Small blinds relative to bet? Play tighter?

[jordanx]

Say you're playing in a 2-10/2-20 spread game but the blinds are only 1-2$. Generally, this game is a 10/20 w/ 2$ blinds.

Do you loosen up your preflop play or tighten it. Or neither, just adjust by stealing blinds less often and play normal starting hands.

I know in Slansky's 7-stud book he mentions that it's correct to play looser in a game that has a larger ante, relative to bet and attempt steals more often. Same principal for hold-em?

[Dov]

Same principle.

No antes or blinds, only play the nuts, if they'll let you. This is a general poker concept and applies to all games. It's roots are in pot odds.

The more money in the pot, the more your bet can win you. In the typical 10-20 HE game, the blinds total $15. So if you raise UTG, you are risking $20 to win $15. (If everyone folds)

In the game you are describing, the blinds total $3. You will be risking $20 to win $3. Those are not very good pot odds, and to take them, you should have a better hand than you would need in the same situation in the other game.

If you think of it as a risk/reward ratio, which it is, then just realize that the smaller the reward (pot), the less risk you should take. (you risk less when you have better starters)

By the way, this concept is being examined in isolation and does not consider a number of other factors such as game type, your skill relative to your opponents skill, number of other players, your image, etc. All of these things should really be considered when you decide how to beat a given game, but from this one point, it should lean you toward tighter play.

Dov

[mmcd]

Generally play tighter with this structure, BUT if theres lots of preflop limping going on be more inclined to play any pocket pair (preferably with position) Suited connecter/drawing type hands should be avoided.

[J.A.Sucker]

If you know that you can get into the pot for cheap, meaning that there is no raising from your opponents, you should play lots of hands that can make big hands later, especially with position. This is furthered if your opponents are either very passive after the flop (allowing you to either steal the pot there or take off more cards for cheap to make a big hand on the river), or if they are willing to pay large sums of money to you (making your implied odds worth it). In these games, I'd play any suited ace up front for a limp, 78s and better, QJo and better. In the cutoff or on the button, I'd play all kinds of trash, hoping to hit some huge flops and to get paid.

[Michael Davis]

Look, the people who are telling you to play tighter are just way wrong. It would be more correct to play every hand you could get in for the minimum than to fold more hands than you normally play.

When you need to play tighter is when facing a max raise, because there isn't anything else in the pot to boost your odds. If you can get in cheaply, you should be playing a ton of hands, especially hands that make straights and flushes, even though you will occasionally have to bail on some of these hands earlier than in a regular game because you won't be getting the postflop odds to chase. Even this is rare.

-Michael

[mmcd]

I'm sure you already know this, but it makes a big difference whether it is a "10/20 game with 1 and 2 blinds" as he described or a 2/10/20 game. It depends heavily on how the game plays.

If its the former, then I think hands that are more likely to flop draws should be avoided except in the latest positions, and even then you have to be very wary of pot odds post flop and the reverse implied odds inherent in drawing hands. You should play pretty damn tight in such a game.

If its more of a 2/10/20 with lots of people taking flops then you should loosen considerably especially if your opponents play poorly on the later streets.

[AnteGravity]

I think the topic is coverd in TOP page 33-34, where it goes on to explain that games with small antes AND small initial bets are an exception to the 'Small Ante = Play Tight' rule since the much bigger bets post flop give you good implied odds. The smaller the initial bet proportionally to the later ones, the better the odds.

[jordanx]

Thanks for the posts.

I also noticed in Lee Jones' Winning Low Limit HE he mentions that it is correct to see many flops with hands that could flop strong hands because of implied odds.

This makes sense, however the game often gets aggressive pre-flop, so I'll stick to seeing more flops in later position or on the blind.