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smurfberry · High Card Joined: 29 Sep 2006 Posts: 20

I have a number of glaring weaknesses, and I'm trying to figure out what things I should work on the most to improve my overall game.

H - I'm an adequate NL player, but I don't play much limit. I play this part really tight, knowing that most others are probably most comfortable here and not wanting to engage too much. When I play, I usually lose a little or win a lot.
O - I am comfortable here, but I don't seem to increase much. Win a little, lose a little. I never seem to hit much that I like, so I'm usually out of a hand quick. On the other hand, when I do hit, it's pretty obvious and I don't win much.
R - I make most of my increases in razz. Most people don't seem to know how to play well. I'm not claiming that I do, but I usually do very well at the levels I play at.
S - I am not at all comfortable here. Unless I have a premium hand, I don't dare jump in. Mostly I just lose a little here, but if I get too ambitious with hands, I can lose a lot.
E - I feel a little better here, because I have the low side to fall back on. I generally know when I have a good low, or when someone else does. I seem to split the pot a lot though. Generally I don't make much here, but I don't get eaten like I do in stud hi.

So- where do I go? Stud seems like weakest link. It would be logical
to invest in learning that game a bit better. On the other hand, I seem to bust out in the O8 stage most frequently. If I could improve there (and I've got a much stronger base to work from), I think I'd generally have a better chance of getting to Razz which generally lets me make up any ground I've lost.

I should add that I usually play the $1 SNG, with an occasional $5 SNG as a test. I'd like to play higher stakes games, but my overall game is just not there. Any advice on what will have the biggest impact on my game?

CbrCmmndr · Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 2:22 pm Post subject:

My own philosophy is similar to yours when it comes to HORSE. For a while there I was playing HORSE SNG's almost exclusively, and posted good results when playing holdem-only players while posting breakeven results when playing well-rounded ones. Luckily for me, usually about half of the tables were populated with inexperienced players, and I was able to post a profit.

Give this a try when you get the chance - go through the exercise of computing the cost per round for each of the games. This changes dramatically as the game gets shorthanded, and you'll see some interesting things. You'll find that community card games have a disproportionately high cost per hand when the games hit even 6 players, and the levels get skewed quite a bit (i.e. switching from omaha to razz will feel like a decrease in blind/ante levels). If you combine this knowledge with how you think your table plays, you'll then have enough information to decide for yourself whether to come out with guns blazing at a given game change or whether to hide behind some rocks on a given hand at a given level to maximize your earn.

After a while, though, I got bored with the tourneys and started sitting at the various cash games. Razz is the easiest to beat, but then a curious dichotomy emerges for stud and stud 8, which as a teaser, I'll leave for you to figure out (partly because it's heavily dependent on style). If you can beat the $5 SNG's, you should be able to beat the .5/1 cash games. If you take the time to learn how to beat .5/1 and eventually 1/2, you'll be crushing the $5 SNG's.

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