Starting hands. Too tight?

I have only been playing a month or so and am playing $5-.50 MTT at Stars and am looking to open up my starting hand requirements, going past the top 10 hands. Thinking about suited connectors in MP and LP and even low PP if in position, most of which I dont play now.

I am not doing all that bad, ITM every 2 out of 3, have good discipline and make a lot of FT and ITM but cant win it. I think the main reason is I am too tight short handed and get blinded away or limp into the FT with a small stack, waiting everyone out. I need to open up but not sure what to open up with.

Any help?

Supertight is ok for the first 3 to 4 levels in a tourney, but then you need to open up greatly .. actually up to the point off pushing all-in preflop with any two trashy cards to not get blinded away

It's a too vast subject to cover here and I am sure you can find a ziliion post on the subject in the One and Multitable Tourney forum

But basically I suggest buying Harrington on hold'em .. Vol 1 will teach you how to play tight conservative but good Hold'em i the early stages
Vol. 2 will the you when to simply push with trash

[elmitchbo]

have you read HOH? if you haven't it will help.

in my daily pursuit of LAG mastery i play all those hands you mentioned, but it's not as simple as playing more hands.

you won't be able to build your stack playing just top ten hands, for the simple reason that they just don't come along frequently enough. try to add in the big suited connectors, other big broadway cards, and some suited aces. then you can add in the smaller suited connectors and the smallest pocket pairs.

just be aware that the top ten hands are almost always playable. that's not the case with speculative type hands. the hands we're talking about here can have serious +EV but only under the right conditions. try to play them as cheaply as you can, and when the pot is already laying you some odds preflop. be aggressive if you flop a draw... bet out for half the pot if it's checked to you.

these type of speculative hands aren't as profitable short handed or when you have a medium size stack. in both of those situations the key is to be aggressive with big cards and pocket pairs.

finally, don't get short stacked! just don't let it happen. as your stack gets smaller you have to start swinging with anything. HOH explains this type of play in great detail.. so again, if you haven't read it, it will help.

Gotcha, kind of what I was thinking. I am only in the first chapter of HOH. Good so far but did not want to go jumping around through it and read something out of context.

Thanks, I'll check the MTT and SNG boards too.

Another question. I thought about putting my playing on hold while I read HOH. I only have so much time free time and am not reading like I should. I bought SSHE and HOH and have been playing more than reading. Good idea?

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be aggressive if you flop a draw... bet out for half the pot if it's checked to you.



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I hate chasing cards. Should I?

[Still the Spank E]

In loose games I like to wait for several callers before limping with suited connectors--at least 3--and only then if I can limp in. Otherwise, the implied value begins to go down as more chips get placed in the center, there are fewer remaining for bets on future rounds. I'll also limp with any pocket pair from anywhere, anytime. Again, I'm looking to get in cheap and hit my hand in a game loose enough to ensure I should see a couple of people still around by the turn. All scenarios, however, require the discipline to GET OUT if you don't make either your set or an open-ended (2 card) straight or flush draw (still requiring a couple of callers to be profitable). Do not continue past the flop without EXCELLENT reasons to so do. It'll only cost you money otherwise.

[TexArcher]

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be aggressive if you flop a draw... bet out for half the pot if it's checked to you.



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I hate chasing cards. Should I?

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Absolutely.

And if you're on a draw in late position and someone else bets a small or reasonable amount into you, you should usually raise. Even if you don't buy the pot right there, you've got a chance of hitting the draw on the turn (with extra money already in the pot). And if not, the opposition will generally check to you on the turn and you have the option of betting again or seeing the river card for free. This is pretty standard play.

P.S. Forget the top ten starting hand notion. Be more concerned with learning position and learning what hands play well multi-way, what hands play better short-handed, etc.

P.P.S. See Mike Caro's site for some useful stats.

P.P.P.S. Good luck...

[velvetdog]

Bad idea IMO. I read SSHE and HEFAP twice cover to cover and studied for 2 months solid before playing for real money at a B&M - and began winning immediately. Been in the black since day 1 mainly because of the study time beforehand I think. I've read many other 2+2 books since then. I'm now on my 6th time through my dog-eared, highlighted, well-worn copy of SSHE after a year playing live B&M and 3 months online heavily bonuswhoring.

When you first start I'd read and study 10x more than play, slowly increasing your playing time ratio until you reach maybe 10x more play than studying after a year or so. But never stop reading, re-reading and studying.

I am approaching this as a second job that is enjoyable as well as profitable. If you are more interested in fun than profit then play and enjoy.

I think you should be playing about 8% of hands at the beginning and that number should increase as the blinds do.