Am I playing too tight?

O

OwnedbyCow

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At the beginning on most tournaments that I play, I can usually get a nice stack of chips by figuring out who the weak players are and waiting for a decent/good hand. I will eliminate quite a few of these players, but then once they have been eliminated, my stack will begin to deteriorate. If it isn't deteriorating, I will get a cooler hand and lose a huge portion of my chips.

If I have a really great hand, I will play it one of two ways. I will mix up this strategy and sometimes I will play it aggressively or passively. I try to bluff the other players into thinking that my hand isn't great. If I have something like A-10 straight, I will sometimes play really passively to see if I can get someone else to do the betting. Once they begin their push, I will just call all the way until the river. If the pot is really large, I will then play aggressive and bet/raise a large amount to pull even more chips. If the flop passed and no one made a bet, I will abandon this strategy and begin doing 1-5bb bets to see if I can get the most value before everyone folds. On the other hand, if I feel like it could be beaten, how do I know when I should fold?

Throughout the tournament, I aim for suited high cards or AA-QQ. I am even a bit cautious about those pocket pairs as most of the time, I still get beat when I finally get to the showdown. Should I be betting/raising these before every flop? Most of the time I will try to call if someone else has raised, but then depending on my stack, I may raise these if I am the first to raise.

My favorite hand to get is AK suited. I will play as low as J 9 suited. Once the hands are lower than this, I avoid them, but should I? A suited connector such as 79 seems really dangerous to play, so I will avoid them. Would it be better to try and see the flop as long as it is cheap?

Also, I think my largest problem is this. No matter what starting hand that I have, I will usually always fold if the flop didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. I know other players notice this and they start to exploit that weakness of mine. If I have AK suited, but then on the flop it is 3 7 10 rainbow and then someone else does a raise of almost any amount, I will fold. Should I try to see anymore draws?

I don't do any large bluffs very often, I only try this against tight passive players or when everyone has checked to me. If I am one off on getting a big hand I may try a minor bluff depending on the situation. Large bluffs are very rare, while the minor bluffs I use a bit more commonly to reduce the amount of players in the hand.

What am I doing right and what could I improve on? At the beginning it works great and I can target the weaker players, but once the tournament is about 2/3 completed, I become the weak player and my tightness gets exploited.

If you need anymore info or want me to clarify on anything, please ask.
Thanks.
 
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dettrick

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think you might be.

yeah, newbie here, im from nunavut, canada
 
Ross McCollum

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I think that tight play is very strong in tournaments, unless you are the big stack in which case you can build you stack even faster by being more aggressive and opening up your range a little.
Most people say that you should always be raising with those big pocket pairs. I know that I do unless I am trying to trap a super aggressive player. I only play at low stakes, so take my advice for what its worth.
 
johnwat2

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I agree with Ross. I will always raise with a paint pair. No limbers wanted. If you get re-raised its decision time, call re-raise or fold. Trapping a constant raiser with a check raise a also a good play.
 
swannymojo

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At the beginning on most tournaments that I play, I can usually get a nice stack of chips by figuring out who the weak players are and waiting for a decent/good hand. I will eliminate quite a few of these players, but then once they have been eliminated, my stack will begin to deteriorate. If it isn't deteriorating, I will get a cooler hand and lose a huge portion of my chips.

If I have a really great hand, I will play it one of two ways. I will mix up this strategy and sometimes I will play it aggressively or passively. I try to bluff the other players into thinking that my hand isn't great. If I have something like A-10 straight, I will sometimes play really passively to see if I can get someone else to do the betting. Once they begin their push, I will just call all the way until the river. If the pot is really large, I will then play aggressive and bet/raise a large amount to pull even more chips. If the flop passed and no one made a bet, I will abandon this strategy and begin doing 1-5bb bets to see if I can get the most value before everyone folds. On the other hand, if I feel like it could be beaten, how do I know when I should fold?

Throughout the tournament, I aim for suited high cards or AA-QQ. I am even a bit cautious about those pocket pairs as most of the time, I still get beat when I finally get to the showdown. Should I be betting/raising these before every flop? Most of the time I will try to call if someone else has raised, but then depending on my stack, I may raise these if I am the first to raise.

My favorite hand to get is AK suited. I will play as low as J 9 suited. Once the hands are lower than this, I avoid them, but should I? A suited connector such as 79 seems really dangerous to play, so I will avoid them. Would it be better to try and see the flop as long as it is cheap?

Also, I think my largest problem is this. No matter what starting hand that I have, I will usually always fold if the flop didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. I know other players notice this and they start to exploit that weakness of mine. If I have AK suited, but then on the flop it is 3 7 10 rainbow and then someone else does a raise of almost any amount, I will fold. Should I try to see anymore draws?

I don't do any large bluffs very often, I only try this against tight passive players or when everyone has checked to me. If I am one off on getting a big hand I may try a minor bluff depending on the situation. Large bluffs are very rare, while the minor bluffs I use a bit more commonly to reduce the amount of players in the hand.

What am I doing right and what could I improve on? At the beginning it works great and I can target the weaker players, but once the tournament is about 2/3 completed, I become the weak player and my tightness gets exploited.

If you need anymore info or want me to clarify on anything, please ask.
Thanks.



I like the question. When it comes to if you should raise aa-qq everytime, yes. Wherever you are in position if one player opens and there are, say, 5 players in the hand to the flop...flop comes 5 10 J. two diamonds. You are first to act, its a wet board so you fire half the pot. next to act bets the pot...folds to the button and the button jams all in.

This is a brutal spot that youll likely fold more times than not but you might be good... point is, its soooo easy to get lost in a hand holding an over pair to a dry or wet board facing lots of action in a multi way pot on the flop. You want to get plenty of people into the hand when you've got an overpair preflop but if you play passive preflop while planning to play aggresive on the flop and you end up getting lots of action, in many many cases your overpair will not be good.

Passive pre flop play is super expensive when you are a player who plays so tight you cant talk yourself into folding the sexiest hand youve held all day.
 
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You should look at playing the suited connectors or seeing when opponents don't bet 3x the BB in late position. There are some decent calling hands that can really hit flops big. This will also help your loosen up your image and allow you to play Axs sometimes (down to ATo and up to A5s), also some other suited 1 + 2 gaps. Possibly Kxs if odds are right.

Manage your stack though. If you get below 25BB's tighten up. As you get more used to it and play those hands better you can probably play them down to 20BB's.

Also, look at the hands you defend with (or do not defend with). Keep a log of SB/BB hands you toss for a couple months. You might find that there's a few types you should play.
 
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I'm glad you all recognized that I was talking about Hold'em. I just noticed that I didn't mention it.

Thanks for all of the responses. Yeah I only play micro and freerolls as well, so your advice helps me.

I am currently playing a freeroll to test myself. This is the only one I have played today. We are currently on break. Earlier I listened to your advice and I was in late position and there was a lot of calling/folding during preflop. I decided to raise and all players except for one that had been trying to play a lot of hands. The flop came out something like 2 7 J unsuited. I waited and that player did a medium sized bet and I knew it was a bluff. So I raised quite a bit and won the pot at showdown. Normally I would've expected the other player to fold, but I had a feeling they would play the mediocre hand. There are only 21 players left and I am in 3rd place atm. There were 541 entrants. I have been playing more aggressively and trying to play in position. I have built a great table image and I can tell that my opponents don't want to be in a hand with me.

I have also been trying to play in position better. Before, I just played my hand. I didn't really care about position. I learned this from a book that I am reading. Would any of you have advice on position plays? Also what is some of the terminology and what does it mean?
 
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Maikychan

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The more the tournament progresses, more loose and aggressive you must play!

1. You can start by let more loose your open-raise range from all positions.

2. You can start defending more when you're in the blinds, be it a call defense, or 3bet defense.

3. You can start applying more 3bets when in position, but don't forget you give 3bet-light (bluff) to balance your 3bet range and not be exploitable so easy.

4. You can change your preflop tactics, for example: instead of always playing ABC, you can try different moves like check/raise in flop or check/call flop and lead turn, for example.

5. And when you have -20bb you can also start giving open-pushs and re-pushs on those who give open-raise very often.

Hope this help you.
 
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Final table. On break again.


What do you mean by call defense and 3 bet defense? Would look it up, but I don't want to get too distracted.

Well I got 4th place using the new strats from this forum and that book. No doubt the best game of poker that I have ever played. I will go ahead and look up those defenses that you mentioned.


I did open up a bit more on the final table. Got beat out by pocket 7s with my AJ. Oh well. I am still happy that I did so much better than I usually do. That is a sign of improvement and I will take that any day over just being lucky.

I have been using the check-raise strategy when I felt it was necessary and it helped a lot.


So the three bet is raising after the first bet and raise have been done. During the 3rd bet, your aim is to make the other players fold on the spot rather than go to showdown in most cases correct?

Edit:

Just wanted to say that I am currently reading the book "Championship No-Limit & Pot-Limit Hold'em" by T.J. Cloutier & Tom McEvoy

I have ordered Harrington on Hold'em Vol. 1 and it should be here within the next few days.
 
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pancho_1954

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maybe you should try to take more risks, it is difficult just to depend on strong hands, with good hands we can build a good stack, but those strong hands do not always work
 
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From what I read you are set on your hand. Not position, Players at table, Table type, ect.

When I am card dead I will try to steal blinds and antes in late position, button or blinds. I also love to punish the limpers with a marginal hand.
 
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Low stakes you don't wanna bluff too much early. Just bet for value. Good times to bluff are on the money bubble and right before the final table as people will be playing especially tight(that being said if they do end up calling your bluffs dont try to barrell too hard as they will usually have a strong hand) And just remember everyone will lose the majority of tournaments the best thing you can do is give yourself good odds.
 
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Usually I play full 9 player tables. If I am playing something like the 3 player tables I will loosen up as the possibility of major hands decreases substantially. I do still play tight, but I will accept cards that I wouldn't normally play. Yes I mentioned earlier that I wasn't playing position properly until recently. I am still trying to get used to it.

So you think it is better to try to bluff during the bubble? Do you mean to do this specifically on the button? Or will you try this with other positions as well? I know I play at my tightest during the bubble unless I am on button and everyone has passed to me. At that point, I will bluff, but I will not use enough chips to hurt myself in case someone calls.


I do take some risks at some points, but I wait until it feels like the right time. I even try to be open to lesser cards when I am against a maniac or calling station. I make sure to watch to see if they show any signs that is abnormal to their usual style.

Also, I try to make sure that I fold with a premium starting hand when I believe that I am beaten. It isn't often that I do, but if someone who is tighter than me just made a big raise then I will be on high alert.
 
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If you're repeatedly reaching flops and folding, you're probably playing TOO MANY hands not TOO FEW. What is your VPIP if you have a HUD with a good sample size?
 
MemphisGrind

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At the beginning on most tournaments that I play, I can usually get a nice stack of chips by figuring out who the weak players are and waiting for a decent/good hand. I will eliminate quite a few of these players, but then once they have been eliminated, my stack will begin to deteriorate. If it isn't deteriorating, I will get a cooler hand and lose a huge portion of my chips.

If I have a really great hand, I will play it one of two ways. I will mix up this strategy and sometimes I will play it aggressively or passively. I try to bluff the other players into thinking that my hand isn't great. If I have something like A-10 straight, I will sometimes play really passively to see if I can get someone else to do the betting. Once they begin their push, I will just call all the way until the river. If the pot is really large, I will then play aggressive and bet/raise a large amount to pull even more chips. If the flop passed and no one made a bet, I will abandon this strategy and begin doing 1-5bb bets to see if I can get the most value before everyone folds. On the other hand, if I feel like it could be beaten, how do I know when I should fold?

Throughout the tournament, I aim for suited high cards or AA-QQ. I am even a bit cautious about those pocket pairs as most of the time, I still get beat when I finally get to the showdown. Should I be betting/raising these before every flop? Most of the time I will try to call if someone else has raised, but then depending on my stack, I may raise these if I am the first to raise.

My favorite hand to get is AK suited. I will play as low as J 9 suited. Once the hands are lower than this, I avoid them, but should I? A suited connector such as 79 seems really dangerous to play, so I will avoid them. Would it be better to try and see the flop as long as it is cheap?

Also, I think my largest problem is this. No matter what starting hand that I have, I will usually always fold if the flop didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. I know other players notice this and they start to exploit that weakness of mine. If I have AK suited, but then on the flop it is 3 7 10 rainbow and then someone else does a raise of almost any amount, I will fold. Should I try to see anymore draws?

I don't do any large bluffs very often, I only try this against tight passive players or when everyone has checked to me. If I am one off on getting a big hand I may try a minor bluff depending on the situation. Large bluffs are very rare, while the minor bluffs I use a bit more commonly to reduce the amount of players in the hand.

What am I doing right and what could I improve on? At the beginning it works great and I can target the weaker players, but once the tournament is about 2/3 completed, I become the weak player and my tightness gets exploited.

If you need anymore info or want me to clarify on anything, please ask.
Thanks.


"At the beginning on most tournaments that I play, I can usually get a nice stack of chips by figuring out who the weak players are and waiting for a decent/good hand." This is a great strategy! Continue to do this and never forget it!
"I will eliminate quite a few of these players, but then once they have been eliminated, my stack will begin to deteriorate. If it isn't deteriorating, I will get a cooler hand and lose a huge portion of my chips." Coolers happen as long as you are making the best decision every street that is what we are aiming for. Whatever happens past that happens.
"If I have a really great hand, I will play it one of two ways. I will mix up this strategy and sometimes I will play it aggressively or passively." This is a fine strategy it's good to balance your play. If you do anything the same way all the time you will be exploitable.
"I try to bluff the other players into thinking that my hand isn't great. If I have something like A-10 straight, I will sometimes play really passively to see if I can get someone else to do the betting. Once they begin their push, I will just call all the way until the river. If the pot is really large, I will then play aggressive and bet/raise a large amount to pull even more chips. If the flop passed and no one made a bet, I will abandon this strategy and begin doing 1-5bb bets to see if I can get the most value before everyone folds." Again this is a fine strategy, as long as you are making the right decision and getting what you believe to be MAX value every street then you are on the right track too success.
"On the other hand, if I feel like it could be beaten, how do I know when I should fold?" This is when poker for amateur players becomes a little difficult. In poker we assign ranges to our opponents and ourselves. With ranges we can narrow the hand of other players down so that we can make the best possible decisions. these ranges come from the action on each street and the tendencies of the player there self. Starting out you may struggle with getting accurate ranges on players but in time it will become easier. The answer to your question is as simple is if you feel like your hand is ahead of your opponents range, then you should call. There is also odds, that even if you are not ahead of your opponents range the odds will change the percentages closer to your favor.

"Throughout the tournament, I aim for suited high cards or AA-QQ. I am even a bit cautious about those pocket pairs as most of the time, I still get beat when I finally get to the showdown. Should I be betting/raising these before every flop?" Yes you should open these hands 100% of the time from any position and 3 betting these hands 100 % of the time from any position.
"Most of the time I will try to call if someone else has raised, but then depending on my stack, I may raise these if I am the first to raise." You should not cold call with these hands unless you are trying to balance your play, and trap. Even still it's not a great idea to trap because as you know these are just one pair, and can easily be beat.
"My favorite hand to get is AK suited. I will play as low as J 9 suited. Once the hands are lower than this, I avoid them, but should I?" What you are describing here is your range. As I pointed out earlier this is how we figure out what cards our opponents are playing and at the same time it helps us have a good range of hands that we can play. Your range will change based on position, stack size, and table dynamic. You can google range calculators and play around with the percentages and practice with different ranges. I suggest in early tournament start out with around 18% of your range in position, middle of tournament 25% of your range based on stack depth, and late tournament as much as 40% of your range in position unless short stacked. If short stacked I would suggest familiarizing yourself with push/fold charts.
"A suited connector such as 79 seems really dangerous to play, so I will avoid them. Would it be better to try and see the flop as long as it is cheap?" It isn't a great idea to have the mindset of let's see a flop if it's cheap. We always want to be the one controlling the action. If you want to mix it up with hands like 97s or 67s include it in your opening range in position for balance.
"Also, I think my largest problem is this. No matter what starting hand that I have, I will usually always fold if the flop didn't turn out the way I wanted it to." This could be the result of not having a defined range and playing too many hands.
"I know other players notice this and they start to exploit that weakness of mine. If I have AK suited, but then on the flop it is 3 7 10 rainbow and then someone else does a raise of almost any amount, I will fold. Should I try to see anymore draws?" It's not necessarily "should I see more draws" but rather AK is a good hand and it's hard to make a pair, so on flops like 3 7 10 rainbow when we have AK we opened the pot and our opponent is usually not going to be defending with too many hands that have a 3 7 or 10 in it so we are ahead most of the time on the flop.
"I don't do any large bluffs very often, I only try this against tight passive players or when everyone has checked to me. If I am one off on getting a big hand I may try a minor bluff depending on the situation. Large bluffs are very rare, while the minor bluffs I use a bit more commonly to reduce the amount of players in the hand." This is called a passive playing style and you will get ran over playing this style of poker.
"What am I doing right and what could I improve on? At the beginning it works great and I can target the weaker players, but once the tournament is about 2/3 completed, I become the weak player and my tightness gets exploited." As I wrote near the top you have some good strategies in place, but your passive style hinders you from doing GREAT things. Figure out a defined range, and work on balancing that range. Work on learning betting tells, defining a range to your opponents, and if you don't already have one get a HUD. Work on being the aggressor, and staying in position with the power. Exploit the weakness you see in all the players and become a winning player. Good luck.
 
djasset

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if you are "eliminating players" that early in a tournament, you are playing just fine... but you do have to gradually loosen up in coordination with the rising blinds.
 
abzdolc

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tight is not the same as bad, but just make more money with strong hands :)
 
Joe

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Sounds like you're making great progress so far, I would suggest reading everything you can get your hands on, to the point that you're studying poker more than you're playing.

Loosening up at the right times (such as later in the tourney or against specific players) becomes easier with practice and is essential for maintaining and building your stack.

The triple threat of NLHE is; position, aggression and hand selection. In that order of importance. Your position should directly impact on how wide your range is. Read about this. Also your stack size compared to others at the table should be a huge factor in how you're playing in MTT's.

I found 'kill everyone' and 'excelling at no limit Holdem' both to be good reads for tournament play although there are probably more current releases since.

My intuition says you're talented, keep going!
 
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Might be too tight in middle of Tournament. With no chip control. Works early on for you but not later

Too tight blinds eat you finally get a hand , cooler or coin flip and loss ? That what the start sounds like.

Maybe Try and Mix up your AK play no matter if miss or hit. They hit or miss too and you can it AK later streets
 
Kertooie

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Might be too tight in middle of Tournament. With no chip control. Works early on for you but not later

Too tight blinds eat you finally get a hand , cooler or coin flip and loss ? That what the start sounds like.

Maybe Try and Mix up your AK play no matter if miss or hit. They hit or miss too and you can it AK later streets
are you THE gambit? from SARPBC, Pro League And RLCS?
 
albosaltenio

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I think at the beginning it's a good way to play and make many chips, but once this is achieved you have to start playing poker, premium hands always have to be played by betting or raising the bet, the bluffs know against which rivals and in what situation to make them, usually if you play very close you will need a lot of help from luck because you do not always go pick up monster hands
 
krionika

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krionika

Today I was about to win a ticket in the sunday storm 200k, left the 4 and won $2.20 lol ,:(were 2 ticketsSUNDAYSTORM LOBY
 
krionika

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I play only pairs or colors especially if they are aggressive players but I see players who play any card and win:confused:
 
MatMackenz

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At the beginning on most tournaments that I play, I can usually get a nice stack of chips by figuring out who the weak players are and waiting for a decent/good hand. I will eliminate quite a few of these players, but then once they have been eliminated, my stack will begin to deteriorate. If it isn't deteriorating, I will get a cooler hand and lose a huge portion of my chips.

If I have a really great hand, I will play it one of two ways. I will mix up this strategy and sometimes I will play it aggressively or passively. I try to bluff the other players into thinking that my hand isn't great. If I have something like A-10 straight, I will sometimes play really passively to see if I can get someone else to do the betting. Once they begin their push, I will just call all the way until the river. If the pot is really large, I will then play aggressive and bet/raise a large amount to pull even more chips. If the flop passed and no one made a bet, I will abandon this strategy and begin doing 1-5bb bets to see if I can get the most value before everyone folds. On the other hand, if I feel like it could be beaten, how do I know when I should fold?

Throughout the tournament, I aim for suited high cards or AA-QQ. I am even a bit cautious about those pocket pairs as most of the time, I still get beat when I finally get to the showdown. Should I be betting/raising these before every flop? Most of the time I will try to call if someone else has raised, but then depending on my stack, I may raise these if I am the first to raise.

My favorite hand to get is AK suited. I will play as low as J 9 suited. Once the hands are lower than this, I avoid them, but should I? A suited connector such as 79 seems really dangerous to play, so I will avoid them. Would it be better to try and see the flop as long as it is cheap?

Also, I think my largest problem is this. No matter what starting hand that I have, I will usually always fold if the flop didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. I know other players notice this and they start to exploit that weakness of mine. If I have AK suited, but then on the flop it is 3 7 10 rainbow and then someone else does a raise of almost any amount, I will fold. Should I try to see anymore draws?

I don't do any large bluffs very often, I only try this against tight passive players or when everyone has checked to me. If I am one off on getting a big hand I may try a minor bluff depending on the situation. Large bluffs are very rare, while the minor bluffs I use a bit more commonly to reduce the amount of players in the hand.

What am I doing right and what could I improve on? At the beginning it works great and I can target the weaker players, but once the tournament is about 2/3 completed, I become the weak player and my tightness gets exploited.

If you need anymore info or want me to clarify on anything, please ask.
Thanks.


First off let me say that I am not the most experienced player I have only started to play very recently, but I will give you my take on this.

I aim for suited high cards or AA-QQ. I am even a bit cautious about those pocket pairs as most of the time, I still get beat when I finally get to the showdown. Should I be betting/raising these before every flop? Most of the time I will try to call if someone else has raised, but then depending on my stack, I may raise these if I am the first to raise.

My favorite hand to get is AK suited. I will play as low as J 9 suited. Once the hands are lower than this, I avoid them, but should I? A suited connector such as 79 seems really dangerous to play, so I will avoid them. Would it be better to try and see the flop as long as it is cheap?

So when you say suited high cards, I assume you mean hands like K 10 suited or K J suited. Playing marginal broadway hands (even if suited) is where I think a lot of people end up losing a lot of money. These are the hands that can get you in trouble, because when you hit a pair with these hands, you want to call down.. but you lose against someone with a better kicker, this is called being dominated. This is why AK is so powerful, because if you hit your king or your ace, someone will have to now make two pair or better to beat you. It also dominates any other Ace or King hand, which is what most people will be playing in raised pots.

You need to pay more attention to your position and not so much your hand strength. The more people in front of you to act, the better hand you must play. If you first to act (Called UTG) and you play K J suited or J9 suited, your going to have a very hard time post flop. Not only is there the chance someone ahead of you has a much better starting hand, you will only get to act before the blinds, so your opponent will see if you check or bet before his turn. From this early position I would only play the very strongest hands AA-QQ, AK-AQ (suited or unsuited) and maybe KQs or JJ.

When you open these big hands and get called, you nearly always bet the flop whether you hit it or not, especially if you get checked too. You will be surprised how many times they will fold to a good sized bet, and guess what, just because you missed the flop, it doesn't mean your opponent did.

You need to be more aggressive post-flop.. especially with your Ace-King. Ace-High is not always a bluff.. even if you miss the board, a lot of the time you re still ahead. If you raise pre-flop, put out a continuation bet, maybe they are scared like you and will fold flop with a better hand.

You should always always raise your big hands preflop. You want no more then 1-2 callers otherwise your odds go way down and you will have to make a big hand to win the pot. If you raise and get 1 call, you will often win just being ace-high. If you just limp in or min-raise you just invite all the weak hands to play.

Next you say you bluff small to push people out of a hand.. DO THIS PRE-FLOP, you wasting chips to bluff in a multiway pot. Bluff off others for what purpose, to fill the pot for the eventual winner (which isnt you since your hand has no value)

Here is some tips-

1 - Learn more about position and how essential it is to playing poker. The more people to act infront of you the better hand you must play. This is also true for calling or re-raising a raise. Only call with the strongest hands. Dont call with J9 or K10 or A10 or Q10 etc.Call with AQ, AK, KQ

2- Be more aggressive both pre-flop and when you miss the flop I suggest you look up the concepts of 3-BET and C-BET. These are your best tools to get you some fold equity. When you have a monster hand like KK, you want to push out weaker hands and get into a one on one matchup. Preferably you want someone to call with a strong hand (especially one with a king in it) because you will win the majority of the time. The only time you should get scared here is if an ace falls on the flop. You should still bet here and expect a fold, if he gets aggressive back, then you can assume he has an ace and play more cautiously. Hands like Ace-King should be treated the same way, pre-flop raise, then bet the flop. If your opponent calls, you can reassess and play from there. You would be surprised how often ace-king wins at showdown unimproved, like I said, your opponent will miss the flop just as much as you will.

3- Play your suited cards and small pocket pairs for big hands - As for the smaller suited high cards, like J9, you want to play these when there is a lot of folds behind you or a lot of limpers before you. Your trying to hit big hands like flush or straight with these hands, so you want to get in cheap and abandon when you dont flop something nice. You should also be playing small pocket pairs this way to hope to catch a 3 of a kind on the flop. This will happen about 1 in 7.5 times, and when it does, expect to get paid. Do not use the hands to call big raises, just get it in cheap and look for a big payday.

4- If you have a big hand, Value bet the river - If you have the best hand and your at the river, dont just call down, put in a big reraise. You want to get as much value as possible from these hands, and just calling will leave potential money behind. You always want to make the other guy make the tough decisions, plus if you get a fold there, you dont have to show your cards, so for all he knows u could be bluff!!

Its actually against the rules to not bet a hand like A-10 straight on an unpaired board on the river. In some tournaments you will actually get a penalty and have to sit out for a round if you do this. SO remember always bet the river if you have the nuts.

https://www.onlinepokernews.in/checking-nuts-poker-rules-06032014/

Anyways, hope that helps. Good luck my friend :flute:

If you are very serious about learning, I would suggest checking out Advanced Poker Training. They teach a very good balanced strategy that I think you would benefit much from.
 
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