Stagnancy = poker death.
So I've been fooling around with my game again, which I can't ever resist when I consider new ideas. Unfortunately, when I make one change to my game, I have a hard time resisting other adjustments as well.
For example, I decided to change my initial open raise in NL cash games to four times the big blind instead of three times the big blind in all circumstances. My reasoning was that I'm a pretty tight player, so I could get more value from my hands if I forced my opponents to put in more money preflop.
I don't think that reasoning is flawed for a live game, but online I think it's probably a waste of money, for me at least. People easily adjust to changes in bet sizes and price their hands accordingly. I often found myself up against a better hand range than my typical holding.
I was seeing fewer people in the pot with not as many opportunities to make them make mistakes.
On top of that, I'm simply more comfortable with the 3X raise. It feels better, and it has worked for me for a long time.
Part of the problem was that I tried to loosen up my game at the same time that I tried to get more money in the pot preflop. I started open-raising with all kinds of marginal hands from MP if I had the opportunity. Sure, it's fun to get involved in more pots and try to outplay opponents postflop, but I think it's a more effective tactic in a short-term situation (like tournaments).
None of these attempts to diversify my game was severely detrimental, but I do feel they moved my game further from optimal play. At least I feel like I learned something.
1 comment:
The amount I raise will vary based on observations of the table early on. If I see too many 3x raises being called and still allows more than 2 players to a hand then ya, bump up the initial raises. I vary it between 3x-5x depending on the situation. If you stick to 4x all the time then expect the table to expect that from you and call more often.
But, once you showdown a mediocre hand and they remembered you opened with a 4x raise with that - they'll be calling you more often. This can be a good thing as well.
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