$1 small blind $2 big blind $4 to straddle if ya feel like firing it up. Most games at this level play pretty soft.

^ PLEASE RUN IT OUT. WHAT WOULD I HAVE HAD, HAD I CALLED.

tag is definitely the way to go in 1/2, these donks don't pay attention to your actions at all lmfao.

I must be in the worst spot for live poker ever in nw wi. They only spread 1-2 and the games have about 6 rocks that only play the nuts or aa. A good night on a weekend is 300 profit. The local 1-2 game at the bowling alley however is really juicy

I know that its by far the most annoying game to play in the world. Just play 2/5

I've been reading it is very profitable. . . ?

There are a few simple rules I follow if I want to profit from a low stakes cash game.

A) Chips on the table
- 1/2 generally has a $200 or $300 max buy-in. Make sure that most players at the table have this or more in their stacks before you sit down. The rake and bad beat jackpot will take $5 to $6 per hand off the table. With card shufflers they can deal about 40hands/hour meaning $150-$200 per hour is falling down the chute....if 4 of 9 players are playing $100 or less stacks...at best you can only "hit & run"....or just play for fun.

B) Relative position & inducing the short stacks. If UTG opens for $8 and two callers, you can smooth call here with your large hands as many times the short stack ($50) yet to act will push very light here...any A ...and two suited or connected....it's an induced squeeze that traps a lot of money as you have relative position to the short stack. You can very profitably re-push when it gets back to you.

C) Follow the 5% rule on set mining - try not to deviate as you will be temped...calling a $10 raise when the relative stack size is only $90 will kill your profit potential. Here is simple math I use at the table.

$ you have to call x 2 x 10 = relative stack size needed
ex. raised ($10) x 2 = 20 x 10 = $200 - you can deviate slightly in multi-way pots or if you sense a huge hand AA or KK from raiser and you feel you will stack them.

D) It's ok to play tight...most players will not even notice how few hands you play. Use your folding time to assess each opponents weaknesses and pre-determine your actions (bet sizes..bluff sizes...river play...two barreling) so that when the opportunity arises...you can maximize your value against that particular opponent

E) Play NUT hands - Pocket Pairs, Suited Aces, J10 - flopping sets & hitting nut flushes have huge implied odds..the latter when your opponent hits the non-nut flush.

F) Fancy Play Syndrome. Low limit Cash Games are all about correctly value betting your good hands, folding your weak hands & minimizing your investment in your medium strength hands.

G) "Pot Odds" from the blinds. I have lost more money calling from the small blind into a six way pot (pot odds) with hands like Q5 suited....flopping a flush draw or two pair.....you know the rest....if you play these type of hands...please exercise pot control when you encounter resistance.

H) AK - a unique hand in low limit cash games. I have found it far more profitable to limp with this hand...especially in a very passive pre-flop game. Other Players frequently limp with AQ and AJ and want to "trap" weak aces. These two hands pay "very" well as you can value bet heavy on the flop and turn...and getting the pot committed at the river....not to mention Ax usually will pay 3 streets if you properly value bet each street.

Hope this helps...but if rule (A) is not there...the rest do not matter IMO

was gonna post my own thread and then I saw this one. My thoughts are this:

a) TAG is defenitely the way to go. 90% of the players dont pay attention to your actions. The 10% that do, you must identify and then just play any given hand in a little bit of a less straight-forward way. Kind of like how you would handle a good, well-thinking online reg. The other 90%, just play TAG.

b) 1/2 is fucking so easyyyyyyyyyyyyy. People that say move up to 2/5 are just DEGENERATES. I have logged about 30 hours playing 1/2 since black friday and have around 2200 profit. 2200 profit in limited time is not bad at all.

c) That 90% do very obvious things that I guess I can't specify on because of how hands, board textures, betting patterns naturally fluctuate in NLHE (if that makes any sense) Exploit that 90% and you will be very profitable regardless if you are picking up good hands or not (good hands obv help)

d) fucking feast on these pathethic old people. yes I know it is wrong. so are most things that people do in this world. feast on their IRA's

 

Originally Posted by haonhack

for $1/2, i like it

This is dead on IMO for 1/2 . Great post.

 

Originally Posted by tedSTRETCH

I must be in the worst spot for live poker ever in nw wi. They only spread 1-2 and the games have about 6 rocks that only play the nuts or aa. A good night on a weekend is 300 profit. The local 1-2 game at the bowling alley however is really juicy

i agree TAG is the way to go but if I play any M-TH at my casino its like this. This is the only time i look to push the action a bit more. The hourly still sucks, ur basically just very slowly grinding up $12/hr since you get no action so ur constantly trying to force the action to get paid.

But weekends are a different story, more drinking and gambling which is what TAG needs to be most profitable.

1. Play on weekends or after 5pm. Tables are softer due to tired guys getting off work and the drinkers/partyppl on the weekends.

2. Get to know the regs over time. Avoid the tighter, stronger players who have common poker sense.

3. Take a break when hungry, tired, etc. Most of my mistakes usually occur when im hungry/fatigued and don't want to get up and take a break.

 

Originally Posted by Resindog

Every session I hear the following several times per night after folding for several orbits I make a big raise or re-raise PF:

"Uh oh, he hasn't played a hand in an hour and he's raising. Must be a monster!..... I call"

I get this from time to time also. When I hear this and the table acknowledges that, I tend to widen my range and put a few more bluffs out there, maybe even show one. Works well for me.

Same here. If you're not limping in every other hand and fold for a few orbits, some people perceive you as super tight. Gotta love 1/2 live lol

 

Originally Posted by 2Hotti

H) AK - a unique hand in low limit cash games. I have found it far more profitable to limp with this hand...especially in a very passive pre-flop game. Other Players frequently limp with AQ and AJ and want to "trap" weak aces. These two hands pay "very" well as you can value bet heavy on the flop and turn...and getting the pot committed at the river....not to mention Ax usually will pay 3 streets if you properly value bet each street.

I agree with this alot, plus c-betting with A high in this game is not that profitable either, at least where i play its not.

Also, flatting with big hands (aa, kk, qq) when a agro drunk donkey is yet to act behind pays off well in this game.