Hi Larry,


Overall i am up around $7,000 since February which was when i started playing seriousl online.


Ring games:


I play 7 Stud 8, at small limits. Mostly 50c/$1 (stop laughing), where i have won about $3,000 since February, and occasionally $2/$4. I also play omaha/8 and stud hi at the same limits, and have done well there too. The higher limit games look very juicy at times, but since i mainly play split pot games, i try to avoid any chance of effective collusion by never stepping over $2/4. Even in $2/4 i have seen some suspicious plays. Having said that i average almost 4 big bets an hour in ring games overall.


Tournaments:


Omaha 8 and 7stud8 tournies are good, and easy to get a good finish but harder to win 1st place. The split pots make it more difficult to eliminate players, and therefore your greatest weapon inactivity, is somewhat bluntened.


Holdem:


Here is where a good player can really get in the money. I used to play the $10 tournaments (1st $50, 2nd $30, 3rd $20), and had a return on investment of 182% over nearly 300 events.


Now i have moved to the $20 tournies, where me ROI has been 227% so far. I have never placed worse than 5th, and all but one of my eliminations i held the best hand either preflop on on the flop, only to be drawn out on. I think the $20 events are actually a lot easier to play in than the $10 events, and the average player knows how to play the end of a tournament better in $10 events.


The trick to tournament play to play very tight early on. You should look to play big pairs, AK, and smaller pairs if you are getting odds. I will muck AQo in bad position in most cases early on, and won't call a raise with AQ in the initial stages. I look to play about 2 or 3 pots only in the first 30 hands of the tournament, and can usually pick up about 1300-1500 chips from the initial 800, during this time. Look to make a big hand and be aggressive, otherwise stay the hell out.


Once you get into round 4 you will need to try and pick up the odd pot, but don't get involved in trying to defend your blind with QT, or K7. There will be plenty of opportunity for that later. When you get down to 4 or 5 players you must use your stack if it is big, or hold onto it as long as possible if not. Try to bully players with less chips, at this stage one hand and you are out, so they are unlikely to get involved without a quality hand.


If you can make $40 (or more) by folding QJ or 88 in your blind now and waiting for the man who is due allin on his next blind to be elminated take that chance.


Basically you never limp with 4 to 5 players left. Consider it to be a raise fold table. Once in the money, steal or fold with average hands. Push any big hand AT or better, 88 or better but be wary if aces flop. Almost all players will go allin on a lone A here.


Best of luck to you.