play works amazing becuase it makes them afraid to float you if you not only fire second barrels, but have the balls to CR their asses allin. Do this play with the goods most often, and sometimes just whiffed AK hands, and thell lay off.

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ahnuld this is good stuff!

AJ thanks for sharing-your strategy posts are always worthwile reading but you put alot of effort into this one-very helpful to see in print because I know my game suffers from many of the defiencies you refer to in your post.

You can make good money up to $200's and $400's without these adjustments but to go beyond that you need to open up-if you dont you are just too easy to read and you will be punished like a little bitch.

I'm already forcing myself to open up..its very difficult because I've done well at every nlhe 6max level i've played. I'm raising hands in early position I formerly limped with,I'm re-raising more out of the blinds and floating more..its quite difficult because all of a sudden I'm in unfamiliar territory often out-of position which I'm not used to one bit. Playing in unfamiliar territory over and over forces you to think about the game(at least if you want to survive)and thus becoming a better hand reader and that's what this is all about-better post-flop play.

It seems to me that the better players may have adapted more easily to this natural necesary progression almost seamlessly but most of us will have to work at it..and even then many just will not get it to work. This is where the really excellent hand-readers are separated from just the very good hand-readers...if you cant make this leap ie the peter principal you may not be able to play much higher.

I think many players who only make money off fish are only endowed with average or slightly above average hand-reading skills vis-a-vis their opponents and they will fail miserably at attempting to open up all at once...it most be a gradual process except for the natural allstars.

In other words I think most players would do better if they slowly moved more towards this style ie maybe this progression 20/10,20/15,25/15,25/20,30/20 or some such and tweaking it to their own prefernces.

With great game selection maybe a 20/10 can work.. but all these games are getting tougher and in most of the games bigger than $3-6 I see that I datamine most of the biggest earners play with 30/20ish-type stats.
I'm referring to 6/5 max NLHE play.

[soah]

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...

I'm raising hands in early position I formerly limped with,I'm re-raising more out of the blinds and floating more..its quite difficult because all of a sudden I'm in unfamiliar territory often out-of position which I'm not used to one bit. Playing in unfamiliar territory over and over forces you to think about the game(at least if you want to survive)and thus becoming a better hand reader and that's what this is all about-better post-flop play.

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This is where the really excellent hand-readers are separated from just the very good hand-readers...if you cant make this leap ie the peter principal you may not be able to play much higher.

I think many players who only make money off fish are only endowed with average or slightly above average hand-reading skills vis-a-vis their opponents and they will fail miserably at attempting to open up all at once...it most be a gradual process except for the natural allstars.

...

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I have to disagree a bit with what you are saying (it's not just you, but it's easiest just to focus on a single post). Loosening up will require better hand reading because you will flop more marginal hands, and you will end up in more spots where you can only win by bluffing. However, increasing your aggression level does not require better hand reading. In fact, it requires less. Successful passive play requires superior hand reading because you must interpret your opponents bets and then correctly compare your hand's strength to theirs. However, when playing aggressively, you don't have to worry too much about your opponent's hand -- you win if they fold.

If a TAG raises and you choose to call on the button, you are going to be on the defensive. You will frequently have one pair on the flop, which may or may not be the best hand. Now you need to have a good idea of your opponent's range, whether they will fold better hands to a raise, and what hands they will fire a second barrel with. On the other hand, if you reraise preflop and bet strong on the flop, the TAG is going to let you have the pot most of the time unless they have flopped better than one pair, or a very good draw. Since the hand that you will hold on the flop is usually much weaker than what you're representing (like, you have unimproved 77 while representing AA-QQ), you have a very easy decision if your opponent stays in the pot with you. The only hand reading that is required here is that you must know that your opponent is raising with a wide range preflop, most of which will not play a huge pot barring a great flop. When your opponent does choose to play a big pot, all you need to know is that your opponent has a very strong hand. This is sufficient for our purposes, but it is NOT hand reading.