games at Party... tougher recently?

[viennagreen]

is anyone else noticing that the games at PP are much tougher lately? at least on the 50s and 30s?

[DrPhysic]

I don't play 50s but i have noticed that the 30s and 20s are not as soft as they were a couple months ago.

Doc

[byronkincaid]

Yeah they are getting tougher. I wonder if basic SnG strategy is fairly easy to pick up with experience or if everyones just lurking here.

2+2 shut this damn forum down.

Seriously though folks if everyones getting tighter early on and loosening up later there must be ways to beat this. I'm thinking maybe I need to concentrate more on individual players and stop surfing the net while I'm playing. If everyones turning into a rock it's time to start chipping away at them.

[viennagreen]

that's the thing... it seems like most of my games have 8 people still left heading into the 50/100 blinds... i don't know if this is just a temporary statistical glitch or not, but it's starting to just become a crapshoot...

[Solitare]

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah they are getting tougher. I wonder if basic SnG strategy is fairly easy to pick up with experience or if everyones just lurking here.

[/ QUOTE ]

When I first started playing online poker a couple of years ago I initially struggled (as I suppose most do). I didn't start to really improve my game until I stumbled on the $10 limit SnGs. Here was a way to play a lot of hand with a limited downside that gave you a clear reward for good play. I found that SnGs were very self-correcting -- you made a dumb play and you didn't just lose a hand, you lost the tournament. From playing the SnGs I learned the poker basics -- initial hand selection, the power of position, blind stealing, etc.

So yes, I think SnGs provide beginners with the perfect forum to improve their game. Perhaps that is why they are getting tougher. However, I think there are plenty of beginning players that feed into the SnGs to keep the lower limits soft.

[Vuron00]

I was actually going to post the same thing. I've noticed that the $50+5's have gotten much tighter over the past few weeks. I still run into games where 3 or 4 are gone in the first orbit, but for the most part, there are normally 6 or 7 left when it becomes an all-in fest due to the high blinds and low starting chip count.

I'm not sure, yet, if they're actually much tougher or if most of the guys are just playing weak/tight and have learned not to open with crap. I did see the worst player ever at a $50 last night, but somebody got to bust him before I could get to him.

I think its going to be a matter of just adjusting our play a little to take advantage of the tighter play (blind stealing at an earlier level, open raising with slightly weaker hands, re-raising with premium hands, etc).

[wjmooner]

Your edge over worse players is drastically reduced when 7-8 players remain at the 50-100 level, especially if you've played the usual tight-aggressive style and haven't gotten too many cards (T600-T1000).

Since optimal strategy is often a push with the blinds and stack size, you often are rolling the dice. Sure, most of the time you'll have the best hand, but your AQ only needs to lose to KT once and your done.

Chris

[SmileyEH]

I only started playing SNG's about a month ago and am already at the $30 level. I am running well, but I still see absolutely horrible mistakes on all tables - even ones that make it to lvl 4 8-10 handed.

I played a $50 for a lark and bubbled out, but I didn't find the play THAT much better.

-SmileyEH