Royal Hold'em strategys

My thinking for this game is to try to play for full houses. The only time that a straight is the nuts at the river is when the straight is on the board. I might play 2 suited cards if there is no raise and I am in late position, hoping to get lucky. I would also play AK in late position if there is no raise. With the AK you want to flop top two pair and hope that you hit one of your 4 outs to make a boat. If you flop the nut straight, you can only hope that your opponents all fold to a big bet. If you get called, you have to hope that the board doesn't pair, which it will most of the time. Beyond that, you have to remember that for you to win any money from the pot the turn and river must come exactly AK to make a straight on the board, which you will split with your opponent anyway. The only time that your straight will win the whole pot is in the event that your opponent has a two pair that didn't fill up. I think that the most money in this game will come from people overplaying two pairs. I don't see this game lasting too long. It is the kind of game that will get eaten up too quickly by the sharks. The fish won't want to play anymore because they will bust too quickly. These are my preliminary thoughts on this game. Any elaboration will be appreciated, or if my thinking is wrong, please correct me.

[Mr. Peterson]

It's a pity they don't have NL or at least PL tables for Royal like the initial free play testing.

It plays much better PL and NL.

[timprov]

[ QUOTE ]
It's a pity they don't have NL or at least PL tables for Royal like the initial free play testing.

It plays much better PL and NL.

[/ QUOTE ]

I played a couple days of the NL version when they were testing. It's worse than Draw or 5 Stud in terms of the good players having way too much of an advantage. Way too easy to get all of somebody's money when they flop a straight.

[TheMainEvent]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It's a pity they don't have NL or at least PL tables for Royal like the initial free play testing.

It plays much better PL and NL.

[/ QUOTE ]

I played a couple days of the NL version when they were testing. It's worse than Draw or 5 Stud in terms of the good players having way too much of an advantage. Way too easy to get all of somebody's money when they flop a straight.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would think that suited cards gain some value in the NL version, since royal over quads or top full seems like the only way you would take a stack from anyone who isn't an idiot

Forget about playing any 2 suited cards just because. If you get a Royal when your in a hand for other reasons then consider it a bonus. The main give and take to flopping top 2 pair is you end up a hero or a zero. You make your boat and your probably good but if you don't then the fish kill you with their straights. When to be aggressive and when to be passive is key. Really paying attention to understand better when your straight might be good or at least a split pot. How big the pot is helps me decide when to call for the straight when my boat doesn't come. For the most part NL is crazy online as it is much less for Royal. For the most part any card below a Q isn't very good except with an ace which makes it ok but still a button or sb call. AK should be raised every so often to mix things up just like AA, KK or even QQ or AQ once in a while if your position is good. In Royal AA isn't as powerful as in the regular game. The flop is very key in this game. The game already has its regulars including myself but there are still newbies showing up. The game really gets boring so I have to play the regular game half the time.

Time for me to pop my "lurker" cherry and make my first post. Nice advice guys. As an slightly above average player, no expert at post-flop play are these reasonable starting hands:

AA, KK raise/re-raise all
AK raise late/re-raise depending on read, mix up a bit early
AQ limp late
QQ limp, cold call depending on read
AJ, KQ complete blind cheap with good implied odds

Am I missing any profitable situations or will this keep me out of trouble? Played about 350 hands at 5c/10c for a profit of 60bb so far.

That is pretty good IMO, just keep getting experience to go with it all.