Why Me!

Lately on a weekly basis I have been playing poker down at my local club, why is it when I play.

1 - always the shortest stack at the table
2 - When I get good hands other people either hit there flush or straight
3 - players are always raising
4 - always see the same players week in week out with big stacks

Any thoughts on my play with this information, would like to become better.

Cralox said:

Lately on a weekly basis I have been playing poker down at my local club, why is it when I play.

1 - always the shortest stack at the table
2 - When I get good hands other people either hit there flush or straight
3 - players are always raising
4 - always see the same players week in week out with big stacks

Any thoughts on my play with this information, would like to become better.

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1. How many hands are you playing, are you limping a lot?
2. Are you raising those good hand to get speculative hands out of the pot, or are you limping or min raising and no ones going anywhere?
3. Of course we are always raising, limpers are generally punished (though I'm not adverse to a limp depending on the hand)
4. What are those players doing different than you? Have you watched their play and saw the way they are doing things?

belladonna05 said:

1. How many hands are you playing, are you limping a lot?
2. Are you raising those good hand to get speculative hands out of the pot, or are you limping or min raising and no ones going anywhere?
3. Of course we are always raising, limpers are generally punished (though I'm not adverse to a limp depending on the hand)
4. What are those players doing different than you? Have you watched their play and saw the way they are doing things?

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1. I feel I am tight player, play about 15 - 20% of hands, probably limp alot more than I raise.
2. I min raise / 2.5 and sometime 3 times and I get called, the limer usaully get lucky
3. At what percentage should I be raising?
4. They raise alot more than me, nearly every hand they play.

You should analyze the situation at the table. From your description you look to be rather tight passive type of player. You already mention that you limp much more frequently than you raise. Good players that take notes will easily see that you raise only with very strong hands and will quickly get out when you raise. They are usually with the big stacks so this way you can not take anything from them even with your strong hands. On the other side weak players (calling stations) will call and sometime screw even your strong hands.


What i can recommend is to go from tight passive to tight aggressive type of player. It is not a problem to have rather tight range but you should play your strong and your not so strong hands the same way considering also the position. This way other players will not be able to easily decide if you have strong hand or not so strong one. You should also reduce limping to combinations that have some good flop potential (like suited connectors or low pairs). This way your limp and raise percentages will be much closer and it will make it more difficult for other players to know how you play.

Being tight and passive means people will often call you because of implied odds. If you are only playing premium hands, but you limp and are up against three other players, your equity is well under half. So 80% of the time you aren’t playing/losing blinds and antes, 10% of the time you play but are beat by hands that hit, and the other 10% you do win, people are going to fold because they are probably on draws or set mining and it’s an easy fold, so it’s likely smaller pots and you aren’t getting paid off

Playing tight is fine, but get more aggressive so you don’t let weak hands get a chance to hit. And don’t be afraid to fold top/overpair when it’s a wet board.

Cralox said:

Lately on a weekly basis I have been playing poker down at my local club, why is it when I play.

1 - always the shortest stack at the table
2 - When I get good hands other people either hit there flush or straight
3 - players are always raising
4 - always see the same players week in week out with big stacks

Any thoughts on my play with this information, would like to become better.

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I will say something that generally helps: select better hands then your opponents, especulate in position, when were value, be agressive. If we want to win in poker, we have to play with weaker players, I guess the weaker player on that table is you. [emoji17]

It is normal, that they raise. By raising you want to show some strength of your hand.
You should hardly limp in my opinion. If not sure with that hand, then better fold it.

You can do limping, when you have player behind you on the blinds, who is always blowing up, when someone limps to him with a good hand to catch him.


But you should look definitely from which position you are limping. If you are on early position with some small pair or middle pair, it makes definitely no sense to limp. You invite too many others to the pot. So either you fold them or raise with them, depending on who is behind you.


Become aware of you positional play. It helps a lot. And also try to vary your range in position. In late position you can also raise with connectors and gappers.

Your betting size is quite ok, in my opinion.

i think you are narrowing your range down to just such small amount hands that now players this its profitable call you with any suited gapers or connectors and pairs to flop sets as they are just trying to stack you off you need to learn to open yours ranges more or people are just going to chase you down and you will be very exploitable as you will have a very defined range of hands in a cash game this isn't a great situation as you will win many pots but only the small ones and when it gets bigger most times you will be beat as people see you as nit and you always have it now when you check as nit they will see it as green light to steal from you so you need balance your range on betting hands and need mix it up and sometimes check nutted or big hands to protect your check range from being destroyed think it was rounders that said you wear your tells

Dont get desperate, maybe you're on a downswin!!

Cralox said:

1. I feel I am tight player, play about 15 - 20% of hands, probably limp alot more than I raise.
2. I min raise / 2.5 and sometime 3 times and I get called, the limer usaully get lucky
3. At what percentage should I be raising?
4. They raise alot more than me, nearly every hand they play.

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1 - I would guess that you are playing too few hands and the ones you do play, you are limping too much. You are slowly bleeding chips and not getting value out of the hands you do win. I suggest raising more often on the hands you play and from the sounds of it, higher amounts. 2.5 and 3 is a general standard. It sounds like your game demands a bigger bump.

2 - Same as before, might need to up your raises. Watch each player and find out what their comfort levels are and bet enough to make them uncomfortable to draw.

3 - I don't have a magic number for you. your opponents, position, stack size, blinds, etc will all play into that.

4 - This is why I think you are playing too few hands and not betting enough. It appears your opponents are very loose and not respecting your actions. If they are truly betting and raising that often, you can open up your range and expect to still be ahead more often then not.

Dear author
I truly believe that only one reason of this is how you play
You need to find a coach who will teach you and show yr licks

I think you're the weakest player at the table and you're too predictable so they are running roughshod over you

jho said:

I think you're the weakest player at the table and you're too predictable so they are running roughshod over you

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I do believe this, I guess I need to change my image, be a lot more aggressive.

When I play online I am more agreesive than when I play at the local.

Jane Franklin said:

Dear author
I truly believe that only one reason of this is how you play
You need to find a coach who will teach you and show yr licks

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Ok great, did you have a coach through your journey, if so how did it go for you in regards to win rate from pre coaching to now?

CallmeFloppy said:

1 - I would guess that you are playing too few hands and the ones you do play, you are limping too much. You are slowly bleeding chips and not getting value out of the hands you do win. I suggest raising more often on the hands you play and from the sounds of it, higher amounts. 2.5 and 3 is a general standard. It sounds like your game demands a bigger bump.

2 - Same as before, might need to up your raises. Watch each player and find out what their comfort levels are and bet enough to make them uncomfortable to draw.

3 - I don't have a magic number for you. your opponents, position, stack size, blinds, etc will all play into that.

4 - This is why I think you are playing too few hands and not betting enough. It appears your opponents are very loose and not respecting your actions. If they are truly betting and raising that often, you can open up your range and expect to still be ahead more often then not.

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I believe your are 100% correct, my image at table shows I am weak, I need to bet more hand and harder, also limp less often.

Cheers thanks for the heads up

whiskers77 said:

It is normal, that they raise. By raising you want to show some strength of your hand.
You should hardly limp in my opinion. If not sure with that hand, then better fold it.

You can do limping, when you have player behind you on the blinds, who is always blowing up, when someone limps to him with a good hand to catch him.


But you should look definitely from which position you are limping. If you are on early position with some small pair or middle pair, it makes definitely no sense to limp. You invite too many others to the pot. So either you fold them or raise with them, depending on who is behind you.


Become aware of you positional play. It helps a lot. And also try to vary your range in position. In late position you can also raise with connectors and gappers.

Your betting size is quite ok, in my opinion.

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Of late I have been watching my positional play and current is working in my favour.