2-5 live cash game advice please

M

madball

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i was looking at this site sun tzu poker and these were the suggestions for tight pre flop hand selections.

Position Pairs Non-pairs
Early 88 or better AK, AQ
Middle 55 or better AJs, ATs, A9s and KQs
Late 22 or better Axs, KJs, QJs, KTs, JTs, K9s, QTs, J9s


any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
IPlay

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Here is the best suggestion you will get out of this thread: If you need to ask about starting hands, you should NOT be playing 2/5.
 
M

madball

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ok well where do i find no limit starting hand recommendations? I don't play online so yea i play 2-5 live.
 
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madball

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2-5 cash game advice please

No matter your table image at the live 2-5 cash game i play it seems like every flop is basically someone raising 5-8x the bb and still gets 4-6 way action. Should i just play tighter or raise to possibly 8-12x the bb to make it heads up.
 
Jblocher1

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ok well where do i find no limit starting hand recommendations? I don't play online so yea i play 2-5 live.


Maybe 1/2 would be better for you? Iplay is right, if u need to ask this u aren't gonna to win long term at 2/5 NL
 
akaRobbo

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What business have you got playing 2-5? Stop immediately. Even 1-2.
 
FanatsLV

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in cash game need bee a litle carefully because there are a lot player how play with low ranking hand and wait while he got best flop and ateck you with your best starting hand like QQ KK JJ i play cash games a lot
 
akaRobbo

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in cash game need bee a litle carefully because there are a lot player how play with low ranking hand and wait while he got best flop and ateck you with your best starting hand like QQ KK JJ i play cash games a lot


No. Just, no.
 
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How about giving advice instead of giving him a hard time?

If you are going to play NLHE I would first recommend playing 1/2 instead of 2/5 - if you can.

Once you start doing that then yeah, the hand ranges you listed are a pretty good ranges to play in different positions. Whats important to remember is that when you are playing those hands you only want to raise with them, don't limp in (by limping I mean just calling the minimum to play).

When that gets tricky is when you are in late position and several people have limped in and you are now in a position where you have a medium strength hand and there is a lot of money already on the table. So you can bet, but if you do it needs to be a pretty sizeable bet (3 big blinds + 1 bb for every person who limped in). That makes it so they don't have the right odds to call and you are more likely to get into a heads up pot. Making that raise with medium strength hands is dangerous because the hands that call you are likely to be better than what you raised with.

In general, I would advise playing that hand range, and folding very generously. Once you get a feel for the game and read some more strategy articles you will start to understand some of the nuances to the game.

2/5 is not that hard to beat live, but it is a more expensive lesson than 1/2 is (or .01/.02 online for that matter).
 
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madball

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I have a six figure salary I'm not going to grind out micros.
 
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I have a six figure salary I'm not going to grind out micros.

You don't NEED to grind out the micro's. I make a good living and have no need of poker as an income, so I am there with you. But its still good to learn.

The purpose of PLAYING at the micro's is that you learn the basics in the cheapest way possible.

Essentially the idea is this: When you start out in poker you are likely going to lose money until you have the fundamentals down. If you are going to lose money then you should lose the least possible while learning. 2nl is the cheapest poker (cash games) you can play. Therefore 2nl is a good place to learn the basics.

If you can beat .01/.02, then you can probably beat 1/2 live. The games are really very similar. If you can beat .01/.02 then you can really move to whatever stakes you want to. You will probably lose again once you get to those stakes, but that's okay. You have the fundamentals and just need to adjust at that point.

A slightly tougher game is 10nl, or maybe 25nl. Those are still relatively easy games, but you can lose more than you might imagine if you aren't careful.

So play wherever you want to. No big deal, your money do what you want. I just thinking cheaper stakes will be good to learn the game is all.
 
IPlay

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I have a six figure salary I'm not going to grind out micros.

No one is saying to grind the micros, just suggesting to start at lower limits which is 1/2 in a live setting.

Honestly though, it probably would not be a bad idea to throw $200 on Bovada and play 5NL just to get some experience at home on your free time. Like if you have 2 hours one evening and don't feel like traveling to the casino. Doing this is not about making money it is about gaining experience that will carry over to your 2/5 game. Just a suggestion, good luck.
 
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Online play and live play are two different animals.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
akaRobbo

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You don't NEED to grind out the micro's. I make a good living and have no need of poker as an income, so I am there with you. But its still good to learn.

The purpose of PLAYING at the micro's is that you learn the basics in the cheapest way possible.

Essentially the idea is this: When you start out in poker you are likely going to lose money until you have the fundamentals down. If you are going to lose money then you should lose the least possible while learning. 2nl is the cheapest poker (cash games) you can play. Therefore 2nl is a good place to learn the basics.

If you can beat .01/.02, then you can probably beat 1/2 live. The games are really very similar. If you can beat .01/.02 then you can really move to whatever stakes you want to. You will probably lose again once you get to those stakes, but that's okay. You have the fundamentals and just need to adjust at that point.

A slightly tougher game is 10nl, or maybe 25nl. Those are still relatively easy games, but you can lose more than you might imagine if you aren't careful.

So play wherever you want to. No big deal, your money do what you want. I just thinking cheaper stakes will be good to learn the game is all.

Listen to this guy. I can't stress this enough.

Nice post Uber
 
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madball

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Ok I'm going to do that. Bovada it is. Will people be using huds ? Is a HUD still allowed?
 
C

Cheecho

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I agree with checking out 5 NL online. I just posted about how it is crushing me, even though I do reasonably well at live games. The level of play is high, because it is all people like us (playing to get better and taking it seriously even if it is a 2 cent bet) playing 5 NL online.

BTW, I too enjoy six figure income, but would never touch a 2/5 game at this point. Granted, I have three kids and 95% of that income goes to the basics, but still. Why would I want to pay $15-$20 bucks to see flops when I almost certainly have negative EV based on the skill of my opponents?!
 
el_magiciann

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Wow man if i had six figure salary i would play MTTs with high buy ins every day 24/7 !!!!!! I wish i can invest more in poker, but for now its just unthinkable, i hope for miracle to happen and some money to show in my account.. :D
 
hackmeplz

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Honestly if you're looking to learn poker and move up and don't mind losing money to learn quicker, 2/5 is going to be better than 1/2. A lot of things you "learn" at 1/2 will actually be counter-intuitive to how you should actually be playing against players who aren't just throwing away money.

But anyway, the list seems somewhat reasonable, if a bit on the tight side. I generally am playing any pair from any position, a few more suited connector type hands in middle position, and a shitton more hands in late position. But if your goal is to start out, this is a decent guide that will probably help you develop a solid game and learn with. As you get better at hand-reading and realizing which hands perform better in which spots (especially if you're playing live you should be doing a lot of off-the-table analysis on various boards/textures and how often you'll be hitting certain types of hands) you will be able to naturally open up a bit and recognize spots where your game is more suited to playing different hands.

Also as someone else mentioned never limping is probably a good strategy to start with, although I think by not having a limping game you are throwing away some value in some spots.
 
M

madball

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I just don't know what to do when raising when I'm going to have 3-5 callers. I mean a 30 dollar raise / bet at 2-5 is gaining me no info . So do I raise to 50 with QJs on the button when no one raises and then get 4 callers. It just seems like I should limp everything but monsters. What's your take on the maniacs at 2-5 live and how I should play mediocre hands. Every time I open up my range I get into these crazy situations where I need 2 pair or better to feel any kind of safety on a cbet
 
Mr Sandbag

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You want people calling when you are ahead of their ranges. Since it sounds like fold equity is minimal, you're going to make most of your money by value betting. Don't cbet with air into multiway (3+ players) pots. Bet larger on wet boards when you have a value hand.

Work on your postflop game a ton. You're not going to beat the game preflop. Read books, browse hand analysis threads throughout this forum, and ask tons of questions. You need to keep in mind that in order for you to improve, you'll have to make a lot of mistakes and lose a lot of money, especially if you're skipping over 1/2 and going straight to 2/5. Luckily for you, it sounds like you have disposable income.
 
akaRobbo

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Keep raising your good hands. If they want to keep calling you with trash OOP, let them. It's +EV. For us in the long run. Only bet post flop when you hit though. Variance is going to increase against these players and it's gonna suck when you're missing flops, but when you do hit, you're gonna get payed off big time.
 
Micro Maven

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I was going to suggest $10 or $20 limit but it sounds like you do have an understanding of the basics.
I like what Robbo said, keep raising but be more careful post-flop. Variance is crazy in an action live game so don't get down if a couple bad sessions come your way. Also, initiative + position + 3-4 opponents is a dream situation for a hand like QJs, that's exactly what you want.
 
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