Party 2-4
 

I've been playing this game a bit -- probably have about 500-750 hands. It's alot different than the 3-6 -- fewer good players, I think. And the ante structure makes completing to k/o poor play. I've been just limping split TT and the like against multiple limpers -- the $1 completion increase won't get folds, the pot is smaller anyway, and you just end up putting in more money. I've been playing much more trappy -- trying to limp lots of hands (since a raise if one happens is less costly), catch a big one and get called down by 3 or 4 loose gooses. This is actualy a fairly high variance style -- after losing about $50 over 150 hands or so, I won $100 in a span of four hands when I hit two flushes in multiway pots.

Re: Party 2-4
 

IMO, the ante is proportionally smaller then the 3-6 and the bring in is a higher percentage of the full bet so playing looser may not be correct unless you can be sure of getting in cheap and can maneuver around on 4th real well. I have been completing a lot on 3rd in this game and winning by taking the early value against opponents who are playing much too loose.

Re: Party 2-4
 

Interesting.. I'm a little afraid of a bring in strucure like that. Seems hard to punish limpers which is where I like to make my $$. Is it the type of game where their going to pay you off when you hit your doorcard? Those are the best.


I wonder if Mike Emery will try to 8 table it.

Keep us updated on some strategy thoughts.

Re: Party 2-4
 

I really like MRBAA's line. Why push a small edge when you're getting called anyways, when you can make them pay for their mistakes on fourth, where you can force them to make much bigger mistakes.

Re: Party 2-4
 

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IMO, the ante is proportionally smaller then the 3-6 and the bring in is a higher percentage of the full bet so playing looser may not be correct unless you can be sure of getting in cheap and can maneuver around on 4th real well. I have been completing a lot on 3rd in this game and winning by taking the early value against opponents who are playing much too loose.

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I sat in this game for the first time last night. Up 20 BB in 123 hands.

From this limited experience I think the money is made Pounding with the premium hands and dumping everything else.

Both game that are adjacent to this one have looser ante structures so if you were successful at 1-2 and play the same way at 2-4 you'll get crushed. And moving from 3-6 to 2-4 isn't as big a shift...but you still need to tighten up alot because the ante is smaller and the BI is too big to "see 4th cheap"

Re: Party 2-4
 

But this isn't a small edge. If they'll call a full bet with 229 and you have T4T you should be pouring money in the pot.

I think limping is almost always wrong in this game. And hand that is worth putting in 1/2 SB with is probably most often ahead.

Re: Party 2-4
 

Okay, here's my thinking Jon:

First: everything is situational. Dead cards are obviously huge. As for position --

Four folds to you with split Ts and no overcards (or one) behind -- raise.

Three limps to you, same situation, now i limp. Why? Two reasons:

First the pot equity I capture by forcing worse hands to fold behind me is less, since the pot is smaller than it would be in the same situation in an overante game like 3-6.

Second, and much more important, while you are absolutely correct that I often have a decent pot equity edge against the limpers, by building up the pot early I'm capturing an extra $1 of pot equity, but I'm also building a larger pot that makes folding fourth much harder and threatens to tie me on for the big bet streets, too.

Stud is less straightforward than he about these situations -- it's really variable. I think what I've really found so far is that players make so many more calling than folding errors in this game and the ante is small to start, that the big money seems to be made more by getting called on the later streets when you hit a hand -- hence my desire to play a bit looser.

Again, though, it's all situational. I haven't seen a lot of completing in the games I've played. If I do, I'd have to adjust. The raise that is devastating in that game is when you complete to $2 with those split Ts and now an overcard makes it $4 -- actually that's another factor in my thinking about limping more.

Re: Party 2-4
 

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I've been just limping split TT and the like against multiple limpers

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Thats exactly what you should be doing. Played fine.

If you can't limit the field with medium pairs, there is no reason to raise.. you are better off waiting till 5th to see where you stand.

That my friends is right out of 7csfap.

Looking forward to our next meeting!!

CJ

Re: Party 2-4
 

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Three limps to you, same situation, now i limp.

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This hand is just gonna be a bitch to play. It will be very hard to accurately judge where you stand on 4th. There will be very few cards that your opponents can catch that don't threaten your hand in some way.

I would definetly fold this hand on 3rd if :: there is an overcard behind me, an overcard limped, I expected a raise behind me

If none of those situations applied I could fold or raise...depending on my mood.

I realize that there may be some value in this hand. But for me, hands like this piss me off / tilt me. I really really hate being in situations where I don't "know" the correct play. It makes me feel like I have no business playing. Then I get mad and do stupid stuff. And that stupid stuff hurts my bankroll. I also hate losing hands where I had the "best" hand on 3rd. I also hate losing big pots (which might happen if 4 or 5 people play). So I avoid hands like these, mostly for my sanity.

Thankfully, my hatred of not knowing what the best play is will often make me grab a HH and think through a hand in great detail. Doing this has greatly helped my play. And it has allowed me to play in more situation with confidence.

Re: Party 2-4
 

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That my friends is right out of 7csfap.

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7CSFAP doesn't assume such a big BI.