Damning the River

I’ve put aside the SNGs for a little while to build my bankroll. Last week, I played three of them, and some suck outs killed me – to be expected. With my bankroll and because I’m just starting to play the SNGs, I haven’t felt comfortable playing anything higher than the 5+1 SNGs, and the rake there is such a large proportion (obviously).  My goal has been to be playing on Party in entirely profit, not even including the 200 I got for signing up – I’d like to have that in case I need it for bankroll during my Vegas trip in January.  So, it seems to make sense to build back up with the limit ring games and get to a spot where I feel more comfortable dropping more on the SNG.

That said, it was back to the grind.  I just signed up for the tasty PartyPoker December bonus which I’ll start after my money goes through next week.  Yesterday I got myself back in low limit shape – hadn’t played in awhile.  One thing I’ve found slightly lapsing is my focus on the degree to which a pot is large or small. I recognize how many people are in with me, but I need to measure my aggressiveness more keenly to the size of the pot, being more willing to raise to try to take other people out and to push my big edges.

It’s also time to reread the Ed Miller chapter on playing overcards.  Trickiest thing for me is 3-4 handed, with an AKo that’s missed the flop, no redraw, but not a particularly scary board either, from SB or BB.  With AK, still a decent betting situation.  But what about with AQ?  I get way more reluctant with AJ unless I’m in late position and have a redraw of some kind.  Again, it’s gotta be about pot size in these situations and the ability to knock people out.  If you can push out the bottom-pair-ace-kicker, you’ve just opened up a few more crucial outs.  Particularly from early position, it’s hard to figure this out. My raise from the blinds came after their original limp, so they basically called it without hesitation – hard to get a good read on the situation at this point.

The grind there has been profitable, but most of my recent winnings have come from the 6 person $25 no-limit ring games. My buddy plays these all the times, and we sat down to rap strategy as we played.

As far as general strategy, my buddy has focused on two aspects.  First, pot-building is key.  You want to keep the other guy in, but you want to punish him for calling.  Second, randomize but regularly use steals attempts on certain types of not-too-scary flops.  You don’t have to make them work all the time for them to be profitable, particularly if they can work with a relatively small bet.  One the other hand, if they never work, that means you’re at a relatively loose-passive table (someone is always calling, regardless), which will only benefit you when you pick up the big one.

Filed by at 9:17 am under dtrStories
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