New problem that has developed - early bubble situations

[Scuba Chuck]

What's the forums advice to get me some experience on how to play the bubble when it begins on level 2?

You can't play tight anymore, waiting for level 4 to begin to blind steal, as you'll get blinded away.

Furthermore, due to the general 2+2 style, there's a high probability that you are the short stack or one of the short stacks.

Sit n Gos are the only form of poker that I have really developed any skill at. Thanks to all the great advice from this forum. I can now see the benefit to branching out a bit. I do not have any (or very good) post flop skills.

Any advice is appreciated...

[SuitedSixes]

I don't think you'll get blinded away if the bubble starts at Level 2 or Level 3. How many BBs do you have at that point? If the predominant 2+2 strategy is to get aggressive in Level 4, I think that's only because the size of the blinds are worth stealing at that point. Do you intend to get aggressive in Level 2 so that you can win t45?

[11t]

I would suggest playing a lot of heads up and learning good post flop play. You are going to have to actually play poker if you get in this situation.

[Apathy]

This situation is pretty rare but if it ever does come up I find that its usually because some lucky tilt monkey is moving in all sorts of garbage and eliminating players quickly. This usually means that playing as tight as you would usually until level 4 or even 5 will almost always put you in the money, since the lucky maniac that caused the situation isnt slowing down any time soon.

[Scuba Chuck]

Apathy, your inference is pretty close. In fact the chip stacks were something like:

Hero: 850
1: 1250
2: 2600
3: 3300

Because each level is ten hands, figure I was gonna get hit at least once more in level 2, and at least 2 times in level 3. That's 195 chips right there. If I don't get hit 3 times in level 3, that means I'm pretty much first to be BB in level 4. I think you can see where this is leading me.

I need to loosen up my standards, which is what was evident as the two big stacks raised every hand. Because of this situation, The big stacks always created corret pot odds for themselves to call me when it became time for me to push.

PS: This happened to me twice in one day. Thus the post

Also, I realize I could use some help with post flop play, what/where is the best place to learn?

[Grivan]

Well theres 4 people at the table so you should be loosening up for that reason alone. You don't really need to be worrying about the blinds just play solid 4 handed poker.

[Apathy]

Scuba I really think the best place to learn flop play is the party 50NL or 100NL not sure how much you wanna spend. The thing is you would have to put in a lot of hands and time studying those hands. Also I found that learning OmahaPL and playing low limit HE really improved my NL flop play and post flop hand reading ability (my greatest strentghs still lie PF however).

P.S If you want to trade some 30s histories or even 50s hitories PM me.

Apathy

[Apathy]

Oh and also reading the high stakes NL forum, especially the archives has been amazing for improving my thought process post flop, especially when the stacks are deep compared to blinds, like the situation you were in here.

[lorinda]

6-max tourneys might also help.

Lori

[Scuba Chuck]

what's a 6 max tourney?

[Apathy]

They have them on ultimate bet. Its a SNG with 6 people instead of 9 or ten

[Lefthander]

Party has 6 handed NL tables, starting at 25. These helped me a bit with the kind of post-flop play I think you're talking about. There's a lot of limping in, so many of the expensive decisions are made after 3-4 people have seen the flop.

[slydeni]

eh scuba-

Yah...play it tight from here. I think its even more important to do so. These kinds of players are often in it for the gamble and action...

they will be throwing all sortsaq chips around. Stay in the background, and go after them with big hands. You can definitely wait it out here, as the blinds are still small...and yer surrounded by action lovers!

its a beautiful thing...
sly