Q&A #97: Rebuilding Your Game From Scratch, AKA Using Basic Principles To Beat A $3-$6 Limit Game

December 21, 2007

Old Forum Posts by Ed Miller This Q&A appeared originally six months ago during my stint at Ask an Expert at InternetTexasHoldem.com. I was thinking about it recently and decided I’d share it with my readers here. Besides, I haven’t had much limit hold’em content here lately.

AlamedaMike asked:

As I posted in the psychology I have exhausted my emotional bankroll. Ian’s latest article about bankroll management rang a note with me as did this one.

http://www.notedpokerauthority.com/articles/when-do-i-know-im-awesome.html

I have been playing hold’em for about 4 years and not doing well. Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose. I just lose more than I win at the end of the year.

I considered quiting which is a great idea but I sometimes do really enjoy the game (love and hate relationship) and my wife loves to play. She is a small winner and if I quit she will as well.

So, how can I start over and work my way into being a good player? I really do not want to give up.

One plan of attack is to play 3/6 hold’em at my local card room and take just enough money with me and leave my ATM card at home. One weakness is that I will rebuy when stuck in what I think is a good game. HA! If it was a good game I would not be stuck. So when I win it is small - $50-$150 on average but when I get crushed I lose more than $200 at 6/12.

Say, I take $200 with me and start to play 3/6 on Saturdays (today) at my local card room (11 miles). If I lose each time that is $800 a month which is within my budget. (maybe I will win some). Since I do not have my ATM card I do not have a chance to rebuy. Also, how much should I set aside for the next 6 months? 300 BB = $1,800 - that should be enough for 3/6, agree? If I blow the $1800 wait until next year?

One psychology problem is that I am well off financially, but I do not like to lose, does anyone? So, my only limit is my emotional one. This, I think causes me to lose more in a given session than makes sense.

Does this make any sense? It is forced discipline.

I have read SSH about 3 times and I am probably not following all the advice. Actually I have read too many Poker books - about 20 of them.

Something is wrong with my game overall and I am not sure what; I must be making more -EV plays than +EV plays - or I am just very unlucky (a lot of second best hands). It could be that I do not recognize that I have the second best hand on the river.

One leak that I know that I have is not getting value from my good hands. The books that I try to follow now are ITH, SSH and WLLH. My problem is post flop, Rolling Eyes

This is an outline of my recent game plan -

Basic

1 Playing tight
2 Folding early
3 Incorporating Position and Strategy
4 Reading hands
5 Avoiding traps

advance

6 Winning without the best hand
7 Inducing calls and bluffs
8 Playing the players

This is from Barry Tanenbaum article.

It’s a very common scenario, and I thought AlamedaMike needed to rebuild his game and thought-process from scratch a bit. Here’s what I suggested.

I have an idea of what the problem is:

1. You’re not aggressive enough.
2. You tilt easily and quickly.

You probably also play too loose preflop.

More specifically, the problem is not that you take the ATM to the game, that you don’t fold trip kings often enough, or that you keep playing in good games when you’re stuck. (And what you said about, “If it was a good game, I wouldn’t be stuck” isn’t right at all. I’m stuck all the time in good games.)

Forget all that stuff. It’s not what’s stopping you from being a winner. The formula for beating the local $3-$6 is pretty simple. Play TIGHT, and play HARD preflop with good hands and on the flop when you hit your hand. And then HANG ON TIGHT and don’t fold (unless it’s like two bets to you on the turn and you have just a weakish pair).

Here’s what I mean.

A8s in the first few seats? Fold it.
Q9s anywhere except the blinds? Fold it.
98s anywhere except the blinds? Fold it.
A9o anywhere? Fold it.
QTo anywhere? Fold it.
Raise in front of you? Fold everything weaker than AQ/AJs and 99. If you play, reraise. ALWAYS.

That’s tight. You’re going to go stretches of 40 hands where you don’t play one. That’s right! No grousing about how you “can’t seem to get a hand.” You’re not supposed to get many hands. Smile

ATs anywhere in an unraised pot? Raise it.
KJs anywhere in an unraised pot? Raise it.
99 anywhere in an unraised pot? Raise it.
AK anywhere after a raise? Reraise it.
You have the button in an unraised pot? Raise any two suited T or higher (e.g., QTs), raise your pairs 88 and higher.

You’re actions preflop should be at least 3:1 raising versus limping. Suited hands beg to be raised. Big offsuit hands beg to be raised. Big pairs beg to be raised. The main limping hands are small pairs (66 and lower), small suited aces (A7s and lower) ON THE BUTTON OR CUTOFF (you’re folding otherwise), and that’s about it. Better suited hands you’re raising. Bigger pairs you’re raising. Offsuit hands you’re not playing if it’s like QT, and you’re raising if it’s like KQ. Not much in-between.

Since you’re raising so much preflop, you should be playing big pots postflop. If you hit the flop, you’re going to push… HARD.

Flop an overpair? Raise and reraise the flop.
Flop top pair/top kicker? Likewise.
Flop a flush draw or open-ended straight draw? Raise and reraise the flop! (This is if you use both cards for your draw. If there’s three on the board and one in your hand, the draw isn’t as strong.)

Then it gets a little trickier. If someone bets into you on the flop, the pot is big, and several players in the pot haven’t called yet, raise even more hands. Raise middle pair. Raise hands like KQ on a T94 flop. Here’s another example.

Three people limp, and you raise on the button with JTs. Big blind calls, and limpers call. Flop comes KT9 with one of your suit. Everyone folds to the player on your right who bets. Raise! You have good winning chances with your pair and draw, and your raise will protect the big pot and maximize your chance to win.

When in doubt, raise. Get into that habit. It’s kind of hard to play too hard on the flop, especially if multiple people have yet to call a bet.

On the turn and river you slow down to resistance. If you jammed the flop, you can keep betting the turn and river, but if you get raised, slow down and just call down unless you have a whopper.

That’s the basic formula. TIGHT preflop, JAM preflop and on the flop, VALUE BET the turn and river, and HANG ON TIGHT if raised on those streets. That will beat any $3-$6 game I’ve ever played.

The important thing is not to think much any any one pot, session, or even month. This is a strategy (and game) of averages. Sometimes your set gets cracked. Sometimes you build a huge pot with a flush draw and miss. Sometimes you raise middle pair and run into top pair and don’t improve. That stuff is SUPPOSED to happen.

But sometimes your set holds up. Sometimes your top pair/top kicker holds up. Sometimes you build a monster pot with the nut flush draw and GET THERE. On average, hand after hand, your aggression has you betting more money with better hands than your opponents do. That’s what the key is. Who cares if 6 people see the flop and 2 see the river? Who cares if one of them makes a flush on the river? That’s the whole point. If you’re waiting for good hands and playing against 6 players, you’re going to win more often than they will. If you build big pots, then eventually you’ll get their money. The hiccups in between are 100% irrelevant.

(P.S. The above strategy isn’t optimal. I tailored it to be simple and to address the weaknesses I think are probably in OP’s play. One size doesn’t fit all, your mileage may vary, yada yada.)

[This post appeared originally on InternetTexasHoldem.com in July 2007.]