Hello. I'm not sure if this is thread-worthy in itself and maybe it could have gone in Acidic Advice, but I'd like a few tips about playing from the small blind. I've had a look at the FAQ (which is excellent BTW) but I reckon a bit more specific advice would be extremely helpful.

So I have only recently started using Poker Tracker (3), and like prob everyone who stats using it, I was shocked at how much I was bleeding from the SB. So I have tightened up now and am running 25.03/11.07 from the SB (and 24.67/18.42/3.54 overall) over about 3,000 hands at $20NL (I know it's retarded that it's not $25NL like every other site, and that this is a small sample size). Hmmm I guess that's not very tight actually. But this is my strategy anyway:

I am pretty much only playing small PP (excluding premium hands that play themselves) in raised pots, as these seem to be about the only hands that play well oop (better than in position?). i.e. I'll donk bet the flop if I do get a set, otherwise check/fold. Should I also play suited connectors? I think not, since you prob won't flop a made hand and I find playing draws oop really hard. How villian dependent is this? Also is 3-betting semi-decent hands against a button raise from a "decent" villain (i.e. a full stack, and OK PT stats) a good play?

But un-raised pots is where I'm struggling. Say one person limps, and I'm in the SB w/ A9o. Do I just complete, and just be careful if an ace does flop? Should I just complete w/ small PP too?

Unfortunately at the moment I can't post specific (and what I hope are interesting) hands, as I'm still looking for a hand converter for Bet365/iPoker. But I will hopefully start posting here quite a bit.

Cheers

I think it's hard to answer these questions because they are so general.

A lot of these situations are stack size dependent,villain dependent, table dependent.

Also depends on the table image you have and what kind of style you wish to play and the stakes you're playing at.

I play a bit of 6 max $20nl. I'm a winning player, but I'm pretty inexperienced compared to sngs.

My "general" play at these stacks is first to make sure I have a full buyin, make sure at least two other players have a full buyin and make sure if I have a hand like JTs or 6s in the sb facing a raise that it's a full stack raising and that he's bad enough to go broke with top pair. I may call smaller stacks ($14) if they're terrible. Otherwise, I hate playing OOp, so I usually fold.

Facing a limp from the button, is villain dependent. I've popped people with 93 , J4 etc cuze I know they'll fold. Against someone who limps here with Arag, small pair, K8s, etc, I'll raise with something like A9+, pair, couple of big cards. I like raising as much as possible to give off an image that I play a lot of hands and am a bit reckless, when at $20 six max table, I actually play pretty tight.

This is all very general and I could play a very different game depending on my opponents.

Your best bet is to post/read hands here. There are lot of very experienced players here who love picking hands apart.

Where do you play?

Well I'm running 24.67/18.42/3.54. I tend to get a lot of action from the regs, and pretty much never play oop against them. I guess these Q's are against unknowns with ~ a full buy-in.



It's exactly these type of hands that give me trouble. I love playing them, and regularly 3-bet from the BTN with them. But from the SB unless we get two pair, we are going to be drawing, and then I'm at the villain's mercy.




See I do this from the BB all the time, but with someone behind me I just don't like it.



Yeah like I said it's Bet365 (sooooo soft), so I need the converter that works with PT, I'll try sort something out soon

When looking at what hands to play in the SB in a limped pot, always ask yourself what chance your hand has of developing into a money winning situation for yourself.

If I have A6o and the whole tables limps, I'm gonna fold because I'm only hoping to flop three 6s as you can never play your ace for value in that spot. However, I'd complete with a lot of suited junk and semi connected hands that have the chance to flop something big that isn't going to be dominated as often, so stuff like 78o and K3s I'd complete.

When only one person limps, you should be more willing to complete with high-card type of hands, as in a 3-way pot you stand a better chance of having the best hand when you hit and will be able to play them with more confidence. Say if I'm in the SB with A6o and just the button limps, that's a spot where you can call because an ace is likely to give you the best hand, and there being less players in the pot means you have more chance to bluff, say if the flop came 226 and the button bet out, in a 3-way pot you can raise there as it's very unlikely he has anything.

I play ridiculously tight in the SB and the BB. I know I play it too tight, but I'd rather be on that side than the other. I don't call from the blinds much, basically only with small pps if the guy is a nit and deepstacked. I 3-bet button and cutoff raisers with a wideish range, but they have to be people I know open up more in LP and also either fold to reraises pf, or don't float lots of flops.

This advice (implied!) is great. Like many other players currently do, I used to associate this type of thinking with a weak-tight mentality (omgz how do I fold KQ to a 6-max raise??!), but really I just didn't understand the benefits of position. Marginal hands like KQ/KJ/AJ need either horrible players or position to show a longterm profit. What may be position's greatest asset is that of pot control, and marginal/dominated hands are almost unplayable without it.

A few months ago I reviewed my hands and sessions, and saw that almost always I bled chips from the blinds. Of course, I didn't always lose, and a certain amount of bleeding is inevitable, but the following circumstances happened too often for my liking;

Check/fold

Check/call -> check/fold turn

Check/raise -> fold to a 3-bet

Check/call x3 = 90% of my stack to top pair good kicker

Now I'll play marginal hands to raises when OOP if I have a read on the opponent. So much of what we do in poker should be for a reason, and if you know how someone plays then, by all means, take a flop. If I know villain's passive postflop, I'll gladly try to win a nice pot with top pair decent kicker. I feel confident enough in my ability to manage the pot size and assess my hand's value even if out of position. But if the opponent's very aggressive then forget it. The games aren't so dry at micro NL that I need to get into shoving fests on the flop with TPGK like I would in online HSP when draws/bluffs comprise 50% of my opponent's probable range.