strategic concepts

What do you think of the small ball strategy for NL cash games?

I like it and i often take the same line with my more nutted hands if i'm targeting a weaker range to call me down.If they have a stronger hand than id imagined they will want to make a bigger pot themselves by raising and bloat it for me.So for me it all comes down to villains range and what the maximum value you think you can get vs that is.Your hand becomes almost secondary when it's for value.As long as your not just taking lines based on your hand strength but rather villains range then i think it's very good.

I heard about long ball. Purportedly better than small ball

Never really heard of it before but i guess it's why the online games are filling up with bad aggressive players of late.Maybe it's more of a live concept.

You can read about long ball at redchippoker.com
https://redchippoker.com/long-ball-poker/
Should be geared strictly to live cash, I think.

Gorblimey said:

You can read about long ball at redchippoker.com
https://redchippoker.com/long-ball-poker/
Should be geared strictly to live cash, I think.

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Seems like a bad aggressive strategy to use online it seems to be written with live poker in mind.

I think it's a bad strategy I had not heard from her, I've seen it in practice but it does not convince:bike:

MettaGame said:

Seems like a bad aggressive strategy to use online it seems to be written with live poker in mind.

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I'm delighted there is some agreement.:wavey:

MettaGame said:

Never really heard of it before but i guess it's why the online games are filling up with bad aggressive players of late.Maybe it's more of a live concept.

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Care to elaborate why you think so?

Honestly, when I look at my hand history, I find similarities between my playstyle and this article. Putting the hammer down in every hand you play makes your opponents range extremely polarized, which in turn makes it easier for you to get a read on him.

Key is to end the hand either on the flop or turn -> either he has it, so you fold or he doesn't so he folds. Also you need to inflate the pot pre and size your bets in a way the villain knows he's playing for his entire stack each hand he's against you. So a c-bet could also be twice the pot.

As always, this is no playstyle you always want to use. It's best used against ABC - players, smallballers and short stacks. You don't want to play like this against calling stations, maniacs and gamblers, as you're mainly redlining and you need people to fold.

So for me it's an adjustment. I play mostly smallball: Super wide pre, bet bluffs and value and check medium hands post.

But let's say you just watched the following hand:

pre: MP raise, SB 3bets, MP calls.

Flop comes T26 rainbow

post: check, check, check, MP bets 1/4, SB folds.

Chances are, that SB had AK-AJ, KQ and is now scared to maneuver postflop....which is a leak. Against this guy, I'd try to bloat the pot and target his stack next time. Some people apparently call that long ball...