Loosening preflop a little bit...

[Mr_J]

I'm looking to add more hands since I'm still a bit tight preflop. Opinions on:

Axs. What's the worst you'd play? Apart from A2s, A3s or a suited ace in a high only hand, what sort of side cards do you want to see? At the moment, A45s is the worst I'll play.

A3? How decent is it really? It's only got low potential, and is only the nut low if a 2 pops out.

What about 23xx? Right now I'm only playing 234x, but I guess I could add 235x.

[toots]

I play a bunch of hands that are really crappy.

If I'm on the button, and a whole load of people fold around to me, I figure no one's getting aces, so I'll limp on a 23xx, betting that I'll see an ace on the flop. Probably wrong of me, but it's been moderately successful.

I'll play A4xx or A5xx if it's double suited and the XX are strong high cards.

234 and 235, I'll generally play from mid-to-late, and drop if I don't see an A on the flop.

A3xx is a bunch easier. Even if a 2 doesn't flop, if there's a possible low and the betting is sort of slack, I'll bet out trying to represent an A2, hoping to push the other A3s off their hands. Probably not as successful in any but the fishiest of games.

But, I'm a hopeless noob without much in the range of a clue.

Right now, I've got 3000 hands in my PTO database, all $.50/1.00 on Party. My VP$IP was around 17.something for a while, but I've been trying real hard to loosen up, and have added the hands above. My VP$IP is now 19, but the more recent games show a VP$IP a bit higher than that (and maybe erring on the side of being too loose).

[Jim Morgan]

I play in a very loose B&M game which is usually passive but sometimes a maniac strolls in.

In the setting, I think A3xx no nut flush is OK, but not worth calling a raise. In very tight games, it is not enough, though adding 5, nut flush draw, or two face cards is about all it needs. All in all, I think a bare A3 is probably an overrated hand.

I also think 235x is playable, but ONLY with lots of pre-flop limping. Add a suited K and I like it a lot better.

I don't like 23xx. In a small blind (half a bet) I will call with it. I will also play it if xx is a pair.