Downswing Need Sanity Check from 2+2ers

[Joefish126]

I will never limp from early position. If I flop a huge hand in a limped pot chances are I won't win much. If I flop a draw I will have to play it out of position. When I raise I can take down the blinds, and create the right image so that when I hit big i can get paid off.

I raise any pocket pair from any position. The answer to most your questions can be found in the excellent 6-max fundamentals thread in the sticky.

[You're No Daisy]

Are you talking about Tien's "Some 6max Fundamentals" post? If so, I just read it and man, it was an eye-opener! I now realize I'm playing way too loose passive preflop. No more open limping for me in LP.

AC

[Perk76]

Drive the bus rather than ride the little yellow bus to school. That means RAISE RAISE RAISE. Seriously your preflop raise should be way over half your VP. 24/20, 22/18, 16/12, 45/30...what ever you decide to play you need to be raising hands and putting pressure.

If you can't raise certain hands due to position or table conditions, then dont play it. Playing limp along is not going to win you large enough pots to equal out against the times you miss. When you are the preflop raiser you have so many different ways to win the hands post flop. Using position you are controlling the table that hand. Become the driver and not the rider, the game gets ALOT easier!

[Bowlboy]

I have'nt played any online poker in a few months now because of problems with my marriage, though my marriage is over now so I think I'm going to get back into it.

When I first started a year ago playing NLHE on Stars i played .01/.02 and cleaned up over a really decent sample for something like 40bbl/100. That is no joke. Stars 2cent tables play at 250bb deep though a lot of people buy in for stupid amounts anyway. I read tiens 6max fundamentals right when I started playing. I think his recommendations for preflop are a little too tight 10 or 25NL but at 2cent they are just fine. I played super tight and usually ran about 14/10.

The level of play is so bad that there should be no need for anykind of fancy play. You could play a laggy style profitably at that level by outplaying everbody postflop, though for me it was far easier to play like a nit, super straightforward both pre and post flop, which allowed me to play 9 tables at once. Pretty much every bet you make at this level should be a value bet. Stealing blinds is less profitable because you will so often need to showdown a hand to win a pot. You're money at this level should simply come from getting you're TPTK and better hands paid off. Against like 90% of the players there TPTK should be played for stacks.

It's boring poker but it wins the money at that level. Ideally you want to power through it as quickly as possible because the level of play is so stupid.

If you can, I'd recommend that you grind these nano limits on stars because I'm pretty sure that the rake is the best there and the 2cent and 5cent tables are deep stacked which increases your profits on your big hands, which is really where the money is going to come from. Stealing blinds there is meh, because most of the time you cant steal. Same goes for cbetting at whiffed pots because most of the are at least 3 way. If you play super tight you can play more tables and when you hit your big pairs and sets you make your money.