$55 early play adjustments....

[Mr_J]

I've seen some people say you should still be very tight early on in the $55s, but I've also seen some people say that you have to play the more marginal situations since your shorterhanded advantage is smaller.

Playing slightly looser would leave you with around 750-800 chips by level 4.

Playing tightly would leave you with around 850 chips assuming you didn't catch anything.

Do postflop skills make the difference to how you play early on (eg take advantage of the smaller +EV opporunities)?

[raptor517]

i pretty much play AK and any pair on the first 2 levels. thats about it. if i dont get a very strong flop im not investing any more chips. its simply not worth it. you can take advantage of people's weakness with higher blinds. you steal 1 blind at the 100-200 level and that gets you more chips than finding a slightly +ev play to get 30 extra chips. stay tight, but play the pairs because you can double up if u get a set. holla

[Mr_J]

Yeh I don't like the marginal early style since postflop isn't my thing /images/graemlins/wink.gif

$33s I was limping 77+, KQ and calling minraises with AQ. AJs sometimes. Don't play AK strong either, I just raise that a small amount.

I guess maybe I should play like I normally do and just let any adjustments come naturally with experience.

[raptor517]

ugh, dont limp KQ or AQ or AJ. thats yucky. dont call a min raise either. they are all trap hands. if you do play them, proceed with caution. i dont play them cuz there is just too much going on for me to worry about making tough decisions. everything for a multitabler should be automatic.

[Mr_J]

"everything for a multitabler should be automatic."

Already is /images/graemlins/wink.gif

"they are all trap hands. if you do play them, proceed with caution"

AJs I only play sometimes in LP (I can only remember playing it a few times). AQ abd KQ dominate alot of hands that people often play preflop (AJ and weaker, KJ, KT, QJ). Even at the $50s I've seen alot of people play these hands so I think they're still good if you're careful. My early game has definately improved alot and I'm pretty confident with it. My 8th-10th %s are very low over a poor (but positive) run at the $33s.

I feel like I could be a bit more aggressive shorterhanded at $55s though.

[stigmata]

I'm a ring game player so what do I know? But I've had reasonable success at the 50/100's and I play early slightly different to you guys - but I could well be wrong.

I agree with limping pairs for set value and only playing big hands. However, I will play AQ / AJ / KQs / maybe even ATs in late position. If there is one of the loose players who love Ax has entered the pot, you are getting fantastic implied odds on your AQ or AJ. If an ace flops on a non-scary board, it's not too difficult to get someone going all-in with you and having them totally outkicked.

I guess they are trap hands and need to be played with caution, but you can double up with them against loose players. Sometimes they hit their 2-pair - but you take your chances. I don't massively multitable (normally a SNG + a couple of ring games going) so my reads are half-decent, so this might help.