.25/.5 nl with 10 ppl

[madh83]

I'm used playing with 6 people and started playing tables of 10 recently. I am having horrible luck( and just some bad playing) with tables of 10 so far. I noticed that in tables of 10 people tend to play tighter, and on Ultimate Bet at least the players all seemed pretty good. I'm use to playing fairly aggresively, but I feel like what i do with 6 ppl doesn't work with 10. I know that odds are better that someone starts with a better hand with more ppl at the table, but I just can't seem to make the adjustment to 10. Any advice you can give me about playing with more people would help!

[strewgs]

You have to show more patience, play more premium starting hands or if you can get in cheap with some suited connectors late in position do so. In saying that it often takes more than just top pair which at a 6 player table is often pretty good. Furthermore, at this level the ability of other players is fair at best so if you start facing resistance and raises, you should be prepared to fold mediocre hands. In my experience players at this level play the cards in front of them and aside from the maniacs will not likely be bluffing. Hope this advice is correct and helps, I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I've had great success at this level using this strategy.

[gorckat]

Patience is the correct strategy, as strewgs stated. It can be awhile between pots you take down, but its worth it.

Also be attentive to how the table shifts- as people drop off the table and it hits 5 or 6 people, pick up on the aggression and then slack back off when it fills up again.

[madh83]

ahh patience, yea thats definitely something I need to learn to do...Thanks, I'll try to play that way, seems like its been very hard for me though.

[strewgs]

Originally Posted by gorckat

Also be attentive to how the table shifts- as people drop off the table and it hits 5 or 6 people, pick up on the aggression and then slack back off when it fills up again.

Great point, tables often shift between full and 6 people and you can really take advantage by being more agressive when it is smaller especially if you are being patient and have a TAG image.

I never really thought of that before....good post!

[madh83]

What hands would you guys still raise with pre-flop with 10? I've played middle pocket pairs pretty aggresively before, should I relax with those? I also see people going all-in with AK offsuit, but with 10 ppl seems like they get busted more often than not

[strewgs]

With a full buy-in or close to it raise with Level 1 hands AA, KK, QQ, AKs, maybe AKo in position. Short stacked you might go all in with AKo but its going to be coinflip or 60/40 at best. Other hands JJ, 1010 I would raise only from LP when its folded to me or only 1 limper. Most pp's JJ or less you are trying to get in cheap to try to hit a set or hope for a low flop and see where you stand at that point. This is where the patience we spoke about comes in...you have to be prepared to fold JJ on flop or turn based on flop cards / betting, but I see lots of people go broke on these kinds of hands because they look so good but they are not most times.

[Lord Mushroom]

Originally Posted by madh83

What hands would you guys still raise with pre-flop with 10?

This is highly dependant on circumstances. An advice would be that if it is folded to you, the more players behind you the fewer hands you can raise with. This goes for 6-seat tables too.

Thus the more players at a table, the tighter you must be.

Often there will be a caller or more in front of you. To raise or not in those situations depend on what hand you have and what range of hands you think the callers could have. The tighter the callers are, the better your hand must be for a raise to be correct.

Mark that what makes a hand good is not only how likely it is to win at showdown. Hands with good potential to become monsters such as suited cards, connectors and pairs become better the bigger your stack and the other stacks are, and convential high cards become worse. This is due to something called "implied odds" and "reverse implied odds".

The biggest of the big hands are still good, though, especially in 2-handed pots and when up against small stacks. And the weakest of the speculative hands are still weak especially in the circumstances mentioned in the last sentence.

Edit:
On higher limits some people play too tight. Then it is time to loosen up a little.

[madh83]

I know what implied odds are but what are reverse implied odds?

[Lord Mushroom]

Originally Posted by madh83

I know what implied odds are but what are reverse implied odds?

http://www.pokertips.org/strategy/drawing.php