Should I be LAG or TAG? 5Max

[IMALLIN767]

I have been experimenting lately with very loose agressive play at 50NL 5Max at Pokerroom. The reasoning behind this is I find it very hard to get payed off when playing TAG.
I basically have been raising any playable hand from any position: any pair, suited connectors, one gappers, & even small junk cards in late position like 5 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]3 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
I have also been c-betting any flop heads up & slowing down on the turn & river. Does anyone have great success playing this style? Any other thoughts appreciated.

[Mr.K]

You need to play FAR more hands at 5max than full ring, and in fact you need to be more LAG at 5max than at 6max. They key to winning or losing at 5max is defending and stealing the blinds. If you do those two things successfully, you will be in great shape. If you do not, you're going to have to make up a lot of money in other positions. Uber-LAG is the way to go.

[wslee00]

I've been playing at pokerroom 50NL and people have called my raises with TRASH. Q6o, K7o, A5o. After seeing some of these hands, I've switched over to a very TAG style.

[wslee00]

Oh - and 53o is a serious junk hand - muck that at any position.

[matrix]

don't get hung up over playing LAG or playing TAG or whatever.

learn how to play BOTH TAG and LAG.
then learn how to spot what the otehr players are playing like at your table.
then play in a style thats most appropriate to the table.

if it's a tight table play LAG - and versa vice.

then learn to SWITCH STYLES mid game - there are almost NO villains at Small Stakes tables that are able to spot AND adjust to gear changes

[IMALLIN767]

Very good point. However when playing this style, I have been seeking out tight tables just for the sake of playing LAG

[quarkncover]

[ QUOTE ]
don't get hung up over playing LAG or playing TAG or whatever.

learn how to play BOTH TAG and LAG.
then learn how to spot what the otehr players are playing like at your table.
then play in a style thats most appropriate to the table.

if it's a tight table play LAG - and versa vice.

then learn to SWITCH STYLES mid game - there are almost NO villains at Small Stakes tables that are able to spot AND adjust to gear changes

[/ QUOTE ]

Well said Matrix.

[Pokey]

Labels like "TAG" and "LAG" are not constants; they're table-dependent. A player with stats of 26/18 would be considered TAG at a 6-max table but LAG at a full-ring. Stats of 50/35 would be TAG heads-up. When people say "tight" they mean that in reference to the table conditions. When I play heads-up, I run about 80/50, and I don't consider that too loose. When I play in a full ring, I run 16/9, and I don't see that as being excessively tight. I think you should play either TAG or LAG at a five-max table, but my definitions of those words change as the table itself changes.

If you're seeing less than 25% of the flops at a 5-max table, I think you're probably playing too tight. If you're seeing more than 50% of the flops, I think you're probably playing too loose. If your PFR is less than half of your VPIP, I think you're probably playing too passively preflop.

[FishSticks]

The comments by Matrix and Pokey are on the money, and don't need repeating.

The one thing I would add, though, is that if you get too entrenched the the habit of c-betting every flop and then backing down on the turn and river, some people out there will notice this and take advantage of you. I get into stretches where I just c-bet every flop without really thinking about things much, and start to find myself in checkraise or stop-and-go hell. Perhaps at 50NL folks aren't perceptive enough to notice this, the tables turn over a whole lot, or don't have the stones to play back at you without the nuts - and if this is the case no worries. It's something you should be aware that good players, though, will notice and exploit.

[Nepthu]

I think there is TAG and LAG before the flop and after flop. And you can be one before the flop and the other after the flop.

If you want to help get your hands paid off then you need to bluff sometimes after the flop in a similiar way to how you bet made hands against good opponents.

But I wouldn't worry too much about making them pay off your good hands. Just bluff when you have a read that you think you can take down the pot. If you don't have reads often enough then just bluff sometimes when you think it is a good opportunity. Then your monster hands will get paid off a little better naturally.

Rather than trying to establish an image that allows your good hands to get paid off I would rather think of it this way: Bet your good hands so that you can bluff and take down pots. That's more my style. I find that you can bluff people out of pots more than you make monster hands, because you can put them in tricky situations where their whole stack is potentially at risk in later streets. If you start getting calls too much or you showdown a poor hand or your table image just got bad, then lay back and wait for a hand. If you showdown a good hand time to bluff again for awhile.