advice please?

scruff321

ive been playing poker for awhile now and am tryin to take a leap out of the fish tank:D ,ive improved a good bit recently but probly am still ****! nevertheless i have a few questions that id appreciate some of you could help me with:
1)i feel sometimes when im playing live poker i can be a bit of a rock and at times i feel im being bullied!whats the best way of stopping this or should i bluff more often?!
2)with lowpair cards 44,55,66 is it best just to limp in and see what the flop has to show or should i raise slightly pre-flop?
3)again with cards like 77,88,99 should i raise preflop with?or just limp in?
4)when the hands arent coming should i be bluffing more?

any other advice anyone can think of that could help improve my game would be appreciated.

thanks in advance
Scruff321

ozpoker

scruff321 wrote: »

1)i feel sometimes when im playing live poker i can be a bit of a rock and at times i feel im being bullied!whats the best way of stopping this or should i bluff more often?!
2)with lowpair cards 44,55,66 is it best just to limp in and see what the flop has to show or should i raise slightly pre-flop?
3)again with cards like 77,88,99 should i raise preflop with?or just limp in?
4)when the hands arent coming should i be bluffing more?

Hey Scruff -

I'll take a shot at this.

First off, there no pat answers to your questions. If you read some of the threads on the HH and Theory forums, you'll see that thinking players take a very holistic approach to each problem. There are lots of factors that go into finding the correct play for a particular situation, and your hand value is only one of them. So the general answer to you is to do some research on these factors by reading some good books and hanging out here for a while. I'd recommend Phil Gordon's Little Green Book as a great introduction to how to start thinking about NLH and tournaments.

But very quickly:

1) If you feel you are being bullied, you may be. But your opponents may just be playing their good hands too. Part of the skill of poker is to make a distinction between the two and respond appropriately. This is difficult to do well without some measure of experience.

2) IMO, you should rarely "raise slightly" in any situation (let alone with small pairs). Make a real raise or don't raise at all. Know precisely why you are raising and what you are attempting to accomplish. In general, small pairs are very difficult to play post flop without hitting a set. Most of the time you are looking to get to the flop cheaply with them. There are some exceptions to this strategem.

3) The value of the medium pairs (by my definition 77-JJ) is very subject to the situation. Sometimes you play them for your stack, sometimes you play them to flop a set, and sometimes you just fold them preflop. This subject is worthy of a chapter of its own in a strategy book.

4) Perhaps. You should look for opportunities to exploit the image you have. Watch other tight players and see how they handle these situations, and try to see why they thought it was a good time to get aggressive. Hint: it isn't always because they have a good hand. What you need to do is play the situation and not just your cards.

-Oz-

Jippo

scruff321 wrote: »

ive been playing poker for awhile now and am tryin to take a leap out of the fish tank:D ,ive improved a good bit recently but probly am still ****! nevertheless i have a few questions that id appreciate some of you could help me with:
1)i feel sometimes when im playing live poker i can be a bit of a rock and at times i feel im being bullied!whats the best way of stopping this or should i bluff more often?!
2)with lowpair cards 44,55,66 is it best just to limp in and see what the flop has to show or should i raise slightly pre-flop?
3)again with cards like 77,88,99 should i raise preflop with?or just limp in?
4)when the hands arent coming should i be bluffing more?

any other advice anyone can think of that could help improve my game would be appreciated.

thanks in advance
Scruff321

1.) I've sat at a cash table and folded top two pair on the turn to a pot-sized bet to a good player (clubs). In the same night I called an all-in bet on the river with bottom pair to a player that had patently been bullying. That's an illustration of the above point.

2 & 3) Limp.

4.) If the hands aren't coming in a cash game you can wait; you're not losing money.

Van Dice

nice post oz

newbie2

Van Dice wrote: »

nice post oz

agreed.

CaptainNemo

Jippo wrote: »

2 & 3) Limp.

Don't limp.

zuutroy

CaptainNemo wrote: »

Don't limp.

Indeed. For me it used to be flop a set or fold, but I'm getting a bit better now, and I'm getting used to assigning ranges and getting a good feel for when the flop misses the other people in the hand, and my pair is still good. Very often if you call the c-bet at the lower limits, they'll shut down and you can take it with a bet on the turn.

Slash/ED

I think if you feel you're getting bullied and playing too tight the best quick one stop answer adjustment you can make is start playing your draws very strongly. Capitalising on your image your fold equity is probably huge and eventually people will probably stop coming after you so much. Bet/3bet, check raises etc and this will give you more confidence playing a looser style.

The Improver

I think from early to mid position you should limp with small and mid pairs (2,2-10,10), again depending on your stack, and if there is a raise, call.
As a lot of the time if you hit your set you will get paid.

meathman 007

The Improver wrote: »

I think from early to mid position you should limp with small and mid pairs (2,2-10,10), again depending on your stack, and if there is a raise, call.
As a lot of the time if you hit your set you will get paid.

no, i had this opinion a few months back, but after getting advice on here, i have found raising with pocket pairs is a better play - for a 6 handed table anyway

CaptainNemo

meathman 007 wrote: »

no, i had this opinion a few months back, but after getting advice on here, i have found raising with pocket pairs is a better play - for a 6 handed table anyway

I agree. Limping with small pocket pairs and folding unless you hit a set is very weak. You may have the best hand both pre and post flop. If you raise, you give yourself a way of winning the hand even if you don't hit. It also disguises your holding if you do happen to flop a low set. Disguise = getting paid off.

mormank

Jippo wrote: »

1.) In the same night I called an all-in bet on the river with bottom pair to a player that had patently been bullying.

How much did you lose in this hand??

CaptainNemo

mormank wrote: »

How much did you lose in this hand??

I was thinking something similar :-)

One of the joys of playing a session online as an insane LAG is when you have shown down a few bluffs for small pots (win or lose) and made a couple of draws and then, with sweet timing, pick up a monster and have someone stubbornly call you down with middle pair for their whole stack.

Of course some nights your timing is just all off :-( Your bluffs don't get through, your monsters are out-monstered or outdrawn, and you leave thinking you're the worst player in the world...

scruff321

thanks everybody,im finding this advice very helpful, keep it comin!;)

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.