NL ring game strategy

[anduril]

I've been playing .25/.50 NL on pokerstars for a few weeks now and I'm still trying to figure out the best strategy for buy-in, starting hands(ie what hands go up/down in value), and how to play TPTK on the flop with no other immediate dangers.....any ideas??

[crockpot]

the best strategy for buying in is to buy in for the max if you are a good player and have the bankroll to do so. if you don't play so well and/or have a small bankroll, you may wish to buy in for less.

TPTK is a tricky hand and there's no immediate answer. it depends completely on the situation, the opponent, how deep the money is, etc. suffice it to say, this hand is dangerous and you shouldn't go broke in a small pot with it.

i have a beginner's guide to the game at my website under the starting out in online poker section.

[vector]

TPTK is tricky, it stands to be the best hand usually, but it can't take a lot of heat.

A couple of tips (this applies to Party Poker $100 games, mileage may vary at Pokerstars / lower limits):

1. If you are heads up for the flop and you raised preflop, pot raise your TPTK. If you get called be wary, consider checking the turn (if re-raised consider folding). If your opponent is loose aggressive then you may have to bet again to avoid a steal, if they are at all tight you are probably facing a better hand. In my experience 2/3 of the time you take the pot uncontested in this situation, and of the remaining times it holds up at least half the time making this +EV.

2. Consider your stack size. If I have just bought in at PP (50BB) I'll go all in on the flop with TPTK (assuming preflop raise and 1 caller only). If I lose its not a great tragedy. Once I have 100BB or more I'll play it much more cautiously. So in general, the shorter your stack, or your opponents stack (effective stack is the lesser) the more aggressive you can afford to be with TPTK.

3. If there is a flush draw out, bet aggressively. You can't let someone draw cheaply here. (Again assuming heads up, although even 3 way I would probably bet strongly here).

4. Four way or more after the flop and you need to slow right down with this hand -- it has much less of a chance of standing up.

5. How big is your TP? If you raise AK and hit the A then bet strongly - a great money maker is getting KK, QQ, JJ etc to pay you off here. If you hold something less strong, say AJ to hit the J, consider slowing down.

Hope this helps, don't take it as gospel. Particularly be aware that this applies to 50BB buy in, I believe Pokerstars is 100BB which generally means that you can't be as aggressive with TPTK (quality of opposition also a big factor, Party is on the whole weak, making TPTK worth playing aggressively.)

[anduril]

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How big is your TP? If you raise AK and hit the A then bet strongly - a great money maker is getting KK, QQ, JJ etc to pay you off here. If you hold something less strong, say AJ to hit the J, consider slowing down.

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ok, but if an Ace flops, why would KK, QQ, or JJ pay me off on the flop there? Do you mean just by my preflop raise?

[sweetjazz]

TPTK advice is definitely helpful. Suppose you are in a weak game; there's little preflop raising, and some people are limping in to open with jacks, queens, etc. Postflop the players often push marginal hands and call an all-in from a marginal size stack with as little as second pair (but top kicker! /images/graemlins/wink.gif ) after the flop. You have A /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 10 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif in a four way flop. Flop comes 10 /images/graemlins/heart.gif 8 /images/graemlins/heart.gif 3 /images/graemlins/club.gif. First person to act makes a small bet (half the pot). You're next to act. Obviously if your stack is small, then you're going to push in here right? How big does your stack have to be (compared to the current size of the pot) to play the hand differently? (Assume all other stacks are close in size to your own.)

This hand came up in the first NL ring game I played in. I pushed in (my stack was about 3x the size of the pot). The other two folded and the raiser called all in (with about 1.5x the size of the pot in his stack) with 9 /images/graemlins/heart.gif 9 /images/graemlins/spade.gif, and I took down the pot when the turn and river didn't help him.

But I'm very inexperienced, and it's very hard to know what to do against the field I played against, because they played very meek with both big hands and small hands, and would call down either way. I was able to do pretty well pushing good but not nut hands, but I think I would have been clobbered playing this way in a better game (not that I would have though!). How do you figure out what kind of hands you should be pushing against a loose weak field? I lost a couple of hands early by pushing marginal hands, so I tightened up a smidge and things improved.

[vector]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
How big is your TP? If you raise AK and hit the A then bet strongly - a great money maker is getting KK, QQ, JJ etc to pay you off here. If you hold something less strong, say AJ to hit the J, consider slowing down.

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ok, but if an Ace flops, why would KK, QQ, or JJ pay me off on the flop there? Do you mean just by my preflop raise?

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Big pairs will often pay you off after an ace flops, because some people just can't lay them down and won't believe you have the ace. This is a big leak in many peoples games, in my experience.