Struggling At Party's 10+1

[PokerCat69]

I was beating PokerStars 6+.50 Turbos and decided to play partys 10+1 before hitting the 15+1 Pokerstar Turbos.
It seemed like a nice stepping stone, but I'm struggling and dropped 12 buyins so far. At pokerstars with a larger stack I limp alot more early on, but at party I'm really confused.

My Basic Strat:

Level 1:
22-JJ limp, QQ-AA AK raise

Level 2:
JJ AQs limp, QQ-AA AK raise

Level 3:
JJ AQs limp from Seat 1-7, Raise First In Seat8+.
QQ-AA AK raise from any position.

Level 4:
TT+ AJs+ AQ+ KQs Raise from Seat 1-7.
Seat8+ (unraised) 77+, A8s+ AT+ KQs

Something seems rather flawed

[mosdef]

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but I'm struggling and dropped 12 buyins so far.

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Something seems rather flawed

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what is flawed is that you think 12 buyins down is something to worry about

[pergesu]

SNGs are all about how you play the bubble. How you get to the bubble (as long as it's a reasonable %) doesn't matter too much.

Despite the fact that you outlined your entire strategy, there's nothing really informative in your post.

How is your bubble and ITM play? That's the most crucial element. I don't know how much stats are going to help, unless like you're -12% ITM from bubble. Go through your tourneys and see how well you're playing the bubble. Running them through SNGPT is a good idea. Post any hands that you have trouble with or are unsure of.

[PokerCat69]

I know a flood of "12 buyins is nothing" posts will follow.
I am not that stressed, its my general game plan that I am concerned about.

[PokerCat69]

When ITM I generally finish 1st or 2nd, unless I'm very shorted stacked to begin with.

With 4 players I normally make it to the money, unless I'm very very short stacked.
The last games I've been busting out in like 5/6/7th place.

[suited_ace]

Read AleoMagnus' guide to beating the party $10+1. I tried searching for the original post, but didn't find it. Maybe someone else can post it here.

FWIW, your level 1-3 hand requirements are too loose.

[mosdef]

no, i think your general game plan is fine.

but what are you trying to achieve? have you looked at each hand you busted out in? are you sure you've played each one right? if not, you should post those specific hands.

repeated busting out 5th-7th is usually not the result of a set of bad preflop calling/raising standards. it's usually misplayed bubble pushes or correctly played bubble pushes + bad luck

[mosdef]

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Read AleoMagnus' guide to beating the party $10+1. I tried searching for the original post, but didn't find it. Maybe someone else can post it here.

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http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=602767&page=0&view=co llapsed&sb=7&o=14&fpart=1

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FWIW, your level 1-3 hand requirements are too loose.

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while slightly too loose, i don't think they are so bad that they will cause massive problems. the weak hands he's gettting in with are leak hands and really only hurt if badly played post-flop.

[PokerCat69]

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Read AleoMagnus' guide to beating the party $10+1. I tried searching for the original post, but didn't find it. Maybe someone else can post it here.

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I've read AleoMagnus guide and think its a joke.
Thanks for posting it though, and looking it up. I had it bookmarked but don't care for it.

[RavenJackson]

Why are you playing turbos? IMO these increase your variance, as luck becomes more of a factor.

[mosdef]

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Read AleoMagnus' guide to beating the party $10+1. I tried searching for the original post, but didn't find it. Maybe someone else can post it here.

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I've read AleoMagnus guide and think its a joke.

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okay. if you're so sure that aleo's guide is wrong, then why are you unsure about your guide? if you can clearly tell that one set of standards is terrible, why can't you tell if there are problems with yours?

i'm sorry, but i just don't see what you're trying to get at with this post. you ask "is this okay?" and then shoot down every comment and piece of advice. i suggest you post some specific hands to give the discussion a firmer topic to deal with.

regards.

[OrcaDK]

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I've read AleoMagnus guide and think its a joke.
Thanks for posting it though, and looking it up. I had it bookmarked but don't care for it.

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I believe we've found your leak.

[tminus]

Its tough to say what you're doing wrong because your not telling us much. Posting a hand or two might be better.

Every game is a bit different but I think I can make some generalizations.
Your starting requirements are textbook but post leads me to believe that you're following a script which would be a big mistake. If this is the case, I would focus on the following:

Level 1-3
Approx 75% of the players are mediocre, 10% good, and 15% really weak. Size up your opponents during this time and note their play type (tight, loose, passive, agro). When you do play the hand you can then adjust your betting style to take advantage of their weaknesses. Identify the boneheads and let them goto war while you quietly build your stack.
Level 4 - Start looking for good places to steal and pounce on the tight players. If you've only been showing monsters then they will honor your raises.
-Prebubble/Bubble- This depends on your stack in relation to the rest of the table. Open up if your small, become agro but careful when midstack, and pound on the blinds if your big.

Hope this a helpful...

[Blarg]

Your strat could use more positional thinking in levels 1 and 2, I think. AQ is a pretty cheap limp if you're not up front.

Your level 4 strat will have you getting called a lot and seeing a whole lot of flops with a hand that either didn't start out best or just got beaten. Maybe you'll get good runs where you make a lot of money, but people aren't hesitant to call in the Party 11's, so you're going to be bleeding off a lot of chips playing hands like A8s and raising UTG with hands like AQ into a field of 7 or 8 players.

[zambonidrivr]

get both HOH 1&2. and quit chasing, and quit seeig more than 20% of flops. and quit complaining

[wiggs73]

Definitely concentrate on your bubble play. I used to be not nearly aggressive enough, and then I switched to being way too aggressive after reading the 100+ posts a day that say POOOOSH on here. There is a happy medium to be found though, and once you find it, you will be a very profitable player.

Most spots where aggression needs to be applied (usually with a push) can't be summed up in "When X happens, you push." But keep playing and you will develop an intuition for when you need to get all your chips in. Try to think less about the 2 cards in your hand and more about the situation you're in. What position are you in? How good, bad, loose, willing to gamble, are the players left to act after you. Have you seen them defend their blinds or do they usually fold them? Do they view you as being tight, loose, aggressive, or what? After you answer about 10 more important questions in a hand, you can address the 2 cards you hold and factor them into the overall equation.

Another thing I've found to be helpful is Cardplayer's odds calculator. Put all the hands you bust out into it and see if you were a favorite and if so, how big of one. I think a lot of the answers will surprise you. Also play with the calculator. See what kinds of draws are favorites over made hands and vice versa.

Lastly, don't get discouraged about your results so far. 12 buyins really isn't much. In my last 24 SNGs in the 10s, I went 9 OTM in a row, then 10 ITM out of the next 14. It's a streaky game. Your goal is to make good decisions, not to win pots. Look at the HHs from the games during your downswing and analyze your decisions. If they are good, then you'll hit an upswing soon. If they aren't, then plug whatever leaks you find and get back to the tables.