Most of my play is based at Oceans 11 in Oceanside CA. The room is decent, updated, etc. My biggest qualm is that the 1/2 table is a 20-60 buy-in, so it is extremely shallow play.

Two questions:
-should one tighten their range/play to compensate for the lack of stack depth? or just play standard TAG (my preferred play style)?

-O11 offeres a 2/2nl game with 60-200 buy-in, should I play that instead? from what I have observed, these games have more action but idk if it is what I need.

I am leaning towards trying the 2/2 game, as the players and the stack sizing in the 1/2 game are wearing me down. No one ever folds, they dont talk or socialize (this is a big part of poker for me, why play if it seems like no one there actually wants to be there), and they win/call down with absolute garbage (even when i play my tightest, ill lose AKs to a V with 72o who calls and gets lucky on the river after flat calling all streets, etc.) Imagine getting pocket rockets, raising to $10 from btn to have it fold around- then have someone tell you that you overbet AA....... then the next hand raised to $23 and got 2 callers, then after that raised to $18 and got four callers. I mean, I love playing against Fish dont get me wrong, I just want to play better poker.


Thoughts? Should I find a different room to play, or move up to the next table?

I would never play at a table that had a cap below 100 BB. This structure is so awful that I am shocked that it has lasted more than one day.

I don't play short stacked poker ever, and am way less educated on it than I should be, but I believe your hands in general have more value, and it's not really ever a bad move to get it in with small pairs. Don't quote me on that though, I'm just relaying what Jonathan Little said on short stacked play at 1/2.

Yes, I would absolutely try the 2/2 game instead, because it has a 100 BB cap.

Thank you for the reply. This is interesting, most of what I have heard on here is that hands lose value the shorter your stack gets. Ultimately, I think it is a matter of observing how the rest of the table is playing it, and do the opposite.
i.e. if the table is loose because of the low stacks, tighten up and vice versa.

You need to tighten up your play if you're going to play the 60 BB game. I'd prefer the 2/2 game.

That's a very sad $1-2 game, I would be depressed to even see my name on that list for that game, no offense , find a better deeper buying game , at least 100bigs buying, you can't grow as a player playing a 30bigs buyin game imo

You need to look into the "short-stack strategy" if you are going to play the 1/2. Basically super tight and always shoving pre or on the flop. Very boring, and even though optimal for that game, probably still not much of a long term winner given the sake to stack ratio.

The 2/2 game sounds like it should be pretty much fine.

I thought short buy games were mostly extinct. I would skip that game entirely since that 2/2 game is offered. I used to play a 1/2 100 max game years ago that usually after a couple hours, if you won a couple stacks, at least half the table would be decently deep. The next game up was 2/5 uncapped, so I stuck with 1/2 and did alright.

Also what is with California? I've never played in that state, but it sounds like all their small (1/2) games are low buy-in, high raked crap fests? Is this really a thing there?

Right you are.

The staff in the past has stated that they want to keep the games going as long as they can with as many players as they can to maximize the rake.

(They got that part right.)

If you can only spew off $40 at a time their theory is that you will play longer.

Not sure I agree, if you can only afford $40 at a time and spew for an hour or two, unless you brought more than a few hundred with you, it's not hard to go broke with bad play.

But there are sometimes 8-10 "forty" games at the Commerce on any given afternoon with 40 more names on the waiting list on Fridays and Saturdays.

It's a thing in SoCal. Northern Cal (at least when I lived there) had normal buy-ins for 1/2.

Firstly, at this game, just buy in for 20 bb and try to keep said 20 bb on the table.

From there, recognize what hands perform well at shallow stack depths in wider range scenarios and base your strategy around that. This means you don't get to raise 44 or 98s or A4s or what have you for "implied odds". You're trying to make TPGK+ immediately on the flop and get the chips in.

In addition, by having a 20 bb stack, you should be doing essentially no calling of open raises unless it's a pristine spot (ex: UTG raises smallish and 4 people call, you have 55 BTN). Instead, you should be 3 bet jamming a ton. Like you're at a huge edge over a deep stack when you pick a hand up like AJs. Example why:

Someone opens MP to 4 bb (Standardish in live games), and someone calls. If you have a 20 bb stack, you can fire the rest in there without worrying about being 4 bet off your hand, or having to pay a whole stack, and knowing it's a value bet (if someone is opening 15% of hands, AJs stands to do fine when called and can take down dead $ as well). In many cases, three bet jamming the top 10% of hands could be an immensely profitable strategy.

So yeah, in summary, play hands that flop good made hands and three bet a ton.