Weekend Update

So I played a little this weekend. I didn't play the volume I wanted to, but I had some things I had to get done around the house. Friday night I put in a small volume, only about an hour or so, while 4 tabling. I won a very small amount, nothing to really mention. Saturday night I put in a little more volume and decided to take a brief shot at the next level. I only two tabled that session and was just testing the waters. I didn't want to play too aggro, and probably played a little nitty, but I thought it was the best way to play. Especially because it was a weekend night and most of the players I have played on weekends tend to play way too LAG.

I ended up about 1 buyin, which was a good result for the short session. I always wait for the big blind. I don't like posting, then feeling like I have to defend my money if somebody raises behind, especially with no read yet. So I try to come in late and watch the table for a few hands. I usually will play really tight when I first get to a table to see who the LAG's are, find out where the shortstackers and nits are. So the first hand out I get AK suited in the BB with the SB raising. I three bet him, and he four bets me. I flat call, again with no read yet. The flop comes K-K-9 with two diamonds. He checks, I bet a little less than half the pot, he folds. It was a really weird play. He put in half his money before the flop on a four bet, then folds on the flop to a small bet. I ran into a few tough decisions and probably made some good folds, not sure though.

On the other table, one guy kept three betting my raises. I would raise with a good steal hand in position and he kept three betting me. Again, I wasn't sure what kinds of hands he was playing. The only info I had was that he had solid numbers and seemed like a winning player. A few hands later I get AK suited and raise and the same player three bets me again. There was a calling station that was playing about 80% of the hands and flat calls in the SB. I four bet to iso the calling station and the three bettor folds. Then the calling station re-raises. It was a really weird play. He has a hand that's not strong enough to re-raise, but then five bet before the flop? The only thing I could put him on was 66-QQ, maybe AA or KK but not likely. He didn't have much left, and against a loose player like this, I'm not folding. SO I push him in and he calls. He has QQ and I have AK of hearts. The flop comes all hearts and he is left broke. So I decided to end the session a little later. I was up about a buyin, and considered that a good night.

I tried to stick to my small ball approach, and never raised more than 3X's the BB. I kept the pots small to keep weak hands in and was reading players well. One thing I noticed is that the players at the next level were a lot more aggressive on the flop then at the previous level. It led me to start to think about the different things you need to master as you move up the cash game ladder.

In the micro limits, the players are generally bad and the thing you need to master is preflop hand selection. You want to play your hand strong and play good hands in good position. The players do not really consider what you have and will usually only play their hand. If they have a pair or a draw they will call down or raise. They don't consider whether they are beat, they usually think they are being bluffed and will call down. That is one thing I have noticed about bad players, they put way too much value on bluffing and think it is a major part of the game. Yes bluffing is a part of the game, and can be profitable. But it should only be used in the right situations and usually heads up or at most three handed.

In the low limits, the players are a little better, but there are new skill sets you need to master. Again, you want to focus on preflop hand selection, but now you are also looking to play flops and isolate weak players. Raising in position with a good hand, and protecting hands on the flop are a big thing to master. Your opponents will usually play pretty straightforward. They will call OOP with top pair or better and they tend to try to slowplay a little too much. If they are OOP I have noticed that they love to check raise with strong hands. So you need to really focus on playing position and really start refining your hand reading skills. You will learn to spot weakness in checks and player profiling becomes important.

In the next levels, I have noticed that preflop aggression and isolating is becoming more important. Bluffing is rare and you are looking to play a hand in position against LAG's. So that's my brief observation so far. I'll keep the education going. But that is just my brief read so far.