Full Ring advice

Chip753 · #1 11-26-2007, 04:50 PM

Hi to everyone. I would like to have a feedback about a particular situation.

I read "Small Stakes HE" by Sklansky cause someone wrote here that this is the best book for the stakes in which I want to start (0.02/0.04 PS). I read it and it's great but I have a problem.
I play at this kind of level and when I play at shorthanded tables I have no problems, while it is completely different when I play at full ring tables. When I played SH I had no negative sessions, while on FR I loose consistently.

I tried to change my way of game a little bit: first I tighten up, then I started to be a little more loose (which is always more thight then Sklansky's advice).
It is unuseful. I have no problems with bad beats but litterally people call everything and you have to play against 6-7 guys. If you don't hit the nut, there are no possibilities to win... and it has to be the nut till river.

I don't like to accept easy solution and I would like to understand if I simply cannot win at this level FR (and I have to play just SH) or it is a problem of mine.

Thank you for your opinions. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

LukeSLTS · #2 11-26-2007, 05:07 PM

Small Stakes holdem was written primarily by Ed Miller.

If you never had a losing session playing shorthanded then you haven't played enough sessions and you have had sick luck. The variance in shorthanded games is greater than that of the full ring. In full ring tighter play is generally the best approach. A VPIP of 15% isn't overly tight, whereas in shorthanded play you would be broke quickly with a VPIP that low.

Chip753 · #3 11-26-2007, 05:14 PM

Maybe but the fact is that in SH play I rarely arrived at showdown (I suppose it is not so much about luck), while in FR I always arrived there and I saw some amazing things (and I played just very good hands!)...

BadBigBabar · #4 11-26-2007, 05:15 PM

hi chip, you'll need a large sample size to be sure of anything in this game. at least 10k hands or so of lhe should be enough to spot basic trends, however. i have a hunch you may not be there yet. we all go through crazy short term stretches of variance.

ckj · #5 11-26-2007, 05:17 PM

If you never loose at SH, just play that. I wish I had this problem. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

kerowo · #6 11-26-2007, 06:06 PM

I would advise skipping .02/.04 altogether and trying something higher. I think the amount of bad habits you learn there far outweighs any good habits you might pick up.

Dankenstein · #7 11-27-2007, 01:45 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I would advise skipping .02/.04 altogether and trying something higher. I think the amount of bad habits you learn there far outweighs any good habits you might pick up.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed.

Sarge85 · #8 11-27-2007, 02:27 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I would advise skipping .02/.04 altogether and trying something higher. I think the amount of bad habits you learn there far outweighs any good habits you might pick up.

[/ QUOTE ]

True on some many different aspects of the game.

Get out and up if you can.

Sarge[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

gito · #9 11-27-2007, 07:15 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I would advise skipping .02/.04 altogether and trying something higher. I think the amount of bad habits you learn there far outweighs any good habits you might pick up.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is very true, I had the same exact problem with FR .02/.04 although I was usually a winner at SH. Then I realized, playing that limit actually made me paraniod about miracle cards which dragged me into a passive play. I found myself calling and thinking "what the hell, if i win, i win, no need to lose money on a 2 outer, these guys aren't folding anyway and somehow they catch cards."

The moment I saw this, I quit the limit, moved up to .05/.1. I started playing poker about 2 months ago so I am not winning too much in total, but the experience at this limit is giving me good habits.

So push your bankroll a bit, an extra couple of dollars has less value compared to the "correct" knowledge you will acquire.

By the way it is my first post, and never thought I would be giving an advice at this point, but as I said I had the same problem and figured this might help. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

TimovieMan · #10 11-28-2007, 04:55 AM

I actually don't get all the fuss about .02/.04 being nigh unbeatable. When I cashed out at Stars, I left 5$ in to play the nano-limits, and I was crushing them with over 10BB/100.
As long as you play tight preflop and aggressively protect your made hands postflop, there's nothing keeping you from walking away with all the other peoples' cents...

You just have to stick to some decent basic strategy, and value bet the hell out of your hands. Same goes with .05/.10.

They may not respect your raises, but as long as those are for value, they're not nearly drawing out on you as much as you think...

However it is true that, if you're new to the game, you're going to develop some bad habits (overplaying overcards, seeing the showdown too much, etc.). But one has to start somewhere, and as long as you try to keep improving your game, the nanos are as good a place as any to start...

If anything, you'll learn to appreciate bad beats, and avoid tilting. It's the occasional bad beat that keeps the fish returning to donate their money to you!!!