Guys - I'm Getting Flamed Now, Help!

[Festus22]

Being a newbie here (hopefully no longer a stranger), I've already read a zillion times about the virtues of raising or folding and the utter disgust for calling stations and weak tight players. Being the latter, I've tried kicking it up a notch always raising and reraising with group 1 & 2 hands preflop, tightening up my starting hand rules, betting out and raising with TPTK on the flop (assuming nothing grotesque is there), betting and raising with Ace high four flushes, etc. In short, I'm trying to do a lot of plays recommended here without becoming a capping station either. I gotta tell ya, I've taken a beating since playing this way. I'm 0-7 in my last 7 sessions, down 66 BB. Looking back over my records, in my weak-tight mode, I had had a 14 session win streak, a 9 and a 7 and was up >600 BB.

What makes tight-aggressive superior? I've ordered TOP so maybe the answer is in there but on the surface, I just don't see it. You will be dealt one winning hand per orbit. It just seems to me in low limit / no-foldem, sitting back and waiting for that winning hand and collecting a mid sized pot (usually none are small) is better than attacking early on a hand that SHOULD be a winner but often is not. Playing this way seems to just increase the risk/reward ratio making for big swings.

I'm thinking about returning to the Dark Side because it seems to work in LL. Guide me, o' wise ones.

P.S. I'll post a few hands where I got broiled. Perhaps my methods are flawed.

P.S.S. I've never seen the position nomenclature before I came here. Starting with the SB clockwise, what do you assign each position (EP, LP, CO, etc.)

[ElSapo]

I'll let others go into the details on why tight-agressive is better than weak-tight.

Post some hands though, it's much easier to see what's happening with examples. Remember, as someone here said recently (Dynasty?), hand values are relative... you may have TPTK but if the other guy caps the betting, he's telling you something. Raising your draws can work sometimes as a semi-bluff (but not if they call anyways) or as a value bet (with correct number of callers). Make sure you know what you want/expect.

Positions go SB, BB, UTG, UTG+1, UTG+2...then it gets into MP (middle position) LP (late position) CO (one off the button), button (button). You'll see some references to EMP (early mid position) and LMP (late mid position).

Definitely post some hands and keep working at it. I'd also suggest Lee Jones' Winning Low Limit Hold'em as a great book.

[Inthacup]

You will be dealt one winning hand per orbit.

I think this is part of your misguided thinking. You aren't allotted 1 win per 10 hands. Tight aggressive players usually win less than that. Loose players usually win more than 10% of hands, but they also usually lose more % of hands than tight aggressive players do. Just remember the percentage of pots you win is a function of your style, not of the amount of hands you "deserve" to win. Also the % of pots you win is not an indicator of how much you are up or down for the session. The way to win the most pots is to play every hand, it's also the way to lose the most when you're behind. Does that make any sense?

[Louie Landale]

Being more assertive is GOING to increase your varience, and for a winning WT playing is GOING to increase the number and severity of your losses. It should also, I may add, greatly increase the amount of your wins. Since you appear to be increasing your assertiveness sensibly, your losing streak is a bit of an anomoly.

If you cap with the A-flush draw against 4 players you are surely making a lot of money; even making a little money if one has a set.

Dare I suggest, however, that being a WT player you may do better NOT routinely raising PF and waiting until you flop something before flailing away.

Disciplined WT is a winning strategy against aggressive-loose AL types: they keep betting their crap into your calling-goods. WT looses against sensible AT Aggressive-Tight types since the WT player will have to fold the marginal hands, and the AT player will have the sense to stop betting when the WT player calls. Assertive-Tight works well against loose-passive types.

- Louie

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

To clarify on position: At a full, 10-handed, table EP (early position) encompases UTG, UTG+1, UTG+2. LP (late position) encompases the cutoff & button, MP encompases the 3 positions in between. When the table gets down to 6 handed, there is no EP pre-flop. The key concept in assessing position is the number of people to act after you.

[ElSapo]

When the table gets down to 6 handed, there is no EP pre-flop.

Not coincidentally, it's at six-handed and below I start to give away chips like I'm allergic to them.