TAG or LAG?

Hey everyone!

Here is my quick background. Started playing poker a couple of weeks ago online. Had deposited $100 on FT (now around @ $80) and have been playing mainly tournaments + SNGs with some cash games. Altogether only around 2k hands (yes I know a very small sample)

Now so far Ive read LGB and LBB and am a quarter of the way through Harrington on Holdem. I believe I have a good understanding of the basic poker theory so far and Im a futures trader so have good money management skills etc.

I started off playing what seems to me TAG poker...VPIP 16, PFR 12. PFAF 33%. However I have had no success at cashing in any of the 30 tournaments ive played. I started off ok with cash games but have since got back to where I started.

What im finding is that at these levels (2NL and $1+10-20) all of the poker theory I have been learning is useless. everybody calls far too much and plays every hand. Now I should be able to capitalise on this...but I havent. Everytime I get all my money in on good hands AA/KK i suck out to mid pocket pairs or 67os which hits a straight. EVERY TIME. During tournaments the same occurs. I wait till the 4th/5th rounds to to play a slightly wider range of hands than premium but find im always the short stack...always. So I end up shoving with high pocket pairs/premium hands, again get called by several players and suck out against them when in theory 'I did the correct move'.

So last night I tilted and decided to try LAG in cash games...it worked quite well initially and I doubled my buy-in. Then proceeded to lose it. I understand LAG comes with wild swings, but it seems like all those that win at this level are LAG players. I hardly see any TAG making it further than my self.

Now during Zorba's game yesterday I felt much more like I was playing poker. People respected your raises when you have premium hands etc and the experience was much more enjoyable than what Im currently experiencing. Obviously I dont have the bank roll to get out of the micros to a level where I can actually use the poker theory im learning.

So the question is, Do I stick it out playing TAG and wait for variance to turn around and start paying me back for all the times I should have won (based on equity etc) or adopt a more LAG style and play a wider range of hands which every 'fish' (yes I could be included in fish) tends to play and it seems to work for them...I feel like I should be playing LAG at the start of a tournament to build up a stack and then switch to TAG once I have achieved this. I would like to play to win rather than just cash but for the time being cashing is my goal. However this is the opposite of what most poker theory states (i.e TAG initially then open up to a more LAG when the antes kick in)...soo to TAG or LAG?

Its not that simple.
But I would recommend playing TAG in micros. Im sure you can beat the micros when you learn more strategy, and get more experience.

If people call too much, then take them to value town.

16/12 is fine when you play full ring and 100bb deep. It's an entirely irrelevant stat for tournaments where your stack size varies depending on the blinds.

Read about ICM.

Cheers for the replys.

Another thing after reading phil gordons book is that I really like the idea of raising or folding...rarely limping in. Since everybody calls me raise anyhow and I usually get out drawn, in the micros would I be best to just call like everyone else and see a cheap flow before raising? cause currently I bleed chips like a maniac when I miss flops (which seems to be >70% of the time)

Finish Harrington's book. But you have to be able to observe players and see who is cally etc, and then you must be able to release a hand. If you raise with AA and get 3 callers and there's a lot of action and you have no draw, you're AA is dead, let it go. No suckouts if you know when to fold.

Blind structure is key as well, the shorter the blind levels, the harder it is to play TAG.

All right, with AA or KK bet haft the pot, or haft your stack...
Stay TAG, steal the blinds when you can.
Try to set up traps, but watch out some will backfire on you.
Remember this one point, if it is checked to you do a C-bet of the pot even if you don't have a made hand, i have gotten alot of wins doing this.

I think i've got what i need to say in the post.

here is what i think, i played 25000 hands this month on micro stakes, also did a couple of double up or nothing and i can understand what you feel. if you want to play micro stakes i suggest you play more than 1 table, try 6 for the start. you will than realise you win at some table, lose at some tables. very big thing here, in order to not be called every sigle time by 67o you have to raise big, not the standard 3-4 BB raise, raise about 10 BB, gve it a try, see how it goes.
about small pairs, i suggest you ttry to limp in and catch a set, if it does not work, drop the hand.
the more hands you play, the better you become with dealing with tilt.
dont buy in for too much, buy in for 100BB, and when you enter a hand, prety much raise big (unless you have a small pair, and maybe u want to see a flop cheap). when you start with a good hand, regardless of what come on the flop, vs 1 player, BET.
when you have QQ KK AA AK prety much try to get your money in preflop if posible.

i hope this works, defenetly works for me.

Small guide to micro cash:

Play very tight 10/9 isn't a bad target for 2nl.
Bad players call too much preflop, to exploit this raise to 4/5xBB.
If you get 1 caller you want to c-bet a lot of the time, as high as 60% or more. If you get more than 1 then you need to read the flop, is it likely to have hit them? If not you can bet it.
Always try to stack AA/KK pre-flop, if they are looser add AK/QQ, if they are very bad add JJ.
Raise more the closer you get to the button but don't raise trash, you want to enter nearly every pot with the best hand, you will get paid.

Post-flop is a minefield but generally only stack with made hands 2-pair or better. If they are a loose fish add TPTK and if they are a big fish top pair good kicker.

This is where you should start, when you become comfortable you can add things to your aresnal, stealing from certain players, limping with big potential hands (small pairs and suited connectors) when their are a few limps before you.

It all comes with experience.

Good advice all around, Chippy.

Though I'd say 10/9 is a little too close; there'll be lots of times in late position you'll get great odds to limp behind limpers with suited or gapped connectors or small pairs. I'd go more like 12/8. But that's a firm 12/8, not just close, as in 15/6. Fold lots and lots of hands in early position.

And to the OP, the CC buy-in tournaments are a great opportunity to play decent poker against decent players, as you've found out.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Gonna keep grinding and try master this 2nl level in the coming months