Difficulty adjusting to party

[pacman544]

Ive been playing sngs for a year and a half now and after six months of up and downs i became a steady winner. I currently play 100 6 handed on ub. I however realize there is a ton more money to be made on party. The problem is i have major problems adjusting to both the rapid blind increases and hand requirments at a full table. You also have time to get a very good idea of the peoples playing style based on the amount of hands played at ub, but at party you have to judge them on relatively few hands. Its seems like party is primarily geared towards preflop hand selection, while ub is much more geared to board play. I was wondering if i could get both some general advice and anyone who has attempted to make the switch from ub to party would also be particulary helpful. Thanks

[marley81]

The best advice i could give you would be to stick with UB, and pokerstars. Partypoker is the worst site I have ever played on. I would say literally 60% of the time the worst hand wins. That site is filled with ridiculous beats. But if you want some advice for tournys, i would say play tight tight tight. Every tourny there will be 5 people left with blinds at least 200/400, then it basically comes down to who can get a big hand, or burn someone.

[Gramps]

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I would say literally 60% of the time the worst hand wins.

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If the above is "literally" true, then why not just play bad hands? You'll be a long-term winner there in no time...

[captZEEbo1]

some general guidelines for party:

play very tight early (hands like AJ are not really worth playing in early blind levels, win a small pot or lose a big pot). Hands that are generally +EV should not be worth it. You should be playing hands to bust someone's stack, ie. small pocket pairs-> sets

steal blinds frequently as the blind level moves up.

Payout structure dictates playing for first, don't worry about squeezing into the $$$.

That's pretty much all there is to party sngs. Don't listen to the other guy where "worst hand wins 60% of the time." That advice is just plain not sound.

[Elektrik]

Don't play at party. Especially if you know how to play. As marley articulately stated, it is clearly rigged, and the fish will win 60% of the time. As a good player there, you will always lose. So head back to UB, and stay away from my pond.

Unless you have a pattern mapper. Then you're ok I guess.

(I think you clearly stated the main difference - Party is more a preflop game due to the high blinds.)

[Mr_J]

"Every tourny there will be 5 people left with blinds at least 200/400"

My tournies have usually been down to 3-4 by this stage. Don't even get to 500/1000 alot of the time HU.

[Gramps]

Don't try and "play cute" or "overly outthink your opponents postflop" at Party. It's not an exercise in affirming your postflop poker brilliance to the rest of the world, it's about making the best EV plays however "boring" and straightforward they may be.

Play tight early, play your strong hands strong, try and maintain fold equity at later blinds levels, and have a good understanding of all-in hand values vs. various hand ranges that your opponents might have.

After that, have a phat bankroll for the stakes you're playing and let the long run take care of the rest.

[Ogre]

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I would say literally 60% of the time the worst hand wins.

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If this is true wouldn't it be the better hand???

[Ogre]

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My tournies have usually been down to 3-4 by this stage. Don't even get to 500/1000 alot of the time HU.

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This depends on what time you are playing at.
During the week it is much tighter then the weekends.

[pacman544]

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The best advice i could give you would be to stick with UB, and pokerstars. Partypoker is the worst site I have ever played on. I would say literally 60% of the time the worst hand wins. That site is filled with ridiculous beats. But if you want some advice for tournys, i would say play tight tight tight. Every tourny there will be 5 people left with blinds at least 200/400, then it basically comes down to who can get a big hand, or burn someone.

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I dont believe party is rigged. I also play alot of pot limit omaha on ub and party and have done very well on both. I simply think it is a matter of adjusting my style.

[Sidekick]

[ QUOTE ]
The best advice i could give you would be to stick with UB, and pokerstars. Partypoker is the worst site I have ever played on. I would say literally 60% of the time the worst hand wins. That site is filled with ridiculous beats. But if you want some advice for tournys, i would say play tight tight tight. Every tourny there will be 5 people left with blinds at least 200/400, then it basically comes down to who can get a big hand, or burn someone.

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe the advice quoted above is terrible advice, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

I have played SnGs on Paradise, Pacific, Poker Stars! and Empire/Party. At every single site I hear the same tired comments of how the site is rigged/only crap hands win/river will kill you every time/etc. Most players want their hand to win and generally seem to think that their hand is a much greater favorite to win over their opponent than it actually is.

I like playing at Empire/Party AND at Poker Stars!, but the sites play quite differently. The shorter starting chip stacks and rapidly escalating blind structure at Empire makes for a much faster playing tournament with more emphasis on preflop decisions than at a site like Poker Stars! where you have much deeper starting chip stacks and blinds that escalate quite a bit slower. This structure allows for much more post flop play and decision making.

You most likely know, but in case you don't... you can check out the FAQ. There is a sit and go strategy guide in the FAQ that covers some basic strategy that is very sound for most people starting out doing Party SnGs.

[marley81]

Ok Ok, maybe I was off by a litte, but I'll tell you what, when 2 people are all in, the worst hand wins alot more then it should. And i've won 2k on this site, and I still can't stand it, i would definately play PS or UB before that. But Empire is just as bad, they run off the same server and it may actually be worse then PP. In my opinion.

[marley81]

I've played empire/party; pacific; Pokerstars;fulltilt;UB. I've won the most money on empire/party, the sad thing is i won that when i was first starting. When i started reading strategy books and reading forums on starting hands, and preflop/postflop strategy I started to play more solid, but I lose more often. Doesn't quite make sense to me, other then the statement i already made. Example I get bonus in Empire today 25 bucks, haven't played on that site in forever. I sit at 20/2 10 player first hand i get is pocket Q's. Raise 100 preflop(blinds 10/15) flop a Q. Kid goes all in, I call. Turn K, gives him a set of K's. 2 hands later as i was watching. AA vs JJ, kid hits a J. 2 out of 6 hands 2 people are dealt high pocket pairs and the lower one flops a set? Yesterday on party i was in 50/5 (you would think the skill level would go up) Kid goes all in preflop in 1st position with 66 blinds 10/15, guy calls behind him with AA, kid flops a 6. Very next hand, same kid goes all in with JJ, guy calls with KK, the kid hits a J. 2 hands later, he gets pocket Q's vs J's and wins. 3 hands later i get pocket K's vs A J o/s, kid catches a running 4 flush to win on river? You would think as you go up in stakes the players would get better, but nope, people still put all there chips in with there 2 1/2 - 1 underdogs. So as i agree you can win money on this site, and i have, i still feel this site is the worst out of everyone that i have played. If you are going to play PP i would recommend the 30/3, i think anything lower then that, the people are to bad to win consistantly.

[leykis]

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If you are going to play PP i would recommend the 30/3, i think anything lower then that, the people are to bad to win consistantly.


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That is very funny. Actually I think you should only play direct buy in to the Step 5's ($1000). Most of the players at that level are very good therefore you only lose by getting out played, or getting your money in with the worst of it. Forget about those 10+1's that are full of bad players making poor decisions. It should be much eaiser to take down Gigabet, ZeeJustin and thier likenesss.

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[Ogre]

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If you are going to play PP i would recommend the 30/3, i think anything lower then that, the people are to bad to win consistantly.

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So you think that the bad player has the advantage?