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bluewilde
07-25-2005, 09:03 PM
I've really gotten into an Empire groove, but moved over to Stars today on the advice of a friend--playing the turbos. All of our discussion seems to be Party/Empire-specific, but I assumed it generally held true in all sng poker. Still, my first few stars games have been a little akward. Are there any major adjustments I need to be making for the bigger stacks/even quicker blind acceleration, or is it just a general "get the feel for it" switch.

durron597
07-25-2005, 09:09 PM
Play high implied odds hands in position for small percentages of your stack early. For example, if a player raises to 80 in level 1, and you have 98s, call.

That's kind of minor though. The single biggest difference is that the blinds are effectively half that of party. So treat Stars' 25/50 like you would Party's 15/30, and Stars 50/100 like you would treat Party's 25/50, etc. and so forth. Also note that the overall blind structure is slower; there's a 100/200 level (like Party's 50/100 sort of) but then there's a 100/200/a25. Then 200/400/a50 is where the stacks are finally not deep.

Also often the early levels won't last the full ten hands like on party, but the later levels will (and often more)

bluefeet
07-25-2005, 09:52 PM
you're certainly going to play more post flop. be concious of your increased stack size on two fronts - 1) you aren't nearly as 'committed' as you might think. don't feel you have to see a hand through despite dumping a couple hundred chips into the pot, when the action clearly dictates that you fold. 2) on the opposite spectrum, don't shy from making justified CB's, raises, etc.

with that said, continue to error on the tight side early. 200/400 is often the norm at some point on the bubble. you'll need most of your start chips to pick up your share of pots.

good luck!

ps. shoot me some HH if you want

pss. top secret tip (don't tell durron!). contrary to popular belief, you will be given 'some' credit for your ultra-tight play early. there are 225-500 chips waiting for you on L5 (75/150). look for a '3x' or two, open opportunity here. things tighten up a bit during this intermediate level. a great place to fatten-up just a bit before the real fun starts at L6.

durron597
07-25-2005, 09:56 PM
No one remembers that you called a raise with 8h 7h in level 1 unless you got it to showdown (in other words, doubled up).

Then I end up at level 5 with a whole lot more than 225-500 chips.

bluewilde
07-25-2005, 09:59 PM
Yeah ionno what I'm doing wrong. I keep getting to lvl 5/6 with 1000-2000 and pushing and getting called by Q8, K6, J7. Dropped most of my deposit today /images/graemlins/frown.gif.

bluefeet
07-25-2005, 09:59 PM
agreed. regardless, there's just something about that 75/150 level...

durron597
07-25-2005, 10:00 PM
[ QUOTE ]
Yeah ionno what I'm doing wrong. I keep getting to lvl 5/6 with 1000-2000 and pushing and getting called by Q8, K6, J7. Dropped most of my deposit today /images/graemlins/frown.gif.

[/ QUOTE ]

Variance?

Play the 6.50s, they are soooooooooooooo soft.

bluefeet
07-25-2005, 10:01 PM
no worries. assuming you're pushing Ax, KT, JT. we'll take calls like you're describing (assuming 'the big V' will let you live that long).

bluewilde
07-25-2005, 10:48 PM
wow...I just played some of my all-time worst poker and won. I think it's time for a shower.

bluefeet
07-25-2005, 10:50 PM
lol...gl bro - hang in there!

yeau2
07-25-2005, 11:07 PM
Also note with the bigger stacks, you don't always need to be in push/fold mindset. A 3 or 4 times bb raise will do the same thing, and if you have a stack of 2000 and your against a tight player you can still get away from your hand with plenty of chips left.

Other than that, although the 89s comment is thoughtful, make sure your flop play is perfect. If it isn't, you'll begin bleeding chips and hit the 50/100 level with 1100-1200 left, giving you a serious disadvantage those times you never doubled up.

bluewilde
07-25-2005, 11:18 PM
[ QUOTE ]
make sure your flop play is perfect. If it isn't, you'll begin bleeding chips and hit the 50/100 level with 1100-1200

[/ QUOTE ]

Bingo. Here's the issue, I'll limp with AQ, hit top pair and then there's a bunch of action. At party I know I'm beaten, here I'll drop out and second pair is shown down for the win. So sometimes I don't continue with a strong-ish hand because it's not a lock (in party I can just push or ditch), or I call alond with a hand like TPGK only to lose to top set or TPTK. I'm just having trouble adjusting to all the post-flop action when my opponents will bet with nothing. In-between trying to stop them from running me over and trying to stay out of iffy pots, I'm sort of lost.

And yeah, I wasn't really in push/fold mode this last game. 3/4 BB raises (even minraises /images/graemlins/frown.gif) worked better than pushes. But that's so contradictory to everything I've learned/unlearned that it felt like bad poker.

Jbrochu
07-26-2005, 12:58 AM
[ QUOTE ]
I call alond with a hand like TPGK only to lose to top set or TPTK.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's seldom worth calling a hand all the way down, unless of course you feel pretty good you have the best hand already and/or you're offered the right odds to draw to your hand.

To play well post flop (not that I'm any good yet), you often need to raise to find out where you are. You can often get out cheaper by putting in one solid raise than calling your way down until you're pot committed.

You also need to learn to read the texture of the flop, and be able to decide it's just not worth even putting out a probe bet under the circumstances...

HoH 1 & the start of part 2 covers this stuff in great detail.