A Newbie's Thoughts on NLHE

[Jeffrey Biship]

I've recently started playing the micro NLHE games online. They seem very profitable (at the moment) and are more fun than limit.

I wanted to throw a couple thoughts out there and see if anyone had any advice (with the understanding that answers to most questions are opponent dependent).

I HATE TRIPS!

Trips seem to be a trouble hand for me (even in limit). I either win a
small to medium pot or loose a ton. I was playing headsup NL last night
and lost a big pot when we both flopped trips and I lost the kicker war.
I also lost a big pot overplaying my overpair to trips.

WHAT'S WITH ALL THESE LIMPERS?

People love to limp with their big pairs in this game. Last night I had
about 4-5 limpers in and made a pot-sized raised from the button with QQ.
Almost everyone called. When the flop came with undercards, I bet them
strong as the best hand, but pocket kings took down a huge pot. Back to
the "cage." And when someone flops a set on your ass...? (see below)

HOW COULD YOU GO BROKE WITH ONE PAIR?

This is related to the above point, I guess, but how good IS a pair. I
overplayed a couple overpairs, losing tons. I won a huge pot vs AA when I
flopped a set and aces put himself all in (even after I "told" him by
reraising the pot that I had his AA beat).

COMING INTO UNRAISED POTS: AVOID "TRAPS" OR GAMBLE IT UP?

I was reading a thread on here about a player who called in the SB w/ T2.
I was the only one who asked about the call. What are you looking to flop
with a hand like this? To me, this hand is going to be tricky to play
unless you get divine intervention on the flop (TTT, 222, or TT2). With
your run-of-the-mill miracle flop (T2x, or TTx) this is a hand that could
be trouble. Am I just a wimp or rightly cautious to avoid "trap hands"
even for half a bet?

TO SLOWPLAY OR NOT TO SLOWPLAY....

My inclination is to not slowplay in a game where players have shown a
willingness to call big bets and raises with -ahem- less than premium
holdings. But it's no fun to finally flop a set and have everyone fold to
your "standard camoflague" bet.

This is longer than I had intended, so thanks in advance for any feedback.

Jeff

[Lurker]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
I HATE TRIPS!

I was playing headsup NL last night and lost a big pot when we both flopped trips and I lost the kicker war.

[/ QUOTE ]

When you flop trips on a paired board, especially in an unraised pot, ask yourself what hand that you can beat could possibly be giving you so much action. When you hold something like 7-8 and see a cheap flop of A88, don't just keep firing away regardless of the betting. HU your decisions will be harder, for TPTK will also play pretty fast in that situation.


</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
WHAT'S WITH ALL THESE LIMPERS?

People love to limp with their big pairs in this game.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is generally not a good idea and those who slowplay big pairs preflop are asking for trouble most of the time. They limp in and then overplay postflop, and eventually someone hits a set against them and busts 'em, as you allude to in your post. Let's just say that if "anyone is going broke with aces after the flop, it rates to be you" and not the person betting into you.

And as for bringing QQ up against KK-AA in this situation, sh*t happens. And online the stacks are usually not deep enough for you to find out you're beat and fold correctly. But it doesn't happen so often that you should get timid...bet and raise those 'innocuous' flops and expect to have the best hand most of the time.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
COMING INTO UNRAISED POTS: AVOID "TRAPS" OR GAMBLE IT UP?

I was reading a thread on here about a player who called in the SB w/ T2.

[/ QUOTE ]

T2 is NOT a trap hand. It's a trash hand. K-Q is a trap hand. With T2 either you flop a monster against a big field for half a bet or you fold. If you call an EP raise with K-Q and the flop comes down Q-x-x and you're facing a bet or maybe a raise, you still don't know where you are but you might feel compelled to continue.

I'm still not sure that I'd call from the SB with a hand as trashy as T2, though. I'd have to be very confident that I could get my opponents to stack off against me after the flop with weaker holdings. In a micro-blind online game this happens all the time--like when AA limps and Guy calls from the SB with T2, catches a flop of T52, and AA overplays...Sound familiar?


</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
TO SLOWPLAY OR NOT TO SLOWPLAY....

My inclination is to not slowplay in a game where players have shown a willingness to call big bets and raises with -ahem- less than premium holdings. But it's no fun to finally flop a set and have everyone fold to your "standard camouflage" bet.

[/ QUOTE ]

To slowplay or not to slowplay? In a word, not. The thing with flopping a set is, you want your opponents to catch up a little and give you action with hands that you can beat. But if you're not wise they'll outdraw you and break you. Especially if they are going to call anyway with nut draws (even bad ones), then you might as well give them the wrong odds to do so. Then you can fold correctly or call cheaply when they do hit, and you'll have made a profit from them drawing incorrectly.

A note on implied odds: strategy is heavily influenced by how deep the stacks are. As long as your opponent is deep enough, and you can read him and his hand well enough to know you can draw out and that he'll pay off with better odds than your odds of drawing out, then you can call with almost any hand. This is not always easy to do, but VERY profitable when it works. That's why you can call a raise with a small PP against someone you 'know' has aces and take a 7-1 shot at flopping a set if you know he'll commit for better than that on the flop when you're a huge favorite.

[Jeffrey Biship]

Thanks for the feeback. This is what I was looking for.

I'm having some growing pains in this game. I look at the beats I take, run 'em through twodimes.net, see how big of a favorite I was, and wonder where all my money went. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

I see my opponents apparently taking much the worst of it and getting there and I have to think that I can beat this game, but maybe what I see as poor play is just over my head.

Not to say that I haven't made mistakes....

Thanks again.

Jeff

[gavrilo]

I would like to add a little something to this thread. If you play long enough on the no-limit tables you start seeing a lot of the same people and I think keeping notes on players is very valuable. I have tons of notes on players and It has been worth its weight in gold many times over. In particular online ultra low NLHE, in general the players tend to conform and bet/raise/call in the same situations over and over again. If you can spot these, it can really pay off. This has taken me many many hours on not even that many players, but still very very much worth it.
To sum it up.. knowing your opponents even online is very valuable.

[Jeffrey Biship]

Thanks for adding your comments.

I'm definitely keeping notes, though right now they're mainly general impressions (likes to bluff scare cards on the end, likes to limp w/ big pairs, etc).

Jeff