My first observations and questions about my move to 3/6

[Delzek15]

Thanks for all the good responses however to clear something up... I NEVER open limp in MP. I know better than that... But that is the reason I feel that my VPIP is so low. It just seems in so many situations its really just raise or fold PF. No calling hardly seeing how there is very little limpers that I see at 3/6. I'm still very aggro at the table and have a nice PFR% so I'm doing plenty of raising I just think I need to find some more hands and find places to limp to raise my VPIP to atleast somewhere in the ~15 area.

[goodguy_1]

you will make more money in the long term if you focus on learning to play short-handed LHE and NLHE. In my opinion specifically Party $3-6 the game has eroded badly over the last half year. I did 2.20bb/100 on about 175K hands..there are muchy better games to focus where you can make more money with the same bankroll you have for $3-6 Full. Try $100/$200 NLHE Full/6MAX and $3-6 LHE 6MAX.

Also it is quite likely that you will make more playing $2-4 Full including rakeback if you are struggling at $3-6. Best thing to do if you are struggling is to play the best games at both $2-4 and $3-6. In general the better Full LHE games are found away from Party specifically $3-6 and $5-10. I now play 50% of my hours off Party.

[sfer]

If you read Barry's post and it doesn't jive you should be concerned.

What are the factors you use in table selection for PP and skins?

[EgoSlasher]

[ QUOTE ]
Fish A limps in MP2 and you got KTo on the button, don't limp raise the bastard. 90% of the time he has a worse hand and you got position. A4s I raise same situation. JTs I raise. Almost any hand that I would make a raise from the CO with 1 limper I raise. 2 limpers changes things as more than not the blinds will call.

[/ QUOTE ]

Recommening isolation is fine advise, but with Kto? He's a player who's struggling to adjust to the 3/6 game. He should be focusing on adjusting to table conditions and limiting his variance till he's comfortable, not creating marginal situations with a break even hand. People at 3/6 make enough mistakes to be profitable without making marginal plays on a regular basis.

[ QUOTE ]
MP3 I might raise with QJo, 66, A8s, A7s if those behind me are tight enough to fold of let me know when I am beat. I don't want some LAG, cold calling fish, or tricky player with AQ coming in the pot. LAG I can't believe, fish will call down with the best hand, tricky will wait till the turn to raise you.

[/ QUOTE ]

You CAN raise these hands but they require better post flop play and are marginal at best. Anothing thing, a lot of the time AQo isn't going anywhere vs an Mp3 raiser, especially if you've been showing down A6s and Qjo


To the poster: At 3/6 you need to spend more time datamining and finding the good tables. After every session look over the hands you played and try to find mistakes. Look at situations where you could have played hands differently and learn from them. See if your line was best or if there was a way to win more or lose less. If you're finding a lot of hands you need help with, post them here and I'm sure the posters will accommodate you.

[BigEndian]

Learn to operate on an aggressive table and how that affects hands post flop. Learn to moderate your own aggression while turning it up a notch. Learn to qualify specific seats and they're tendencies on each street. Learn to play to the situation and the seat rather than the cards.

Learn a little more about poker, embrace the challenge and accept that it takes time to adjust each time you move up.

- Jim

[Klak]

read hold em poker for advanced players (if u havent already). theres a lot of good stuff about opening hand requirments and the amount of aggression in the game. heres the most important quote: "...passive/aggressive should have a major impact on the amount of hands that you play, while loose/tight should influence the mix of hands that you play."

[Harv72b]

[grunch]

The move to 3/6 is the most difficult one you'll face as a limit hold'em player. Well, at least up through mid stakes...I dunno, maybe 800/1600 is a bigger jump. But I doubt it.

What you're running into is a lot more people who understand the importance of position--very few players at 2/4 & below really grasp this concept. If you try to limp from EP or even MP, you will often have someone raise behind you...this does not mean that they always AA-99, AK-ATs, KQ; it just means that they recognize that when you limp, you probably do not have a very strong hand, and they know that they therefore have a huge advantage with position against you postflop. They can bet 100% of the flops when you check it to them, and unless you hit the board, it becomes difficult to justify calling (you will hit the board far less than 50% of the time). There are ways around this, of course, but that comes later.

What you need to do is learn to play the same way they are. Unless you are sitting at a table with very specific conditions (loose/passive), you cannot openlimp. Yes, period--at least until your postflop play gets stronger. If you have a hand that you want to play, raise with it--even if it's QJs from UTG+1. I wouldn't recommend raising with that hand often from there, but you'll find that you can get away with it from time to time. If you've got a mediocre hand in MP3 or beyond and it's folded to you, unless the blinds are very loose and/or tricky, raise. You have to be able to steal the blinds in order to make money consistently at 3/6 & above, as you cannot count on 3 or 4 donks calling you down every time you have an overpair anymore.

Right now, I'm running at about 19/12 on 3/6. I've pushed my VPIP up as high as 22 before, but feel that this level is a better compromise of profits vs. variance.

If you try playing 3/6 with numbers like 13/10 over the long run, you will probably eek out a small but steady win rate. But if you try to go much higher, you will be eaten alive--thinking players will realize that you are only playing premium hands and just get out the way whenever the pot odds don't justify them coming along. Or they will push you off of your hands postflop. In order to be a well rounded, winning player, you have to be able to mix your play up enough to keep your better opponents honest, while at the same time taking advantage of the poor play of your bad opponents.

As far as suited aces, I normally fold anything less than ATs from EP. From MP on, I'm either limping behind with my better suited aces (A7+) or raising first in. I generally avoid ones like A2-A4s unless I'm in the blinds or the table conditions warrant playing them (I can expect a lot of limpers behind me/already have several ahead of me), or it's folded to me in the CO or beyond (then I raise to steal the blinds).

It's going to take time to adjust, but once the adjustments are there, you'll find 3/6 to be a very profitable level.

[/grunch]

[ErrantNight]

nh