$1/2 learning nothing! Why I suck and other animals (longish)

[mackthefork]

Started playing 1/2 on Party and Stars in December I only get to play around 1000 hands per week so I only have just over 5000 hands so far. I got up about 130bb in the first 4000 and have proceeded to dump around 65bb in the last 1000 hands.

I noticed that because of the massively increased level of preflop raising that goes on at 1/2 and the much tighter (generally but not all) players I have tightened up my preflop game considerably. I was at 16.5% VPIP and 6.3% PFR at 50/1, I am now 13% VPIP and 7.5% PFR at 1/2, this is something that causes me much concern, especially as I find myself dominated much more often at 1/2 than 50/1. It seems every time I get 3 bet its aces or kings, it is almost refreshing to find someone who 3 bets with AK.

This wasn't supposed to be a rant or a cry for help, though maybe it is a little, I never expected to maintain the win rate I had at 50/1 in fact I was expecting to level off at around 2bb/100 for the first 20,000 hands or so.

The hands I have real trouble with are where I make early position raises with hands like AK, AQ, KK, QQ and JJ that get 3 bet, KQ is a little easier to deal with. I find all these hands are dominated often when 3 bet in spite of this I ignore this fact (as if it was superstition or paranoia) and cap anyway, and often go to the river expecting to be beaten.

I still have a showdown win rate of just over 60% but I win more of the smaller pots and lose the bigger ones with TPTK or close. I don't feel like I chase without the odds, but I do semi-bluff quite a bit even though there seems very little folding equity from people who do see the flop. They seem to go weak passive after the flop with less than TPGK, so they might get 1 1/2 bb out of me on flop and turn if I miss with AK or I play KK and an A flops heads up. I'm still not even sure whether betting here is a leak, in fact not betting most likely is.

Anyway I'm starting to feel a little unsure about my game, and thinking of putting in another 10K or so hands at 50/1, or maybe trying out the 6 handed 50/1 on Stars. Main thing is I seem to be just about the most tight aggressive (aggressive in bold) player I ever see at this level. Maybe I take the concept too far at this stage and so end up paying out more than I get back in, or maybe I'm just running bad. Whichever it is I am haemorrhaging chips at the moment so I need to take a change of scenery.

PS Maybe I just suck. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Regards Mack (good luck at the tables)

[Catt]

65 BB in 1000 hands is nothing.

Posting hands will tell a lot more about your game than stats (especially with such a small sample). But if you're looking for knee-jerk reactions to stats, here are mine: 13% VPIP is too tight; 7.5% is within range; 60% win at showdowns is too high. Play more hands.

[tiltaholic]

I suspect Party and Stars are different animals, but i have nothing to back this up...Isn't Stars supposed to be really tough?

play more hands at Party. it took me 4000 hands to settle into the psychological swings of 1/2 (double stakes!!!!) and then I could more objectively think about the actual game instead of worrying about my winrate. and currenly for me, i've got 2000 hands of 2/4 and I'm +$16. yay +0.2 BB/100.

regarding stats and adjustments. i am 19.8/8% at .5/1 and 17.3/9.7% at 1/2. the primary adjustments i made were:
dropping Axs in EP
dropping Kxs for the most part (extremely situational)
paying attention to table conditions and player reads (important!)
raising more preflop (especially loose EP limpers)
stealing blinds (against tighties).

not knowing whether you played any of those i think you may be too tight, or you just don't have enough hands.

[mackthefork]

[ QUOTE ]
I suspect Party and Stars are different animals, but i have nothing to back this up...Isn't Stars supposed to be really tough?


[/ QUOTE ]

Its tougher no doubt, but at the times I get to play Stars is not far away from Party at all, when I play at 2am or later on the occassional Friday or Saturday, the pots on Party are close to double the ones on Stars.

[ QUOTE ]
i've got 2000 hands of 2/4 and I'm +$16. yay +0.2 BB/100.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't knock it man. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Too tight is definitely right though, but my recent attempts to open up with more hands has ended in disaster, and repeated domination. I feel like I have a pretty good idea what people are holding by the time the flop action is over. I tried to pay attentio

[mackthefork]

[ QUOTE ]
I suspect Party and Stars are different animals, but i have nothing to back this up...Isn't Stars supposed to be really tough?


[/ QUOTE ]

Its tougher no doubt, but at the times I get to play Stars is not far away from Party at all, when I play at 2am or later on the occassional Friday or Saturday, the pots on Party are close to double the ones on Stars.

[ QUOTE ]
i've got 2000 hands of 2/4 and I'm +$16. yay +0.2 BB/100.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't knock it man. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Too tight is definitely right though, but my recent attempts to open up with more hands has ended in disaster, and repeated domination. I feel like I have a pretty good idea what people are holding by the time the flop action is over. I tried to pay attention to reads from the start as I found them fairly useful at 50/1 in identifying the lunatics from the absolute lunatics. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Regards Mack