OK,Im new here and signed up specifically to ask a few questions that have been bothering me the past 24 hours. And I would appreciate it if any, and all would help me on these questions. Now before I ask any of these questions I want to add that im a very tight/passive/patient successful ONLINE Texas Hold Em no limit cash (ring) game player. And when I say successful I mean that I am making money at it. Which in a way contradicts why im even going to ask ANY questions right? Because some would say, "if it aint broke, dont fix it". Well, in my opinion...not necassarily. Im a very young, (20 year old), average intelligent, highly motivated at doin the best I can at ANYTHING & EVERYTHING I do. And so if there is a more sufficient way of doing something, im open to doin it. Especially playing Texas Hold Em. The only thing I fear in being open minded "or" (possibly accepting one's other knowledge towards a skill that ive already seemingly doin well at) is...doing the complete opposite of what made me successful at making money in Texas Hold Em no limit cash games to begin with. In other words if I have a bank roll in online Texas Hold Em of say xxxxx, and I try a different strategy then the one im already a custom too, that I might end up with a bank roll of x...! So I dont believe I want to completely change my strategic ways, but merely alter* some of them. Now with that being said I want to mention that when I say strategy, I dont mean strategy as in a mechanical formula where your supposed to do everything the same way every single time, because if your reading this yourself, and are a "successful" Texas Hold Em no limit player. You would already know that the majority of the time,there is no simple formula to making money in Texas Hold Em. Every single situation has a different strategic move depending (in my opinion) MOSTLY on the type* of player whom your up agasint. However, it is also in my opinion that there are, a few basic elements which if you have no read on a person you can rely on. Let me give you a great example of this. You have a strong hand in late position and have no read on a player for whatever reason, say he just sat down. And in earlier position he has merely called all your bets to the river where he suddenly check-raises you say $25 into a $100 pot. Now with no read on this player im goin to alter my independent* stategy thinkin to rely on a very simple basic* strategy that I think most players would do. And thats simply to call. Only because its on the river, its the final bet to win the pot, and Lets face it im getting paid 4:1. Now its my belief in this scenario that this player who has been check raised on the river is usually beat (ROUGHLY 75% of time ex.). But this is one of the few very basic strategies that I personally rely on in no limit if im check-raised on the river agaisnt a player whom I have no read on for whatever reason. Atleast I'll pay him/her off and gain knowledge towards that players style of play and rarey but* occasionally take down a nice size pot compared to the call/bet its costing me to take down the pot. Now with all this being said............. Do I just scratch all this and just keep playin the way that im playing? Or do I try to open my mind a little and experiment in a different way in a couple of different positions towards some of the basic strategies that ive already set? For those who say just scratch it and keep playin the way im playin...ok, thanks for the easy way out, lol (just kidding). But for those who think its possible to alter some basic strategies that I am already a custom too. Here they are............................................... ...................


TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE OR TO BE MORE PASSIVE...that is the question

Note: this doesnt apply to dominant over card pocket pair hands like AA,KK,and QQ, that pre-flop are the majority of the time favorites over any other pocket hands unless of course I have KK and im unfortunately up agaisnt AA

Instead this is for MID/STRONG HANDS like AQ,AJ,AT,KQ,KT,

1: Hands I raise with preflop..........ok heres the problem here, it seems every great Texas Hold Em no limit player says the number one way to making money playing is to play tight-aggressive. Well I like to use it to my advantage to do the complete opposite. like I said before I play tight-passive and patient. And heres why. I can occasionally bust (win a nice size pot, usually 1/3rd there stack or more) agaisnt tight-aggressive players WITHOUT me simply bad-beating them on a all in. when I have a great hand and a tight aggressive player plays overly aggressive. However,it is my own personal belief im simply rarely never goin to bust a tight-passive player (one like myself) without bad beating them on a all in. Im just not goin to do it. They're too tight...so

SCENARIO 1: Instead of role playing the tight-aggressive way and raising a strong hand like Queen King off suited in late position with two callers, (one loose-calling station and one tight-aggressive player). Ill merely limp when I believe most players would say to raise. Now this is the way I think, and the reason Id limp with this hand and play passive as opposed to aggressive. If I limp, I miss, and the two early posistion callers check, ill check it out and play honest and lose no money other then my pre-flop call bet, no big deal, im simply patient like that. But if I play more aggressive as opposed to passive, and I raise preflop, and I bet out into the pot in late position after they both check, either A: the loose-calling station is goin to call me no matter what just because hes ignorant to pot odds or simply wants to see what I have and I lose money unless a miricale comes and I hit, or the tight-aggressive player simply calls my bluff bet on the flop and bets strong (being aggressive) into me on the turn, to which I fold and lose money . Thus I lose not only the extra pre-flop money I raised with, but also the extra bluff bet money I bet on the flop.

QUESTION #1:Why risk the extra money preflop raising in any position with a mid strong hand when its usually goin to miss the flop. I can simply save the extra money for another hand.

QUESTION #2: And why bluff bet the pot in late position when I miss, when by nature im an extremely patient player who can wait and could also use this extra money that I bluffed with to keep in my bankroll or later use on another hand that I actually hit with?

QUESTION #3:Or do you guys actually believe in the longrun im goin to make more money playin tight-aggressive? Now Im sure alot of you will write and say the that I should atleast raise pre-flop so that I rid players of trash hands and rid small pocket pairs so that they dont hit a set or flop two pair agaisnt me and win big. However im sure that you know the overall probabilty of flopping a set is about 7:1, and flopping two pair is about 49:1. So not only is this not normally not goin to happen,but

Let me add that I have a simple personal basic strategic system which allows me never to go busted over someone say, flopping a set or two pair while I simultaneously flop top pair. So it never worries me when someone limps in with a pocket pair, or a trash hand. Besides, I have to expect that, im not goin to sit down and play at a mostly tight table because im not goin to win much money at it. Im goin to sit down at a loose table....So if im sitting at a loose table to begin with, even if I raise in late position with say ace jack suited. The majority of the players who are at the table are so loose that if they have limped in or havent called yet ,(blinds), and I raise say 4 times the big blind,these players are loose players and are goin to usually call the extra pre-flop raise with say pocket pair 55 anyway...

Also, let me add that im not sayin I never bluff, it's just that I only bet a certain type of player...and sadly, thats myself, specifically tight passive. Does knowing this bother me? No, and the reason why it doesnt bother me is just because someone might have a read on me and know when im weak in a pot with them doesnt mean that I also dont have a read on them and know that they're tryin to buy the pot. And so ill fold my winning ace high hand most of the time and instead wait patiently when they bluff at me at the wrong time, then ill capitalize with a strong hand and ill not only trap them but take a decent size of there stack from that player. So from that....

QUESTION#5: Is the paragraph above a weak element to my game? Or is it actually a more wise and patient strategy to stick with.

TEXAS HOLD EM NO LIMIT TOURNAMENTS

I pretty much use the same basic* strategy that I use in ring games, (tight-passive) and apply it to use in Texas Hold Em no limit multi table tournaments. And this is something that I am a little slightly more aggressive in the later stages of, of course. But overall im still plain tight-passive. And so if I do well at these atleast placing in roughly 75% of the ones I enter. My...

FINAL QUESTION #5: If I should alter questions 1-3 in ring games. Should I take questions 1-3 and apply them for Texas Hold Em multi table tournaments as well? Or do you guys feel that Texas Hold Em no limit tournaments are much more complex then Texas Hold Em no limit ring games?

Now before I leave this, I want to empathize how much I really would appreciate everyones comment's and add that im sorry for how long a post this is to read