I'm a break-even player who plays mostly 1/2 on Party and I've been taking a harder look at my game lately. I have about 30K hands in Pokertracker and I was looking at my positional stats. The button is only my 4th most profitable position (CO is #1 by far) and my VP$IP and PFR% are virtually identical for every position! I'm at work, so I don't have the stats with me, but I'm around 19% VP$IP and 5-6% PFR%.

Clearly, I'm not taking advantage of my position. But how much leeway do you give yourself when you're on the button? I've read SSHE and his starting hand charts are useful, but Party has been so tight lately. I get a hand like 98s on the button and it gets folded around to me! Do I still raise with a hand like that? How about a small pair like 5's?

Also, I'm having trouble with hands like AT, AJ and AQ UTG. I know SSHE says limp with AT and raise with AJ and AQ, but I've been getting killed with these hands lately. I raise and get 2 or 3 callers. I miss the flop and then what? Bet? Shut it down right then? Being out of position with just overcards is a tough place to be.

If it gets folded to you and you are on the btn, you raise what you have doesnt matter. If an A or K comes on the flop and they check to you, you bet. If they are still in? put on the brakes if you have junk. And get ready to bail.


Hope that helps

It might be worth taking a while to stick to the SSHE "tight" chart. You will then find that you are playing less hands from EP than LP.

At a minimum, if the table is not loose, fold some of those drawing hands from EP like Ax suited, 22, etc.

I think part of playing poker is knowing your strengths and weaknesses. If my table VP$IP is below 30 (.5/1 is my experience at Party) I am leaving for another table unless there aren't 2 HORRIBLE players that might encourage me to stay.

If you can learn to hammer tight tables, this will be good. I think a lot of low-limit grinders become successful as tight players who take aggression beyond what is taught in SSHE in certain table situations.

i want to respond to this, i will later.

aseem

Well you've taken the first step in recognizing the problem you have with position.

No matter what style of play you use, you def need loosen your starting hand requirements on the button. Remember, position is probably the most important thing in poker, even more so than your cards. The button gives you the ability to get the maximum informatino in a hand and act accordingly.

One thing I would tell you is to make sure you don't trap on the button unless your playing a very aggressive player and have a made hand. Bet if you have any pair, don't give the table anything free. This will work in two ways: first, you may take down the pot right there, and two, inferior hands may see this as a position bet and call you. You can still do it with no hand if you feel that you have a good image or are drawing to a good hand.

Folds around to you, raising is def not a bad idea. The fact is that if someone cold calls from the blinds, you will have position on them. Many people have read about "defending your blind" and take this with them to the grave, so don't be afraid to raise preflop against the blinds with a bare A or suited connectors. And if the go over the top of you, the jig is up and they probably have something.

The only other thing I would suggest is that if raising AJ and AQ UTG isn't working, then stop. I tend to play a different style then some preflop, and am content with just calling in this situation. This has many advantages: you are hiding your strength of A with hi kicker, your not putting more money in the pot then you need to, your not putting pressure on yourself in the hand to defend your bet post flop, which makes it easier to get away from a flopped pair if the board is scary and people behind you are betting. I personally like to just call with these hands, especially since good drawing hands and PP's will easily just call you from behind on the premis of position play alone.

Hope this helps a little. Good luck plugging the holes in your game.

I would really like to hear what you have to say about this, Aseem.

I'm not sure if my problem is that I'm too loose in EP or if I'm too tight on the button. I know I used to limp in way too much UTG or UTG+1 with crap like small offsuit broadway cards or small pairs like 44. In a loose, passive table this might be OK, but more often than not I'm having to call a raise OOP. Then I'm completely screwed. So I've stopped doing this.

I guess part of my problem is that I'm horrible at stealing blinds. I can't seem to let go, even if it's obvious that I'm beat. It ends up cost me quite a few bets over the course of a session. I'm also not sure just how loose I should be when on the button. The tables I've played at the last couple of weeks have been pretty tight with no more than 3-4 people to a flop. J9s? T9o? I just don't feel that comfortable playing hands like these.