Going from $0.25/$0.50 to $0.50/$1

[Discordian]

This is my first post here. I've been aware of these forums for a while but I didn't register until yesterday. In other words, please be gentle with me.

I've been playing low limit hold'em for a couple of months now, with some success - I've built the $10 registration into about $200. However, I'm having problems going up from $0.25/$0.50 to the (noticably but not extremly) tighter $0.50/$1 tables. (Where I'm playing most of the former have about 50-60% of the players see the flop while the latter usually are at 40-50%. I haven't invested in Poker Tracker yet so I can't give more detailed stats than that.) Sometimes I do well, and sometimes I don't.

Pre-flop I play pretty much according to the starting hands in Internet Texas Hold'em, and I try to follow the recommendations it gives for post-flop play, but I know I still have things to learn there. (I've also read The Theory of Poker.)

I guess what I need are some pointers to common mistakes I could be making that I don't know to look for. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[I Play 2 Ski]

Welcome to the board. What site do you play at? Also what would be helpful is to post some hands in the Samll Stakes forum, you will get great feedback there.

[maryfield48]

For these limits, the micro-limits forum is the correct place, not Small Stakes. And the only way you'll be able to get advice specific enough to be helpful is by posting hand histories. You should first run the hand history through Bison's converter which will render them much more readable than they are in their native format (They won't look that way on the website, but once you post them they will).

Also, leave the results off the hand history (the converter web site is set to omit them by default) so you can get objective analysis.

Best of all though, hang around the Micro-limits forum, do a lot of reading, and you'll find the lessons available well outstrip your capacity to absorb them.

Good Luck,
Peter

[Discordian]

Hm, I thought I posted a reply to this. Maybe I did something wrong - I'm not entirely used to the interface here yet.

I play on 7 Sultans. I don't know if they're part of some bigger thing, and I'm not sure if there's some way for me to get my hand histories from them. (Advice on that would also be appreciated.) Until I figuer that out I suppose I could post some hands by taking notes, but they wouldn't be as detailed as the ones I've seen here.

Thanks for the advice!

[Greg J]

If you are going to play .5/1 I suggest Party and skins. A big part of income when you first get up to .5/1 is bonus whoring. I suggest you start with $500 (so you can get the most of the bonus) and hit Party and its skins in your name and significant other (if applicable). Go to bonuswhores.com and see what is out there.

[MisterNatural]

I agree with the recommendation to try Party .50/1. It's what you're looking for if you prefer the looser games. They also have the most rooms and players so you wont be up against the same people who adapt to your play.

For example, Ultimate Bet only has about 12000 players max and their .50/1 can be fairly tight. Party has 50,000-60,000 people playing nightly and you can easily find a bunch of 1/2 games that are looser than most UB .50/1 !

PS - try to get a rake back deal before you sign up or you'll regret it later.

[Discordian]

It will take a while before I'm up to $500. Since I'm currently unemployed I can't really invest much money in this.

I've heard that there are a lot of bonus systems and rake back deals, but I'll have to read up on them. I'll check out Bonus Whores.

Thanks again!

[sexypanda]

I'm actually thinking of moving from .25/.5 to .5/1 at Paradise Poker, how much different are those games?

[LALDAAS]

what is skins I noticed that in your re:

[La Brujita]

Just some general thoughts for you to consider, hard to say without looking at specific hands.

1. I know you say you play pretty much according to the starting guide, I would try to follow it (or perhaps even better SSHE) exactly or perhaps even slightly tighter. Consider mucking offsuit hands like JTo QJo, KTo, QTo after some limers. The thing is they are tough to play post flop and if you are not good post flop they can be leakers.

2. Don't play any offsuit A-x hands lower than A-10 in any instance.

3. Check how often you cold call preflop, it should be pretty rare.

4. Post flop if you are acting after a bettor with players to act after you, your first thought should be raise or fold.

5. If you raised preflop with overcards 2-3 handed and you miss, lead out on most flops.

6. Two or three handed post flop, if you think your hand is good, keep value betting on the turn and river. In other words if you have KsJs heads up and bet and are called all the way on a board like K 2 7 9 5, make sure you get your value bet in on the river.

These are just general thoughts you should consider.

If you play relatively well pre flop your problems are pretty likely post flop, reading sshe might help you a lot.

Best regards