Correct strategy for miniblind structure games - help needed

[PokerPrince]

Some of the poker sites I frequent hold miniblind games of holdem. I have sat and played some 8-16 where the blinds are only 2-4. I was wondering how preflop strategy would differ in a game like this where the blinds are so much less appealing to snag. Should you be limping with your larger hands, waiting to reraise? How about small pair and suited connectors? What's the optimal strategy for this type of structure. I was going to play some tonight but thought better of it, wanted to check with you guys before experimenting again. I don't like playing in a game where I am not holding a maximum edge over the monkeys. Can anyone help? Thanks.

PokerPrince

[Sloth]

would a pre-flop raise be 8 or 12 total?

I would guess starting with drawing hands less due to the low pot odds offered on the flop. The low cost to get involved is pretty deceptive. I think you need to play normal a remember your reduced pot odds.

I also think more people will play for the flop.

[The Vegan]

The biggest adjustment you have to make is to tighten up. But you should know this. Remember, blinds in a flop game are like antes in a stud game. The smaller the antes, the tighter you want to play. With a mini-blind structure like you describe in the 8/16 you only have $6 in blinds. Tighten up.
Also, remember after the flop to pay attention to how big the pot is. It is smaller than usual so pay attention to your odds. Most of the time it will be going in your favor if you do tighten up. You'll be holding the big hand and you'll have people who are playing too loose being punished because they are chasing you with worse pot odds than they usually have.
Having said all that, keep in mind that if you are in late position and several of the people have limped in cheaply then it may be to your advantage to open up your hand selection if you can get in for that small bet, especially if you play well after the flop.
Also, tighten up your blind defense. When the someone makes it $12 and you are sitting there with only $4 in, you should tighten up what you defend with.
Hope that helps.

--The Vegan
--
http://www.netgod.org/veganpoker/

[spamuell]

I'm not sure you're completely correct here in suggesting that one should tighten up with mini-blinds. It depends on the texture of the game. If you're lucky enough to be able to see a flop cheaply, and you have a small pair or a reasonable drawing hand, you should see a flop because of the huge implied odds on the turn and river compared with the 1/4 big bet you paid to see the flop.

E.g. In an $8/$16 game, if you have 66 in LP (or even in EP in a very passive game), you should limp, paying $4 to have a shot at flopping a set or better at odds of 7.5/1 against. This means that every time you do flop a set, you must be able to make more than $(7.5 * 4) for this play to be profitable - that's $30, less than 2 big bets! This demonstrates the huge increase in your implied odds, so you should loosen up pre-flop with drawing hands like small PPs and suited connectors, which you wouldn't usually play in normal ring games.

[Acesover8s]

I will make the assumption that this is the 8-16 game on UB. While the correct strategy in this game would be to limp with many hands like small pairs, suited connectors, you will not be able to. This is IMO the most aggressive game on the net, it is always fired up and usually 2 raises to go preflop. Lots of limp-reraising from a few of the usual suspects, I stopped playing in this game due to what I thought might be collusion.

[The Vegan]

I did point out that if you can get in cheaply you should limp in with a wider range of hands. You should only be doing this EP or MP though if you KNOW it is unlikely to be raised. If it is a very loose/passive mini-blind game then by all means open up and see some cheap flops. The problem comes when you are doing this limping but it is being raised almost every hand. You shouldn't call a raise with a weak hand like this and if you are in for the little bet and someone raises, now it also is bad. When it comes back to you, you might have ok odds depending on how many are in, but remember you only have $4 in and when the raise comes back to you, you have to put in $8.
Now, the only game like this online that I know of is at UltimateBet where they have mini-blind games at 4/8 and 8/16. Neither of those games is passive enough for you to be doing much if any limping. You are much better off following my advice and playing tighter.

--The Vegan
--
http://www.netgod.org/veganpoker/