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View Full Version : Rehauling my play. An early game workshop.

Unoriginalname
12-29-2005, 08:17 PM
I've been trying to open up my early game lately. After about 2500 SNGs at the 22s, I've got about a 15% ROI. I'm really trying to make the 20% club and feel like I'm losing some potential money in my early and mid game decisions. I'm really unsure of myself in many of these situations, especially with decisions when I have about 10-15xBBs.

Here's a few hands I'd like some input on. Some of these hands might seem like ridiculously easy decisions, but like I said, I've just been unsure of myself a little lately:

1. What's my line preflop?
PartyPoker, Big Blind is t100 (7 handed) Converter on pregopoker.com (http://www.pregopoker.com/hhconv/convert)

UTG (t590)
UTG+1 (t1355)
MP1 (t605)
Hero (t1522)
Button (t785)
SB (t1253)
BB (t1890)

Preflop: Hero is in CO with J/images/graemlins/club.gif A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif
<font color="gray">UTG folds</font>, UTG+1 calls t100, <font color="gray">MP1 folds</font>, <font color="gray">Hero ...?</font>

2. Does my preflop raise suck? Should I have just went all-in? I planned to call any all-in raise. The first caller in this hand was calling probably about 30% of flops; hands like QJs, KTo, etc. The second caller was calling tons of flops, probably more like 40-45% VI$IP. I put him on capable of calling hands as low as A2o, K9s, 78s etc.
PartyPoker, Big Blind is t50 (8 handed) Converter on pregopoker.com (http://www.pregopoker.com/hhconv/convert)

UTG (t1553)
UTG+1 (t1815)
MP1 (t838)
MP2 (t540)
CO (t1130)
Button (t680)
Hero (t659)
BB (t785)

Preflop: Hero is in SB with A/images/graemlins/heart.gif Q/images/graemlins/heart.gif
UTG calls t50, <font color="gray">UTG+1 folds</font>, MP1 calls t50, <font color="gray">MP2 folds</font>, <font color="gray">CO folds</font>, <font color="gray">Button folds</font>, <font color="red">Hero raises t225</font>

3. Was this out of position call a bad play? What about flop play? My read on the player: This player pissed away about 200 chips early in the tournament. He called pre-flop raises twice, called flop bets, then ended up folding the turn.
PartyPoker, Big Blind is t15 (9 handed) Converter on pregopoker.com (http://www.pregopoker.com/hhconv/convert)

UTG (t650)
UTG+1 (t968)
MP1 (t590)
MP2 (t775)
MP3 (t1877)
CO (t490)
Button (t675)
Hero (t1235)
BB (t740)

Preflop: Hero is in SB with Q/images/graemlins/spade.gif A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif
<font color="gray">UTG folds</font>, <font color="gray">UTG+1 folds</font>, <font color="red">MP1 raises t50</font>, <font color="gray">MP2 folds</font>, <font color="gray">MP3 folds</font>, <font color="gray">CO folds</font>, <font color="gray">Button folds</font>, Hero calls t40, <font color="gray">BB folds</font>

Flop: (t115) 6/images/graemlins/heart.gif 8/images/graemlins/diamond.gif K/images/graemlins/heart.gif (2 players)
Hero checks, <font color="red">MP1 bets t75</font>, <font color="gray">Hero folds</font>
Bill Poker
12-29-2005, 08:19 PM
1. fold
2. yes. push instead.
3. fold preflop, fold on flop
12-29-2005, 08:39 PM
1. Fold
2. Push if your going to raise for 1/3 of your stack
3. OOP i would fold this, in position maybe a call... depending on the raiser
12-29-2005, 08:53 PM
1. call
2. raise less or push
3. i would fold

i play the 11s/22s too and thats whats been working for me
RobGW
12-29-2005, 08:55 PM
1. I can see folding, calling, or raising depending on the circumstances. It's probably close either way.
2. Just push. You have a good hand here with nothing to lose. Put the decision on them and most of the time they will muck it up.
3. Again, this is close.

Thes hands are all close so I dont think thats where you are going to find more profit. There must be something else you need to work on. Stealing pots post flop and a good Heads up game will get you there and then some.
xJMPx
12-29-2005, 09:04 PM
1. I probably fold this most times. I think a call is ok, but this is a tough spot.

2. This is my thought process for this hand. Ok, I have two limpers, that's 175 chips in the pot. That's even more than if there was no limpers but the blinds were 50/100. What would I raise if the blinds were 50/100, the answer is push with less than 1000 chips here.

3. Your description of the opponent is more of a calling station than a LAG, so I probably fold to his raise here. Fold for sure post flop.
Unoriginalname
12-29-2005, 09:06 PM
[ QUOTE ]
1. I can see folding, calling, or raising depending on the circumstances. It's probably close either way.
2. Just push. You have a good hand here with nothing to lose. Put the decision on them and most of the time they will muck it up.
3. Again, this is close.

Thes hands are all close so I dont think thats where you are going to find more profit. There must be something else you need to work on. Stealing pots post flop and a good Heads up game will get you there and then some.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm, you make a good point. I might not be losing out on as much money as I think I am with these decisions if they're really marginal. I just wasn't sure if these decisions were close or not.
ilya
12-29-2005, 09:15 PM
Whatever you do, don't fold in Hand 1.
Bill Poker
12-29-2005, 09:31 PM
[ QUOTE ]
Whatever you do, don't fold in Hand 1.

[/ QUOTE ]

why? I recently noticed that I rarely limp in when blind is over 50, either fold or raise(push). if you call here, are you going to fold to a raise (likely a push)?
swiftrhett
12-29-2005, 09:51 PM
I agree with this.

[ QUOTE ]

Thes hands are all close so I dont think thats where you are going to find more profit. There must be something else you need to work on. Stealing pots post flop and a good Heads up game will get you there and then some.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm in nearly the same boat as you, trying to improve at the 22's. I think that I'm gaining ROI from more intelligent postflop play.
Bigwig
12-29-2005, 09:57 PM
I push 1, 2, and fold 3.
Paul Thomson
12-29-2005, 10:15 PM
2) Push...your hand does better if it can see 5 cards as opposed to 3. Not to mention that playing this hand out of position sucks. But there is a large number of chips relative to your chip stack in the pot and you have a good hand...so be aggressive in trying to win it.

3) I think folding preflop is totally fine. However, since you've a particular read on your oppoent it could be +EV to call. However, I'm not sure what to make of your read on your opponent. He plays pretty passive (called all 4 times) but doesn't believe his opponents (called flop bets twice only to fold on the turn--tricky?). Well playing AQ out-of-position sucks. It's hard to extract money from a better player even if you hit your hand. So unless he's a total donk, I think folding preflop is best. But I like your flop line.

1) Is a difficult hand...I think that a case could be made for folding, calling or raising.

Case for folding: Just like you the inital caller is a semi-large stack. He called from early position.

Case for calling: There's no need to start putting a large portion of your stack in jeopardy. Keep the pot small and play the hand slower, since you'll have position for the rest of the hand. (The chips in the pot are meaningful to your hand...if you won it would solidify you as the second chip leader).

Case for Raising: Take control of the hand. And if you get reraised you can get away from the hand relatively cheaply.(The chips in the pot are meaningful to your hand...if you won it would solidify you as the second chip leader).


Which one is better? I have no idea. But I like raising to 350. Your opponent has a semi-large stack but should recognize that you're one of two stacks that can bust him. I put him on a middle pair and I think he'll probably release it. The extra $250 chips are worth the risk, IMO.