SSNL F.A.Q. v2.0

[-Skeme-]

Q: What's the difference between Small Stakes NL and Mid-High NL?

A: Small stakes is in the realm of $.01/$.02 to $2/$4 NL. Mid-high includes $2/$4 NL and above.


Q: There is a hand I would like to submit for analysis, how should I do this?

A: Very neatly. Posting your hand history in a clear and neat manner will increase the chances of it being replied to. Please click here to use bisonbison's hand convertor. If your hand history isn't supported by the convertor, or is no longer accessible, please recreate it manually. When preparing a hand history without the aid of the convertor, please remember to do the following:

<ul type="square">[*]include stack sizes[*]replace suits with images[*]list reads, if any[/list]Stack sizes: The responses you may receive weigh heavily on Hero and Villain's stack sizes. Posting a hand without them will greatly skew your responses. Please remember to list them.

Suits: When posting a question, please make sure your hand isn't [Ah 6h] with a flop of [Kh Jh 6s]. It makes the hand very hard to read and will most likely limit the number of responses you'll receive. You can replace text with images by clicking on each suit under the "Instant Graemlins" title, found directly below the post form.

Reads: Always important. Anything can be a read: Poker Tracker notes, how they've been playing, past hands, even how they're chatting. List anything that might help.


Q: Damn, I just got outdrawn for a monster pot. Do you want to hear about it?

A: Absolutely not. Nobody cares. Unless you're a well respected poster who has provided many replies in this forum, you will be flamed for a bad beat post. Earn your stripes before you bitch.


Q: What's VP$IP?

A: VP$IP is an abbreviation for "Voluntarily put money into the pot." If a person's VP$IP is extremely high, they're super loose players. The opposite applies to tight players. You can find your official VP$IP by using Poker Tracker.


Q: What is Poker Tracker?

A: An awesome program that keeps track of everything you can imagine. Click here for more details.


Q: Where can I find some awesome full ring NL Auto Rate rules for Poker Tracker?

A: Right here.


Q: What about 6 Max?

A: Right here.


Q: I see lots of slang around here.. abbreviations and such, what do they mean?

A:

TAG: Tight-aggressive player.
LAG: Loose-aggressive player.
LAP: Loose-passive player. Typically a fish.
BB: Big blind.
SB: Small blind.
CO: Cutoff. It's the seat directly to the right of the button.
UTG: Under the gun. The first player to act preflop, directly to the left of the BB.
PF: Preflop.
PFR: Preflop raise or preflop raiser.
Aggro: Aggressive.
PP: Pocket pair.
SC: Suited connector.


Q: What's a good poker book for NL cash games?

A: Any of the following would be excellent choices for reading material:

<ul type="square">[*]PL &amp; NL Poker by Bob Ciaffone &amp; Stewart Reuben[*]Super System by Doyle Brunson[*]Championship No-Limit &amp; Pot-Limit Hold'Em by TJ Cloutier[/list]Q: What is a proper bankroll for each limit?

A: General consensus is that a player should keep at least 20 buyins for each limit he's playing. Excluding poor beginner play, bad bankroll management is the biggest reason that new players go bust. Do yourself a favor and only play in games you can afford.

Limit: $0.01/$0.02 | Needed: $100
Limit: $0.05/$0.10 | Needed: $200
Limit: $0.10/$0.25 | Needed: $500
Limit: $0.25/$0.50 | Needed: $1000
Limit: $0.50/$1.00 | Needed: $2000
Limit: $1.00/$2.00 | Needed: $4000
Limit: $2.00/$4.00 | Needed: $8000


Q: I'm pretty sure that so-and-so is giving awful advice, should I trust it?

A: I urge you to differentiate the advice of a quality poster's between a random nitwit's. Figure out who offers solid replies and you'll be fine.


Q: What should be my calling ranges when a short stack pushes preflop?

A: Well, that depends.. how tight is he playing? Is he short because he just lost a huge pot and is steaming? Or has he been biding his time, waiting for a hand to double up with? These things a very important in coming to a decision. I'd also be more inclined to call if I was closing the action. You definitely don't want to call 10xBB on a mediocre hand, assume it's good against the little guy, then have it raised by a full stack. Against a steaming player, and if I'm in LP, I'd call with AK, AQ, 99 and up. Against a person picking his time, AK and probably Jacks and up. That's just my preference, though. I'm not a fan of racing, or being a slight favorite, in cash games. There's no money in the pot, not really worth fighting for, you don't have the odds.


Q: How should I play Queens on a low, uncoordinated flop?

A: Like every single decision in poker, it depends. Is your opponent loose or tight? What's his stack? Is he easy to trap? So many factors determine your decision that I cannot list them all. I suggest reading the forum regularly and you will see LOTS of hands posted with this situation.


Q: Whoa now, I flopped Quads! Now how do I extract?

A: Nice hit, but unfortunately Quads, like Royal Flushes, aren't as glamorous as they seem. They're definitely pretty, but the main problem is that they're hard to make money with. Your best bet is to hope that your opponent has something huge as well, such as a full house. The fact is, you should really put more time and effort in plugging other leaks instead of worrying about what to do when flopping Quads. These hands don't come up often enough to cause a major dent in your game.

Click here for a thread on extracting with Quads.


Q: What's the deal with people posting results?

A: There's a neat little feature on the convertor built by bisonbison. It allows the user to get the script for the hand history and post the results in white. The reason is so people don't initially see the results as it might skew their opinions. Unfortunately, there's another little device that users discovered.. a mouse. It allows us to circumvent and view the hidden results. This is bad because people get an idea of what advice they'll give, view the results, and change their opinions. Suddenly putting the bad guy on Aces is pretty easy, that betting pattern is damn obvious.

Some users dislike posting results, others don't mind it. I personally post results in about half of my posts, the other half remain hidden as I end the hand before showdown to ask advice on the current street. I encourage you to save your hand history after posting a hand without results. After you receive a good number of replies, update ASAP with what happened. We'd like to know.


Q: What's a sustainable winrate for this game?

A: I have no idea how good of a player you are. I believe the average winrate sustained by fairly good players is 8BB/100. Click here for a winrate thread.


Q: Which games should I be playing in?

There are three main factors in determining which games you should be playing.

<ul type="square">[*]Your bankroll[*]Your skill level[/list]Your bankroll: If losing the money you are playing with hurts your bankroll, leave the game. This is a fundamental rule that should be applied almost always. The times it should be disregarded are when joining a bigger and more fishy game would be +EV. Taking a shot at loose and juicy games isn't horrible. Just make sure you won't lose your entire roll playing there.

Your skill level: Scope the table out before you sit down. If it's full of rocks and recognizable winning regulars, leave. If it's unknown faces, fishy players, known morons and the like.. by all means take a seat. If you sit down and realize you're outclassed or outmatched in skill, there is no shame in leaving. Proper table selection is fundamental to becoming a winning player.


Q: Should I ever fold Aces preflop in a cash game?

A: Only if you hate money.


Q: Okay, so I raise 4xBB preflop with Kings and the player to my immediate left raises. Then another player goes all in. Do I fold?

A: Depends on the opponents. Folding Kings preflop in fear of Aces isn't a liked topic in the forum. Here are some threads that deal with the subject of Kings Vs. potential Aces.

Click here, here, and here.

Sometimes laying Kings down preflop is correct. Most of the time it is not. Make a decision and go with it.


Q: I've heard other posters mentioning the 5/10 rule. What is it?

A: The 5/10 rule is an important no-limit concept that first appeared in Bob Ciaffone's excellent book, "PL &amp; NL Poker." To quote directly from the book:

"When contemplating calling a raise because your position is good, you have a clear call if the raise is less than 5% of your stack, and a clear fold if it is more than 10%. In between those numbers, use your judgement."

It's a good rule for calling a preflop raise with a pocket pair in hopes of hitting a set. The concept goes hand in hand with implied odds. If you get your set, but the opponent only has 5BBs after the initial raise, calling to hit the set in the first place is incorrect.


Q: What's the deal with showing bluffs?

A: It's fun? Okay, more in depth answer can be found here.


Q: Should I be minraising preflop?

A: As a standard raise? Absolutely not. Your standard raising technique should be 3 or 4xBB + 1BB for each limper already in the pot. You want to protect your hand and charge others to come in with weaker ones. Here are some good discussions on preflop and postflop minraising.

Go here and here.


Q: Is there anything else I should know if I want to post here?

A: Yeah, make friends with this little guy. Oh, and check out this thread by fimbulwinter, it's a good read.

The majority of everything else is too strategy related to be placed in a FAQ. Every situation is different and I believe they deserve more than a few lines in this entry. Scan the forums for individual threads for more in depth answers from other posters. Read up, young grasshopper. And good luck.

Questions, comments, additions? Click here to send me a private message.