Hey guys, like most of you it seems, I'm working on the Martin's bonus, which takes a significant chunk of my spare time...

Anyway, for variation I decided to play some shorthanded limit (4 players), and after a few sessions found myself increasingly frustrated (and in the red for the sessions). My main problem seems to be that I go to showdown too often and that I lose too often at showdown.

At least two of my opponents last session were of the "sponge type"; they call down with any part of the board and raise only on the river when they have a very strong hand. A call on the flop or turn means anything from draw to one or two pair. The only time they raise on earlier streets is with big starting hands; occasionally, they will raise the flop or the turn with a big draw.

Now I'm confused as what the best strategy is here. SH you can't wait for big hands and hope to hit flops hard, since then you'll get blinded out. Moreover, you should buy a fair number of pots, since you can't expect to win a lot of showdowns. However, against the players I described I find it very hard to make them lay down a hand, unless they have absolutely nothing. I'd guess that a continuation bet on the flop gets called 90% of the time. I experimented with other strategies, like checkraising the turn when a scarecard hits, but that doesn't seem to work either.

Final problem are my crying calls. In a full ring I don't have a problem folding tptk or two pair when the board looks ugly or when there is heavy action, but in SH I still seem to overvalue these hands. Should hands like the following be standard folds? If I manage to save 4BB every session by folding these, that would be a worthwile thing, but I'm always afraid that that would set me up for more bluffs...

Hand 1. I have AQo on the button. CO=UTG raises (he always raises first in, with any pair, two paint, SC). I reraise. blinds fold, CO calls. Flop: Q64r. He leads, I raise, he calls. Turn: 9, putting two clubs out. Check, bet, raise, call. River: Ac, giving me two pair but making a flush possible. He leads, I... ?
I called here ("because the pot was big") but he showed KQc for the flush.

Hand 2. I have KK in the SB. CO raises, I reraise, only CO calls. Flop: KJ6, two spades. I lead, CO calls. Turn: 5s, making flush possible (I have no spade). I lead, CO raises, I reraise, CO caps. River: another spade. I check, CO bets, I call and lose to JJ with a spade.

Hand 3. I have AK and open-raise. Only BB calls (as he would with any 2). Flop: K45r. Check, bet, call. At this point I know he either has a pair or a straight draw. Turn: 2. Check, bet, call. River: 4. BB bets, I?

On hands like these should I simply try and minimize my losses when they turn sour?
On what type of hands should I be looking to make a profit when buying pots is not really possible? Any techniques for buying pots that work in these games? If showdown requirements are very high, should I be more conservative with hands like tptk and try to reach showdown cheaply? Focus more on drawing type hands and less on high-cards and pairs? What is your general plan in the hand when you flop tptk? Second pair?

Thanks in advance!

what level are you playing at?

the first two hands just seem like unlucky negative variance. not sure about the third -- depends on reads.

if this is lower limit, i think the theme should be "value bet/raise". don't even try to push people off hands by getting in pissing contests, as the only ones that will fold are one you're probably beating.

my basic rule of thumb in HU pots was to aim to get 1 or 2 bets per round in with TP (limited to 1 if they seem to like their hand), get as many bets in as possible with 2pr or better (they'll call with a part of the board and may even bluff at scare cards), try to get a cheap showdown with middle pair. for draws, i used free card plays with some success.

in multiway pots, i tried to play SSHE style (basically a little tighter, but not much). there's really not much else to say with everybody in the pot.

HU skills are useful in blind battles, and slightly modified HU skills are useful in any HU pot (it's a bit different when you're playing against one of three other random hands that chose to play).

I would also say that blind play is critical. three basic points (you probably already know these):

1) if someone raises and you want to play your SB hand, you should usually reraise it to avoid giving BB good odds to call with a wide range of hands.

2) if it's unraised to you in the SB with callers, complete with a wide range of hands (e.g., any two suited, and connectors over 67, any A, any K, any two broadway, etc.). this assumes BB is not aggro, if he is, find a new table.


3) call a raise from the BB with a similar range of hands that you complete the SB with as outlined above.