Cash Game Strategies

[kilkennycat]

I have just started back playing poker again after a few months off and just wanted some peoples opinions on how they play cash games. Have been doing ok for the last few days playing tight aggressive as in laying AJ or KQ in 1st position and raising any limpers when I'm on the button with hands like 6 8 suited.(Levels are .25/.50 10 seats, playing 2 tables at once)

What I am wondering is, is it worth stealing the blinds with hands like JQ K10 A10 in late position when there are no limpers?

Also am I right in laying down biggish hands in early position or would you just limp in and fold if someone raises?
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Rafael de Silva - The next big thing

[fairfranco]

i've read a lot of negative things about limping in to the flop.

main reason being that if you have say Queen jack off suit, a hand you might consider limping in with. you hit the flop with a jack but an ace is there also, you've hit your hand but there is already an overcard and other potential draws that will put you off betting and if you do and get a caller you will straight away feel you are in a losing position.

If you don't hit anything then you will probably check or fold so would lose your pre flop call.

However if you bet the hand pre flop which is a of course a resonable set of cards in the position you have a good chance of knocking off any other stray callers and either taking down the pot pre flop or putting yourself up against less players o giving yourself a beter chance of winning the hand.


That's how i see it anyway, i've used that poker odds program for a bit and found it quite helpful for quickly seeing weather the odds are in your favour or not and just helps discpline you a bit away from lesser hands that look good in your eyes. Of course cash play requires discpline to sit for a long time without playing a hand then taking the frustration of only getting a small pot when you do hit sometimes!

[kilkennycat]

Ok seeing as people don't want to give away their secrets I'll ask another question. How long do you normally play a cash game session or do you play till you've won (or lost) a certain amount?
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Rafael de Silva - The next big thing

[rounder]

sorry matey, i was gonna reply to the last one but I dont actually play the cash games so I have very little expirence and what i said may have been very poor advice.

I am much more an STT player.

"you can't lose what you don't put in the middle. But you can't win much either."

[kilkennycat]

No problem Rounder. I play the odd STT but don't really have the time to sit at a PC for a few hours, that is why I like the cash games. I normally play for an hour or so and if I'm down i'll play for another 30 mins then quit up or down.
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Rafael de Silva - The next big thing

[onbeco]

Which poker site do you play at? Do you use any tracking software to help you?

[kilkennycat]

Hi Onbeco, I'm currently playing at 770 poker because I signed up for a no deposit bonus of $7.70 also they said that if I deposited €20 they would give me another €20 straight into my account which they have done and have turned that into $180 so will be playing there for the time being. I have accounts with all the major poker sites.

I had poker office, but that expired last month and I haven't got around to renewing it, but I'm not doing too bad without it.
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Rafael de Silva - The next big thing

[fairfranco]

I had a good session on cash tables last night, though I don't often play them.

Played for a few hours but played 6 man table, discarded any hand with card less than 10, generally played a few medium draw hands such as the ones you suggested and if i was in good position such near the right of the blinds are on blinds I was raising them.

I took down a lot of pre flop pots this way as well as picking up some bigger pots when taken to the flop and beyond.

I was playing on Full Tilt which I've noticed and i feel I've played enough hands to say this with some knowledge that that site churns out more pocket pairs and repeated pocket pairs than i've seen in my life!

Every time I play I get a large number of pocket pairs, maybe 1 in every 5 hands minimum and then I tend to get the same ones a few times in a session. I had pocket 8's 5 times last night and pocket Queens twice, pocket 3's three times.

Maybe not everyone else has this, I would say "suffers" this but it's not too much to be concerned about from my side, though pocket 3's aren't really doing much for anyone!

Nicest hand was my first hand though where I had pocket 9's then hit two more 9's on the flop and the one guy who had called my preflop bet raised, to keep him in i just called then he went all in next hand! Worked in my favour perfectly.

I also feel I picked up quite a bit of extra cash by a bit of rivaly I got going with someone in the room. He got lucky on a hand against me losing me quite a bit then a couple of hands later bet me off a pot to which I said "no doubt more Bull #@" , after a few comments I noticed he then starting calling every hand I played at least to the flop. he was pretty lose anyway but he was spurred on by a bit of competition!

[kilkennycat]

What levels do you play at fairfranco and do you multi table or stick to the one, the last couple of nights I have started to play 3 tables, it helps to kill the boredom of playing one table.
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Rafael de Silva - The next big thing

[fairfranco]

i was only playing 1, but at the same time i was chatting to people and doing a bit of browsing as well as watching the football.

If all I was doing was playing poker I would probably be up for doing 2 or 3 tables on cash games as sensible play has you turning away most hands anyway. sods law has it that you always hit a hand on 2 tables at once though!!!

highest i've played is $1 blinds. last night I was just playing $0.1/$0.25. means preflop take downs aren't really up to much though obviously big hands such as the all in bettor I had are just the same. I went in with $25, left with $65.

I know what you mean about boredom though, I got to that amount after about half an hour, went up and down about $5 either way for the next hour before losing a big hand and dropping to $40 and eventually getting back up there.

[kilkennycat]

You get some brutal players at those levels, I remember raising in middle position with AQ and getting called by some idiot, flop came 2 A 2, I bet he called, turn card 2, I bet he went all in so I called thinking he had an Ace to chop the pot, he actually had Q 2 off, lost about $30 on that hand.
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Rafael de Silva - The next big thing

[fairfranco]

What levels are you playing kenny?