Small Ball At Low Limit Ps

[Zeatrix 0]

I just got DNs Power Hold'em Strategy book and read the Small Ball chapter. Although I was familiar with most of the concepts I hadn't tried it in cash games.Let me just say that DN owes me $100 :)All the small pots I won didnt nearly cover the big pots that I lost, most money I lost trying to draw cheap to straights/flushes that never got there. Also, for example managed to loose a big pot with KK on a Q66 when I checked trying to induce a bluff (following the reasoning that either I'm beat or way ahead) only to loose to a guy that hit a set when he took a free card.My point is, I wasn't even close to making a profit despite playing by "the book".So I guess I'm mostly curious, do people use these strategies on PS and does it work for you?

[kkot 0]

I just got DNs Power Hold'em Strategy book and read the Small Ball chapter. Although I was familiar with most of the concepts I hadn't tried it in cash games.Let me just say that DN owes me $100 :)All the small pots I won didnt nearly cover the big pots that I lost, most money I lost trying to draw cheap to straights/flushes that never got there. Also, for example managed to loose a big pot with KK on a Q66 when I checked trying to induce a bluff (following the reasoning that either I'm beat or way ahead) only to loose to a guy that hit a set when he took a free card.What kind of player were you trying to induce bluffs from?My point is, I wasn't even close to making a profit despite playing by "the book".How many hands did you play? If it only a couple thousand then your sample is pretty meaningless, isn't it?

[Zeatrix 0]

I knew people was going to say that before hand but I wanted to hear what others have to say.Sure it's a small set of hands but I'm more concerned about the feeling of it than the actual results. This based on the way the average PS low limit player plays. My feeling is they rarely commit big parts of their stacks unless they have something which is kind of the idea behind small ball that they do, or did I misunderstand something...

[mtdesmoines 3]

I just got DNs Power Hold'em Strategy book and read the Small Ball chapter. Although I was familiar with most of the concepts I hadn't tried it in cash games.Let me just say that DN owes me $100 :)All the small pots I won didnt nearly cover the big pots that I lost, most money I lost trying to draw cheap to straights/flushes that never got there. Also, for example managed to loose a big pot with KK on a Q66 when I checked trying to induce a bluff (following the reasoning that either I'm beat or way ahead) only to loose to a guy that hit a set when he took a free card.My point is, I wasn't even close to making a profit despite playing by "the book".So I guess I'm mostly curious, do people use these strategies on PS and does it work for you?

:eatingpopcornface:

[Zeatrix 0]

:eatingpopcornface:

Ok, I was hoping to get a discussion going, but never mind. Useless forums. I'll just go back to killing in limit instead...

[trystero 0]

"All the small pots I won didnt nearly cover the big pots that I lost, most money I lost trying to draw cheap to straights/flushes that never got there. Also, for example managed to loose a big pot with KK on a Q66 when I checked trying to induce a bluff (following the reasoning that either I'm beat or way ahead) only to loose to a guy that hit a set when he took a free card."I don't really see the problem. You admit that you lost because of 1) draws not hitting (they will hit their fair share of the time) and 2) from your opponent hitting a 2 outer which won't happen all that often. So you have the answer in front of you; play more hands.FWIW typically in the Q66 board you should bet KK for value on 3 streets trying to maximize against weaker pairs (like TT/QJ). You should only check against the right type of player. The standard line against an unknown is to bet x3.

[Danege 1]

I just got DNs Power Hold'em Strategy book and read the Small Ball chapter. Although I was familiar with most of the concepts I hadn't tried it in cash games.

You do realise that small ball is a tournament poker thing right?

[LJB723 0]

You do realise that small ball is a tournament poker thing right?

^This.

[Daemon10 0]

^^ not to mention its geared towards long structured tournaments, not fast paced tournaments, so playing small ball in cash games and turbos is a no no.

[Lacedog73 0]

Hey Zeatrix,I use the small ball approach as outlined in Daniels book. So far i have experienced some good sucess using it and am very satisfied with my play. I don't play at any impressive stakes (not yet) but thus far I have managed to turn my $30 dollar initial BR up to just over $300. I personally feel that small ball gives me a much better chance of winning because it expands my range of playalble hands in different situation and allow me to open up my game. The small bets allow me to controll the size of the pot and when i do bluff and get caught i put much less at stake. I have had those same situation where i pay off a small set with an overpair, but those situations occur so far and few between that i don't really worry about it. I have on occasion have been able to get away from the hand as well. I also think that playing this way has helped read my opponents better, because it forces me to really ask questions about how my opponent would play there hand pre and post flop.I play under the same usnername on PS if you wanna check me out on sharkscope, unfortunantly i don't play large enough cash games yet to be tracked. However, i do use poker-tracking.com to keep track of my online session and will be glad to provide proof that i actually am in the black. I am aslo always up for poker strategy discussion so send me a message if you want to discuss some small ball strategy.hope this helps answer your question.

[Zeatrix 0]

You do realise that small ball is a tournament poker thing right?

Well mainly and that's the only place I've been trying it before but reading DNs blogs and some of his comments in the forum I deduced that he uses it in cash games too, like in his current challenge. Did I deduce wrongly?

[Zeatrix 0]

I don't really see the problem. You admit that you lost because of 1) draws not hitting (they will hit their fair share of the time) and 2) from your opponent hitting a 2 outer which won't happen all that often. So you have the answer in front of you; play more hands.

The thing I noticed though when playing was the players tended to shut down completely when a straight or flush card hit making it hard to extract any value from them. Maybe I was unlucky, just looking for comments if indeed players tend to pay off possible straights flushes to a higher degree than I noticed, remember I'm mainly a limit player so don't have a lot of NL cash game experience.

[Lacedog73 0]

Well mainly and that's the only place I've been trying it before but reading DNs blogs and some of his comments in the forum I deduced that he uses it in cash games too, like in his current challenge. Did I deduce wrongly?

While the book is advertised as an approach to deep stack tournament play. Its is very applicable strategy for cash games, because cash games are played deep stack, especially no-limit.