Hello All

First post on the forum so i will try and keep this as simple and as clear as possible. I have been a member of OP for about 2 months now and my game has moved on a lot so many thanks to all the trainers. Since joining I have been winning about 90% of my 10/25 sessions so decided to move up to 25/50 last week but have only managed 2 sessions which were both only about an hour long each but still showed a return of around $80.

I am comfortable with 4 tables but don't know if this will make any difference to the questions i am about to pose. I would also consider myself to be tight (nit i am told) as i used to always play full ring games and i think this may be important in relation to the questions below. Stats for playing at 10/25 (6 max cash game) for me after about 8000 hands would be as follows;

VPIP 13.3%
PFR 10.6%
3 BET 3.9%
WTSD% - 32.9%
W$SD% - 57.2%
AGG - 2.09
CBET % - 45.3%

I am aware from reading many posts that i am for a 6 max game playing too tight, but i have been winning and i find straying too far from what i see working a little awkward. I know i should have VPIP stats of around 20% - 30% and PFR stats around 22% - 27% so i probably need to open up more. I came from playing full ring games mainly to 6 max and i think my problem is i am playing a game that works for full ring i.e. waiting for better hands.

Anyway onto the questions i would love some feedback on as i still find these tough spots.

1) Small pairs UTG or UTG +1 in 6 max. I would class these as 22 - 77. I read a previous post from atta22 saying he would raise with these hands from UTG and in a way i agree but i find if their is even one caller in late position and you are out of position for the rest of the hand, unless you hit that set you are always facing one or even 2 over cards and i feel that C betting the flop is lost money. Am i wrong or is this me being way to tight, or is raising with these hands and c betting +ev over the long run? Love to know your thoughts on how to handle this situation.

2) Raising with AK UTG is pretty standard and i think we can all agree with that. I often find situations where i am re-raised by someone in late position or in the blinds. This is a tough spot for me. AK is a strong hand but in my eyes it is a drawing hand and if someone is re-raising me i am most of the time in a coin flip and don't really want to waste a full stack when i can find better spots. In the past i tended to call but even if the flop hit a K i was concerned i was up against AA and often found that to be the case. Calling the re-raise in my opinion is -ev and therefore unless i have a strong read on my opponent i have started to muck the hand pre-flop if i am re-raised. I rarely re re raise with AK. I have hold em manager and i love this so is their anything i should be looking out for before deciding if i should go to war with AK or if you have any suggestions as to how best to handle this situation i would appreciate the feedback.

Thanks to anyone who comments and sorry for dragging this out, not good at keeping this short.

Bobbyboy,

There's nothing wrong with finding a style that's working for you and sticking to it. If you're winning money, that's what counts.

Now, with that said, your nitty style works because the opponents you encounter at those stakes are pretty awful, and playing solid ABC poker with a tight range will usually net a solid profit over the long run. If you want to move up to higher stakes you may have to open up your game a little bit because better players will be able to read you very easily due to your tight range and play perfectly against you, but there's nothing wrong with sticking at .1/.25 and .25/.50 if you are comfortable there.

In terms of how to open up your game - it really comes down to becoming better at hand reading so that you don't always have to rely on your cards. It seems that you're mostly relying on having solid cards and then value betting them which is good - but you are probably doing very little bluffing. Like I said above, if you want to progress your game and become harder to read vs. good opponents you'll have to vary your play. So with hands like small pairs UTG - yeah they're difficult to play. You have to have good reads on your opponents to know whether a cbet will be profitable, and whether a double barrel might work if your cbet is called. It will just come down to experience so once you are ready, start experimenting. They hit sets too Sets are huge money makers, so I would hate to take pocket pairs out of my opening range. If you aren't comfortable though and your opponents are very cognizant of your opening range, there's nothing wrong with folding 22-66 UTG either.

In terms of AK - yeah it's a tough hand to play at micro stakes because people 3bet so rarely. At the higher stakes I get excited to 5bet AK all in since I'm 4bet bluffed so often, and if they do call I'm still usually a coin flip (or sometimes a favorite vs. their AQ). But at micro stakes I agree it's tough - you really need to know your opponents' 3betting frequencies. If their 3bet% is like 2-3%, then yeah, they really are only 3betting QQ+, AK, so getting all in with AK in that spot isn't going to be very profitable. Nothing wrong with folding it preflop out of position if that's the case. I would really pound these types of guys preflop though, since they're likely very passive with all their hands and you can easily value bet them to death or push them off their marginal holdings.

Good luck with your game!
-Tim

i would just add that if you are uncomfortable opening up your range at your current stakes, drop down a level or 2 and try opening up a wider range. the results wont affect your bankroll much and you can experiment w/ a wider hand range and see how being less tight plays out.
fyi, it is kind of fun to get in touch with your inner maniac and to be the maniac at the table. It is also interesting (and good practice)to watch how opponents do or dont react to your style.

gl hg

Thanks to the both of you for the comments, much appreciated. The comments have clarified my thinking process for now and i feel a lot more comfortable that what i am doing at present is on the whole ok. I agree totally that moving up later on will involve some changes in my playing style.

The only question to ask relates to a point atta22 made at the end of his reply. You mentioned that if i am being 3 bet by someone with a low 3 bet %age of say 2% - 3% they more than likely have QQ+, to clarify, are you suggesting that i polarise my 3 bets against these people as they are only ever going to play back at you with qq+ so i will at least know where i stand in the hand. I have often read that you should 3 bet with very strong hands and utter junk as that way if you are played back at with junk you can fold. That way the opponent never knows if you are 3 betting strong or bluffing. If however you are holding the goods i.e. AA or KK then all the better. I therefore read that strategy as never 3 bet with marginal hands such 78s or AT as they just put you in bad positions.

Thanks once again and look forward to more videos in the future.