A couple beginner questions

[Adjutor]

I've only logged about 700 hands so far, so I'm not even going to bother asking about stats. I have had a couple questions come up, though, and was hoping I could get a little input.

First off, what should I be doing with hands like 22-66 UTG? I've typically been mucking them, as I haven't felt a table where I wasn't worried about a raise behind me. Along the same lines, 77-99? I've been limping 77 and 88, raising 99, but I'm not sure I should be raising 99 here, as I'll typically be up against 2 players more often than not, and usually going up against at least 3 overs.

2) Say I raise a hand like A9s or KQ from the CO when UTG limps (standard?), both blinds fold and UTG (who is a decent player who likes to showdown his hands, but doesn't usually bet all the way through) bets out on a ragged flop. Is it standard to raise here and bet the turn UI? Say I'm confident this player won't raise unless he has a strong hand (two pair+).

3) Buyins. I've already seen how swingy this game can be, and have found myself reloading when I'm at a good table, after distributing ~20BB (standard party 25BB buyin). Besides one table where I let myself bust and fond another one, I've been able to weather the storm and win back most, if not all or more, of what I went down. I'm seeing more of the solid players sitting with 500+ on 5/10, should I be buying in for more expecting the game to always be so swingy or should I stick with what I've been doing?

I've played a couple sessions at 10/20, logged about 200 hands, and I've moved towards 5/10 to feel the game out a bit better. Before this I was mainly playing 10/20 full, and some 5/10 full if I spotted a good table.

Any other beginners tips? I'll continue to post hands and I've been lurking here for a couple weeks trying to pick up what I can.

Thanks in advance.

[IGMorton]

1. in general most at this forum are playing 5/10 or higher limits. those games are significantly more agressive. at the lower limits, i find i can't get people to fold enough to get a hand heads up from EP.

22-44 are a fold for me at 2/4 and 3/6 stakes UTG or MP. from cut-off or the button, i'll over-limp if 2 have entered the pot (playing for set value). first in on the button i'll raise since even 22 is a favorite over 1 blind caller.

55-77 IF THE TABLE CONDITIONS ARE RIGHT i limp here UTG or MP. many on this forum will say it's wrong. but, they play with better players at the higher stakes who will fold more frequently. the worst situation for a small pair is to have 2 opponents with hands that were good enough to call an UTG preflop raise. if you think the players at the table are loose enough that 4-5 will see the flop if you limp... why not play them for set value.

88,99 i raise. 3 bet a raiser if there are only a couple people in the pot, call if there are many players.

TT+ i raise. 3 bet all the time.

2. regarding overcards and a post-flop strategy, check out Jason Pohl's excellent articles: http://www.pokerpages.com/articles/archives/index.htm

3. 50 BB is enough to sit down and play. 25 BB can be lost / won too fast. more importantly... short handed games are full of lags and maniacs. you really want to be able to take full advantage of their agression when you flop a monster, so you need the funds to maximize your earnings.

[StellarWind]

77 is about the weakest pocket pair I routinely open UTG 6-handed and I always raise. At normal Party 5/10 tables you would be well off never limping first in. Actually during my last few weeks of Party 3/6 full I made a rule not to limp first in with eight or fewer players remaining. I'm not going to spout useless stats or claim any deep significance, but it felt like this was working well for me.

One simple insight has done more to improve my postflop shorthanded game than anything else recently. When I have the initiative and position in a heads-up flop I just call when Villain bets out or checkraises the flop. This assumes of course that I don't want to fold. Villain is now stranded out-of-position. He has no idea what I have and is pretty much obligated to bet the turn blind. Now with knowledge of the turn card I can pop him when it really hurts, call down or draw cheaply, or bail out.

There are of course sometimes reasons to raise the flop. But by taking the attitude that calling is default and forcing myself to specially justify raising, I maintain much better control over the hand. I avoid spewing when I'm in trouble and by making bluffing/semibluffing a two-street process I am able to levy severe penalties when someone steps out-of-line at the wrong time.

Did you notice I said the flop was heads-up? Good. Failing to raise decent hands in multiway pots is usually wrong.

Of course if you are playing in the land of easy free cards this all makes less sense in some cases. But 5/10 6-max is mostly a bad place for the free card play. Your draws get 3-bet and stop-n-goed way too much. Those who use the flop raise to get a cheap showdown for a weak made hand do even worse. There is a strong tendency to only get the free card or free showdown when you are winning.

I know from observation that many of my peers use the standard 25 BB buy-in. My personal preference is to start with 50 BB. Then I almost never need to reload and that's the way that I like it. I have more important things to do than tend my stack. Whatever you do it's important not to start any hand with less than 12 BB. If this means you need to delay your river action in a big pot while you rebuy, then do it. The chips will be there for the next hand only if you buy in advance. If you let yourself go from 15 BB to 8 BB on a hand and then hit a monster on the next hand your sloppiness may cost you. But the best thing to do is rebuy when you approach 25 BB. Then you never have to worry about anything.