NL Party Poker Philosophy - Page 2

soda · #11 08-31-2003, 01:51 PM

So, I thought the tide had finally turned. Worked slowly up 300 when the following three hands occurr in quick succession.

A guy in front of me (healthy stack) raises to $7. I call with 88. Flop comes KKx. He checks, I bet $10, he calls. Turn blank. Both check. River Q. He bets $10 and I make a poor curiousity call. He has KK.

Then, I'm in BB with Q7o. Flop comes Q73 with two spades. I check planning to checkraise. Early position bets pot, 1 caller, I check-raise all in. The initial bettor calls with 33 and doubles up through me.

Then, same guy from hand 1 makes it $7 to go again. I'm the only caller with 66. Flop of 865 with 2 clubs. He bets pot, I raise slightly over minimum raise, he reraises all in, I call. He has 88.

I'm back to even now. This is my week in a nutshell. Can you let me know of any holes that you see in my game here.

Thanks.

ML4L · #12 08-31-2003, 05:40 PM

soda · #13 08-31-2003, 09:55 PM

LOL - who wants to know?

soda · #14 08-31-2003, 10:06 PM

This bad run is totally freaking me out.

Just got back from seeing the movie "Seabiscuit" and I'm all pumped up to play some great poker. First hand flop is 776 with two diamonds. My BB of 73o looks good so I bet pot - $15. 3 callers! 4 of diamonds on turn. I check, I mean how could my hand possibly be good? It gets checked around. River is an offsuit deuce. Checked around again, my hand is good. Next hand JJ. A bunch of limpers, I raise to $9, the BB raises to $16, I call. Rag flop, ten high. I check, he bets pot, I call. I believe this is the right play. If I just bet my Jacks, he'll call with better hands and fold the losers. By check calling, he'll bet many hands I can beat. Also, his incredibly small reraise suggests that he does not have a higher pair. The turn is a ten. I check, he pushes all in for over a hundred. Now, I'm almost positive he doesn't have a ten. There is no draw and he would want to "milk" me if he had a ten. I call. He shows A7 for ace high. River ace. Boy, I can't wait for this train to turn around.

[img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

soda · #15 08-31-2003, 10:15 PM

Next hand I play.

AK UTG

I raise to $8, one caller. Flop is AA6. I bet $5, he calls. Turn is a 6. I check, he bets $5, I call. River is an 8. I check, he bets $25, I call. He has 66. Was this a bad call? Should I just fold here?

[img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

folded_a_monster · #16 08-31-2003, 11:04 PM

The way I see it you have two profitable styles if play:

1- Play premium starting hands and wait for lock hands and then bet.

2- Raise a lot preflop and bet a lot of flops setting yourself up to getting called on the turn and river when you hit.

Since you mentioned that you like to run the table over, option 1 is probably too boring for you, so I would try the second style for a while and see what happens. Basically, your overall strategy should be to get called when you hit a monster, and you have to figure out the best way to do that. But for the love of god, stop trying to buy pots with all in bluffs.

soda · #17 08-31-2003, 11:25 PM

Heh - you noticed the all in bluff thing? Yeah, I cut that out a little while ago. It was a big leak for a short time - I just kept trying it. It started out making money, then about even, then losing.

On paradise for a while it was netting me well, but it just doesn't work on Party. Nobody is afraid to lose their money here. They just assume it's going to be gone soon anyway... probably the right attitude to have given the quality of players on the site.

So far, after losing the $300+ pot to a three outer with one card left, I'm up a coupla hundred in this session. Now if I can just hit the next 43 outer for $300 I'll have a nice day for the first time in a week.

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Josh W · #18 09-01-2003, 06:03 AM

Isn't poker awesome.....almost?

Um, with the 73o hand....I probably checkraise huge, if it's an aggressive table and i can count on a bet. If it's not, I just bet huge. You have a very vulnerable hand, and betting the pot gives pretty good drawing odds to everybody.

With the JJ...I like to limp with JJ, and play to flop a set, especially in loose games. You can proceed with caution if you flop an overpair. His minimum re-raise preflop is often an indication of a monster that he sorta wants to protect (AA or KK), but still wants some action. Of course, in this case, he had poo, and the poo turned to gold, and that happens once in a while. I like the flop check/call, but you need to have confidence in your read on your opponents.

With the AK hand...there's probably nothing you can do about it. Did you watch the WSOP on ESPN? See the hand where moneymaker had AQ, raised preflop, flop QQ6, he bet, and phil ivey called with 99? Turn was a 9. Moneymaker was able to river an Ace though. You should work on that..the re-suck. It's a nice weapon to have [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

it WILL turn around (I keep repeating that mantra to myself, too [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]) I haven't played NL on party, but it sounds like you can beat this game just playing AA and KK. It will be boring as sin, but it may be a welcome relief, too.

Best of luck...

Josh

ML4L · #19 09-01-2003, 11:02 AM

Hey soda,

I'll take that as a "yes." [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

The reason that I asked is because, assuming that you are indeed Sodapop, you are far and away the best NLHE player that I've ever played against online. So, don't doubt your ability or general playing style...

But, as people have begun to touch upon, Party is a different beast than Paradise. On Paradise, your strategy of raising preflop and betting the pot on the flop regardless of what comes works pretty well because the games are tighter. You can bluff and semibluff much more profitably than at Party. So, as people have been saying, the key is to tighten up, wait until you have a hand, and then push it. If you only bluff in the clearest of situations, nobody will notice... From your posts on this thread, it sounds as though you've just run into a long series of bad beats (except for calling the all-in with 65 on the 865 flop; I don't like that...). But tightening up some can't hurt...

Of course, it might be the case that, for you, playing at Paradise is more profitable than playing at Party.

Hope this helps.

ML4L

soda · #20 09-01-2003, 01:09 PM

Thanks Josh.

It's just my luck right now. First hand today was my KK vs QQ and JJ three way all in for $400 preflop. I know I'm going to lose before the cards are even dealt, but I still get all the money in anyway. The JJ won, so I play good poker yet again and dig myself a hole.

Choo choo, choo choo.

[img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]