1/2 NL

[aal113086]

alright its finals week and I dont really study, so since nobody's going out and drinking i've jus been goin to the casino by myself to play some poker. I haven't run that well and have prolly made about 200 dollars in about 25 hours of play.
That being said, some of these guys are ridiculous... and I've seen some of the regulars who are definately consistent winners at the game play what seems to me like absolute crap. Everyone's always trying to slowplay or trap someone, als everyone who limps for 2 dollars insta calls a bet of 10 dollars no matter what the situation (with hands such as k2S etc.) For some reason I'm having a bit of trouble dominating the game, which I really feel like I should be.

I try to take advantage of peoples loose passiveness but I'm having a hard time?

I would like some advice, but I'm sure it came off as mostly bitching so I'll prolly just get a hard time.

[MVPSPORTS]

Play tight ABC and whatever variance is stopping you from "killing the game" will go away...

[onlinebeginner]

the thing is i've seen these consistent winners play very loose... I feel like they've adjusted to the fishes in a way more optimum than my tight abc style

[MVPSPORTS]

If you're playing in some of the deeper games (ie.. Caesars, Wynn, Ballys), calling raises w/ SCs and small pairs becomes MUCH more profitable, as if you hit a set/2pr youre stacking most people... Also, for whatever reason, people love to bet $12 PF, get 3 callers, then bet $25 on the flop and $40ish on the turn, giving you GREAT odds to hit most draws...

[sards]

I crushed my local 1/2 NL game for a few months before moving up to 2/5 and 5/10. Here is a brief description of the way I played: This game had a $300 max buy-in, and I would always buy in for the full $300. My reasoning was that there would often be weak players at the table that had caught some cards and built big stacks; I wanted to be able to make them risk as much of their stacks as possible. I preferred to start out playing fairly straightforward, tight agressive poker. This allowed me to get a feel for the table and build up a solid image. Also, playing straightforward meant that I wasn't making any high-risk plays that could jeapordize my stack growth. Playing this way, I would usually steadily increase my stack, and as the size of my stack increased, I would open up my game more and more. Note that I established a tight solid image, so the table would take a while to notice that I was making more moves. Once my stack reached $500 or so, I would be playing full on LAG style. The idea behing this is that playing LAG allowed me to take advantage of my big edge in post-flop skill, while my big stack allowed me to absorb the risks associated with LAG play. Preflop, my LAG mode involved
1) Limping almost all of my "unplayable" hands if I didn't think that it would get raised. This was true from all positions but I was slightly more likely to fold the worst garbage from early position than from late position.
2) Raising almost all unraised pots from mid to late position with the top 50% of my hands. My typical raise amount was anywhere from $7 to $12 depending on my mood and table conditions.
3) Calling in raised pots with any semi-decent hand. I was more likely to call a raise with a borderline hand if the raise was small ($6 - $8) than if it was big ($12+). Also, if a good player was involved in the raised pot, I was more selective.
4) I rarely reraised preflop except with premium hands. I preferred to see a flop and use my skill advantage there than to reraise and either take down the pot or be in a much more difficult situation on the flop.

Post-flop, I tried to play an aggressive, tricky game. I bluffed fairly often, utilized the check-raise when appropriate, and bet my big hands aggressively. Most players at this level are very easy to outplay after the flop. The advantages of my playing style were that 1) I saw a LOT of flops, where I could take advantage of my skills, and 2) most of the pots were raised preflop (usually by me), so I could win more.

One other thing that I should mention is that at the $1/2 NL level, most players have no clue about how much to bet after the flop. They typically make tiny bets, like $5 or $10 into a $50 pot. You probably already know this, but most of your bets should be in the 50% to 100% of the pot range. Learn to take advantage of your opponents' small bets.

This post is becoming much longer than I had planned, and I'm sure most of this stuff has been covered elsewhere, so I will stop now.

[SellingtheDrama]

Part of winning is getting the cards necessary to win. Sometimes a nice medium win is all you'll rate to have, no matter how well you play.

And if you know how people are going to play, let them play their game, just make the conditions sub-optimal. You don't want to make them play better after all [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[dvh]

I can add nothing to your approach other than it works for me as well. Everyone at 1/2 nl loves the flop and thankfully most can't play after it

[frommagio]

Very nice first post. Welcome aboard, and let me also say that I think your approach makes a lot of sense.

[ QUOTE ]
I crushed my local 1/2 NL game for a few months before moving up to 2/5 and 5/10. Here is a brief description of the way I played: This game had a $300 max buy-in, and I would always buy in for the full $300. My reasoning was that there would often be weak players at the table that had caught some cards and built big stacks; I wanted to be able to make them risk as much of their stacks as possible. I preferred to start out playing fairly straightforward, tight agressive poker. This allowed me to get a feel for the table and build up a solid image. Also, playing straightforward meant that I wasn't making any high-risk plays that could jeapordize my stack growth. Playing this way, I would usually steadily increase my stack, and as the size of my stack increased, I would open up my game more and more. Note that I established a tight solid image, so the table would take a while to notice that I was making more moves. Once my stack reached $500 or so, I would be playing full on LAG style. The idea behing this is that playing LAG allowed me to take advantage of my big edge in post-flop skill, while my big stack allowed me to absorb the risks associated with LAG play. Preflop, my LAG mode involved
1) Limping almost all of my "unplayable" hands if I didn't think that it would get raised. This was true from all positions but I was slightly more likely to fold the worst garbage from early position than from late position.
2) Raising almost all unraised pots from mid to late position with the top 50% of my hands. My typical raise amount was anywhere from $7 to $12 depending on my mood and table conditions.
3) Calling in raised pots with any semi-decent hand. I was more likely to call a raise with a borderline hand if the raise was small ($6 - $8) than if it was big ($12+). Also, if a good player was involved in the raised pot, I was more selective.
4) I rarely reraised preflop except with premium hands. I preferred to see a flop and use my skill advantage there than to reraise and either take down the pot or be in a much more difficult situation on the flop.

Post-flop, I tried to play an aggressive, tricky game. I bluffed fairly often, utilized the check-raise when appropriate, and bet my big hands aggressively. Most players at this level are very easy to outplay after the flop. The advantages of my playing style were that 1) I saw a LOT of flops, where I could take advantage of my skills, and 2) most of the pots were raised preflop (usually by me), so I could win more.

One other thing that I should mention is that at the $1/2 NL level, most players have no clue about how much to bet after the flop. They typically make tiny bets, like $5 or $10 into a $50 pot. You probably already know this, but most of your bets should be in the 50% to 100% of the pot range. Learn to take advantage of your opponents' small bets.

This post is becoming much longer than I had planned, and I'm sure most of this stuff has been covered elsewhere, so I will stop now.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Rottersod]

[ QUOTE ]
One other thing that I should mention is that at the $1/2 NL level, most players have no clue about how much to bet after the flop. They typically make tiny bets, like $5 or $10 into a $50 pot.

[/ QUOTE ]

I doubt that 1/2 games have that many $50 pots pre flop.

[Chipr777]

[ QUOTE ]
I doubt that 1/2 games have that many $50 pots pre flop.

[/ QUOTE ] You've never been to Tunica I take it.