Been trying to clean up my Hold'em game a bit and one thing I keep seeing is better players almost never just chuck in the blind and see a flop. I still do it heaps with hands that feel kinda playable, especially suited stuff or small pairs, and then I end up in weird spots wondering what the hell I was even hoping for.
So for the people here who actually win more than they donate lol... what was the thing that made this click for you? Was it learning opening ranges, position, bet sizing, or just getting more disciplined and folding the pretty rubbish hands preflop? I reckon I understand the basics, then the cards come out and I go full drongo again.
Keen to hear how you lot approach it, especially in low stakes games where half the table is calling anything anyway. Do you still tighten right up and wait, or is there a smarter way to adjust without turning into a nit?
▲ 0#2
Mia RapidJackpot wrote >
Do you still tighten right up and wait, or is there a smarter way to adjust without turning into a nit?
I don't reckon tightening right up is the whole fix, especially in soft games. If a pot's already going multiway and you're closing the action, seeing one with some suited hands or a small pair can be fine. The real leak is doing it automatically, then feeling obliged to punt chips after you miss.
▲ 0#3
Is most of the pain coming from the small blind or the big blind for you? I ask because they look similar on paper, but for me the small blind was way worse since I kept completing and then playing the rest of the hand out of position with no initiative.
▲ 0#4
Yep, that auto-pilot part is what gets expensive. And the SB/BB split matters a lot. What helped me was making the small blind mostly raise or fold, so I wasn't forever talking myself into junk just because I'd already put a bit in.
▲ 0#5
same here, once I split those spots up it made more sense. Question for you lot though: in those loose low stakes tables where a raise still gets three callers, are you opening bigger from late position or just ditching the pretty offsuit hands and waiting for cleaner spots?
▲ 0#6
I learned this the hard way years back. I was bleeding from the blinds and blaming bad flops, but it was really preflop ego more than cards. Bloody obvious once I looked at it. I cut out the completes with junk, defended the big blind a bit more selectively, and stopped trying to win every limped pot with one stab. Sessions got a lot calmer after that.
