Life beyond Party Poker

So, my days as a Party Poker Beginner came to an end.
My big slip up over the last week meant that my $150 on Party had shrunk to a little over $100.

I took it out, along with most of the cash I had put into Titan and Noble for PO2 and PT. I had $220 and was about to put it into Paradise when JetSetPoker caught my eye.

They were offering a 50% bonus, so I moved my $220 there and am now trying to work off the bonus.

Bonus could take a while. But one thing is they offer "points" on all hands, even play money hands or microlimit hands (sure it take 50 hands to get a point, and I need 1100 points...)

Anyway, so far I've cleared 60 points, so am about 1/4 of the way towards by first $20 bonus. Doesn't seem to bad.

The biggest thing has been that the site is so sparsely populated that the only games I can normally get into are 6-max $10NL games.
6-Max seems to be horribly variable and I've been up and down quite a bit already (although, still going up overall, so quite happy).

I'm trying to adapt my game to short-handed; trying to loosen up a bit and also play the players a bit more (but without PT or PO with some HUD or something that is even harder).

If I have to play some 10-20k hands here to clear my bonus I'd like to have some PT or PO data; so I'm going to try to write a converter to get HH into an importable format.

I've been reading up on SH games a bit; still feeling my way a bit there.
One thing I'm not sure about is that loads of people play short-stacked. It's not unusual for me to be sitting on $15-20 with everyone else on the table with between $2-6.

Anyone got any tips on playing these tables? As I figure it my implied odds almost disappear, it's hard to get them off draws but high-card hands AK, AQ, AJ, KQ go up in value as I can usually see a river "cheaply".
Does that make sense?

Anyway, I'll be here for a couple of months before I make the move to Paradise or Stars or something. Hopefully I can build my BR and learn something about SH games while I'm at it.

Gamble with the shortstacks! The general idea is this: Say he has $2. You gamble, you lose, he has $4. You gamble again, you win, you take it all. Longterm, you'll be winning money off of these guys, even if you go in with 2:1 odds against you every time! Hope that makes sense

And shorthanded is all about reads. My game is so read-dependant, it's crazy. I noticed it today because a friend was over and watching me play for a few hours. He couldn't make sense of my plays, and I kept explaining it to him "here he has this, now he's gonna do that" etc. I even called down a few guys where I knew I was beat (smallish bets) to show him lol. In shorthanded - play the players!

if they let you, just load up a million or so play money tables at all games/stakes w/e. it will probably clear pretty fast that way

I would love to do this too but 90% of my variance comes from loose tables. 3-5 donks calling big preflop raises and one of them hitting.

I know the strategy for loose tables is to play super tight, but I've had so many monster hands busted to junk it would make even the poker gods laugh hehe. As an example, after being a bit frustrated and on slight tilt I finally got dealt KK at a loose table today. I said aint no way I'm gonna ruin my KKs, so I raised _12x the bb_ to filter out the huge number of callers.

Still got 4 callers. Ahh! flop came 3 5 Q. I bet 150% of the pot. Dropped all but 1 caller. Turn came a 7. Donk goes all in. I call him. What does he have?

64o

Dahh!

I can't wait for the 25 nl tables already! *end rant* hehe

I can't wait for the 25 nl tables already! *end rant* hehe

Be very careful what you wish for;the NL25 tables aren't always fun and games .

Originally Posted by RevolverX

I would love to do this too but 90% of my variance comes from loose tables. 3-5 donks calling big preflop raises and one of them hitting.

I know the strategy for loose tables is to play super tight, but I've had so many monster hands busted to junk it would make even the poker gods laugh hehe. As an example, after being a bit frustrated and on slight tilt I finally got dealt KK at a loose table today. I said aint no way I'm gonna ruin my KKs, so I raised _12x the bb_ to filter out the huge number of callers.

Still got 4 callers. Ahh! flop came 3 5 Q. I bet 150% of the pot. Dropped all but 1 caller. Turn came a 7. Donk goes all in. I call him. What does he have?

64o

God I can't even imagine tables like this, that would be heaven - in the long run ofcourse . Anyway, if they keep doing that, make them pay EVEN MORE to gamble. Push the flop. Seriously, I would do that. And eh, if when they suddenly push ALWAYS means they have a monster, lay down your kings next time..

Originally Posted by RevolverX

I can't wait for the 25 nl tables already! *end rant* hehe

You have to be able to beat the micro stakes before you can expect to beat the next level[s] up.

And playing super tight is not the general strategy for ALL loose tables. If the table is loose aggressive then yes, you should tighten your calling/raising standards, but if it is loose passive you should loosen your preflop calling and raising ranges to include hands that do well in multiway pots, but then you need to ditch them when they dont hit.

Longterm, you'll be winning money off of these guys, even if you go in with 2:1 odds against you every time!

stop trying to make people dumber

stop trying to make people dumber

In terms of?

In very loose games it is not recommended to play super tight. In loose games, it is guaranteed that people are playing much worse starting cards. When this is the case, your expectation for easily dominated hands (i.e. KJs QTs etc.) goes way up because you will actually find yourself dominating them w/ KJ as opposed to you getting dominated. However, with more players seeing the flop the value of big pairs goes way down. So if you play super tight and wait for AA KK etc you are in for a bad suprise when it seems like you always get sucked out on. Big suited broadways and little suited broadways go way up in value as do any pocket pair (for huge implied odds when you make a set) and suited connectors. This allows you to actually open up your game and see more flops. Of course if they are raising and reraising to like 30X the BB preflop then you have to eliminate some of the littler cards and go for more high card value.

Anosmic, I've been at Paradise for 2 weeks or so and am loving the $10NL tables. The bonus cleared easily even at those limits and the players are comperable to the beginning Party tables.

re: Short stacks. I don't play them any differently until they become pot comitted, at which point I'll aggressively put them in. (Like if I have QQ on a J high flop, turn is a low (non-flush) card amd there's $2.5 in the pot and they have $1.25 left, I"ll put them in every time.) Oh, they also like to chase flushes/straights.

Same with me at ultimatebet ( should be called AllinwithTPbet) . It's 2NL and 5NL are no different than party, I'm having lots of fun. Had a week or two left on the beginner tables but had cleared the bonus and the sight was buggin' me. Went to UB for the 100% bonus. (ya it's clearing slow but where am I going) They'll pay to chase all day. if I get sucked out on, so be it. Make a note and get it back later. gl and have fun.

Thanks guys. Nice tips.

I was going for Paradise but at the last minute I thought "well... 50% is better than 25%".

As far as UB, it sounds nice with 100%. I wonder how long it'll be around. It seems a shame to waste it with less than $500.

UB has reload bonuses all the time, but they clear incredibly slowly. I'm debating whether or not it's worth it to keep trying for them.

They are slow, but the site is so nice to be on. I may split my roll and keep this site active when I'm not whoring. The S&G's rakes are much cheaper and there are plenty of micro tables no waitlist as of yet.