Two Plus Two Older Archives - defending you Big Blind in a 10 or 9 seat full ring game...

i am really grateful for your replies - thank you, and like another said here below, I hope others reading this post here on 2 + 2 get something out of this also,

About the proven winner thing, I get what you are saying. But
I wasn't speaking in terms of a pure absolutes...I wanted to really emphasize
that i have 10,000s times more experience (and hands logged in)in LongHand as I do in SH.
I have only dabbled in SH and pretty much lose every time I do...
1 time I ran good and shot up a ton of big bets really fast so I can see how much fun it can be!
I know I am a winning longHand player IF I am playing in good games (i.e., bad opponents)
(i.e., opponents who are worse than me...lol And I am able to recognize when this is the case).
I need to
"take my game to the next level" and get good at aggressive games, battling it out Heads Up (at a 10 handed table when you and only 1 (or 2) other guy(s) go to a flop - and the guy is aggressive...i have trouble here and I know I am not aggressive enough back AND i know I must lay down too often...(I also, however, know that my opponents know this, so I really PUNISH them when I do make a hand to make up for my weakness here, but I am sure I
do not make enough back to make up for my bad and "weak" HU play).
So, as a result, I tend to shy away from these Blind battles and aggressive HU confrontations, b/c I know I am "weak" here...I need to fill in this hole.

to play (i.e., win at) higher limits and at SH I ahve been told that you must master these
situations:
HU and 3 way battles,
Blind Wars, etc.

To me, this type of aggressive poker is difficult.

I first learned to play poker and to be a big winner in loose games in which all you have to do is play decently pre flop, and to draw when you have correct odds post flop. If you raise and get re-raised, call-down (unless you have the nuts, then cap - simple).
Call down with strong made hands I mean, like a made flush or 2 pair incl. top pair, etc. - I don't mean ALWAYS call down when raised, b/c that's one of the fastest ways to lose Big Bets! lol
My opponents would always pay me off when I raised or bet in these games, so I became profitable by just playing in loose games, drawing with odds, etc.
Thinning the field the best I could with big pairs/2 big cards, and taking flops
cheaply and preferably in late position with multi-way hands
(Axs, ppk. pairs, suited connectors and 1 gappers, and connectors like 910, 10J, etc.).
This is "easy poker" and now I realize I am not that great of a player after all - despite winning lots of money...
It kinda makes me sad,
as I thought I was so great for winning all this money...but I was, in fact, just being patient (with an OK understanding of pre-flop hand selection and position), drawing correctly within the odds, and getting paid off by calling station opponents...oh and folding a lot to stay out of trouble/un-profitable situations...

Many players must experience this, as they start out at low limits and then work their way up to hit
a "wall."
Well, I must say I am ready to take my game to the next level, not just playing my cards, but
playing based on what I think my opponent may have and how I have seen him previously act with
the hand that I think he has...(when you multiply the probabilities that you are correct about each, the num. gets smaller, correct, so you have to have some good accuracy in your predictions for them to help you!)
But,
in those loose games where you get paid off 100% of the time when you hit (and bluffing is absolutely futile), YES, I am a proven winner.

Another fascinating idea were are hitting on: the cards themselves
don't really matter...HOW YOUR INDIVIDUAL OPPONENTS PLAY THEM IS WHAT MATTERS, as 1 guy may play
a big ppk. pair 1 way while another guy may play it differently.
Not only must we first put our opponent on a hand, we must recall how
we think they would act with that hand we put them on based on our previous memory/experiences we have
had with them...
(which is why it's so crucial to pay attention to showdowns to see you opponent's hole cards even when you're not in the hand...recalling how he acted with what he showed down/the previous betting action). This is something I am sad to admit I
don't really do...

To take this leap in skill it seems to me that you must have all the other stuff so down pat it's like breathing for you (pre flop hand selection, odds and probabilities for EVERYTHING, etc.).
If you have the odds for all limits and probability tables burned into your head and
can access all the info. instantly, then you are only 1/2 way there...

I love this game.

When I said i know these things will make me a winner at SH is because I have a lot of the other stuff
you are assuming that I don't have - I do play post flop well...(though I suck when guys start to get aggressive with me HU b/c I then can't read them (on that hand or on future hands, I begin to make mistakes, and I in general begin to panic and get thrown off of my game...or worse...I begin to pay them off all the time to see their cards, most of the time thinking
that I have the best hand AND most of THESE times that's exactly what they want me to do...lol)

I am (i have just cleared this up though, lol) really screwed up when it comes to pre flop play short handed...I was (before this thread)
raising with all kinds of crap myslef in the HJ, CO, and BU in a SH game - stuff I'd NEVER be raising with in the
same positions in a Longhanded game - NEVER!
Ugh!
It makes me sick to re-call my play in previous sessions where I was under the false impression that I was *correctly*
raising pre flop shorthanded. I want to vomit I suck so bad.

Also my defending is a tad off...the No. 1 determinent of which should be
my assessment of my opponent's play post flop and of what I think he could be raising with pre-flop (his range) a close second...
(this (the big Blind defense discussion) applies the same to both SH and
Longhanded...)
But needs to be tweaked because of the errors 90% of the poker playing population makes
playing shorthanded...

I want to get the thought processes in my head that you pros who are better than I have...I want to start "thinking" more correctly ...

the lowest I will try my SH strategy will be $2/4 limit and I don't care how much i lose (but I know I'll win). Anything less is not even for money really.
lol
feast away on my last comment, but I do feel that playing 1/2 or 50 cent/$1 is Kid's stuff, not poker for money.
So I can't really take it seriously and I just feel like I'm wasting my time even if I win...
Maybe I could 12 table 1/2$ and that would motivate me... lol

<font color="yellow"> YELLOW</font>

(random color insertion)

losing my mind at the moment, but to lastly comment on the 72o scenario,
i get your point...But MY point is, is that if you know that you can "own" your opponent/control him post flop and on the flip side read him well and make the folds when you should, then you should be
much more
likely to take him on HU and with a wider variety of hands...

I don't even have PokerTracker (or anything else) so I can't send you any of my data or give you my win rate, etc.
Should I
"stop everything" and get PT?

Thanks Barron 'n stox, Joe M.