tl;dr (but some of you guys owe me one)

I used to be an amazing hand selector... Then I moved to Vegas, started playing uncapped, stopped getting dealt coolers (in my favor), and realized my only steady earn was value-bluffing the nits who sat too deep and using my image to stack the ballers who thought I was always bluffing no matter how much money I put in the pot. As long as the stacks were deep, I would play any two cards that remotely resembled a hand from just about any position (moreso in late position obv). It was a good (albeit tiring) strategy that worked well for a few years...

I'm back in CA now and the game has changed a lot. Many of the 5-10's are capped and even in the bigger games (which are much rarer than they were a few years ago) it seems the nits are sitting with stacks they are comfortable with. In addition to that, people just aren't making the errors they used to with regards to betting when they can't call a raise and folding in spots when they should obv call. And of course, there are a lot less ballers at the tables due to the economy.

Basically it seems like you have to make the best hand a lot more often to drag a pot these days and the speculative starting hands aren't getting paid off nearly as much as they used to due to pot control, etc. So... I've come to the realization (a lot of poker friends + a really icy stretch has helped me come to this realization) that I can no longer consistently spot my opponents the best of it pre and expect a steady earn. It's time to bring a gun to the gunfight I guess you could say...

Having said all that, in no way do I want to start nitting it up. My #1 strength has always been hand/people reading and I like my post-flop game a lot. I also have more live experience than just about anyone I play with and the fortitude to make the most difficult of plus ev plays (if I see it, I do it, no matter how thin the play is or how bad I've been running).

Every couple years (usually after a hefty downswing ) I roughly chart out the starting hands I think I should be playing in each position (unopened, limped in front, raised in front, etc). It's kind of a periodic back to the basics fundamentals check- and I'm in the process of doing it now.

What I'm looking for itt is 2 things:

1. What exact hands (given the background provided) do you think I can profitably open utg in a typical 2011 CA 5-10 or 10-20 game (100-150 bbs effective, a few nits, a fish or 2, some people trying to make it as pros, etc)? Once I establish a solid utg opening range, I believe the rest of the chart is pretty easy to fill out. ***Please be very specific if you reply (with hands and reasoning) as I'm looking to really dissect this/not leave any out or keep any in that don't belong...

2. I currently have no open-limping range (from any position) under typical conditions, but a lot of winning players I know do. Should I have one? Why or why not?

Thanks for any feedback. I realize this is entry level stuff to a degree, and I think I know the answers, but I'd love to get a consensus as my recent run like ************************ has me questioning just about everything I think/do lately .

Much Appreciated

Move back to Vegas where they respect your raises?

Being so open with your introspection and need to adapt is awesome. If I wasn't so tired I'd give a proper reply.

I do this as well...until now.

In a way, I think you just showed me what was wrong with my game -> Reason.

I'm gonna be a total maniac on the tables from here on out...lol.

Sigh yawn merge

Thx. I don't think it's too ******ed of an exercise for anyone to do periodically. Looking forward to a hand list.

Not sure what you mean?

Where do u usually play in ca? I still find opening wide range of hands is still pretty profitable in ca. Maybe u r just running bad?

play suited connectors 56+ random suited gappers, suited broadways, and kxss+

I want to meet the man that can make KXs UTG a +EV play. Even 56s is going to be suspect. We get overflushed a whole bunch. We can't fold out bigger pairs. So our value is trips and straights (which occur once in a long moon). And in some of those cases, we have the ignorant side or weaker kicker. Dump it unless some bigtime drooler is in the bb (so you have position).

Just get on pokerstove and look up the top 10%-15% of hands. From here, adjust accordingly and take out or add hands depending on playability with these stack depths and donk lineup (definitely play A2s-A5s and A10s+). Thus we obviously take out KJo and QJo and add some of the smaller pairs.

Easy game. We move on.

All over SoCal. And no doubt I'm running like ****. But maybe you are just running good? Or maybe our definitions of wide are just different? As mentioned in my op, I used to open a ton of hands profitably because games were uncapped, the nits were exploitable, and the big payday was always there because there were ballers/fish in every lineup overplaying every hand/never pot controlling.

Times have changed... I still want to open as wide as possible, I just don't want to give as much away pre any more as they are giving away a lot less post. Surely you've noticed this trend over the last year or so?

This is what I had in my preliminary revision:

AA
AKs
AK
AQs
AQ
AJs
AJ
ATs
AT
A9s
A8s
A7s
A6s
A5s
A4s
A3s
A2s
KK
KQs
KQ
KJs
KTs
QQ
QJs
QTs
JJ
JTs
JT
TT
T9s
99
98s
88
87s
77
76s
66
65s
55
54s
44
33
22

Anyone have an issue with this list as a rough guide (obv adjusting to game conditions)? Do any not belong (the smallest pps, the smallest scs, AT, QTs, JT, etc)? Am I missing any?

Please be specific. Thx.

I think you should start with a button range (for random/unknown players in the blinds) and then work your way backwards from there.

Dgaf's standard button range has approximately 1326 combos. It would be a long exercise to start there.

i hope you're not talking about the commerce. you must not be talking about the commerce.

My button opening range is still going to be everything under the sun provided stacks and villains are normal/average...

Thoughts on the list I provided? Any fundamental flaws? Any reason you can think of to have an open-limping range?

Obv it's going to be hard for you to weigh in because you don't play live. Just think of online just after the UIGEA when games were still soft- but getting tighter/tougher. That's as close a comparison as I can come up with. Always appreciate your posts/thoughts.

also question is a bit broad, because i open different ranges based on different tables. but i guess if i were always the slaggiest maybe i don't adjust as much?

anyways, your range looks fine, i would prob eliminate a few of the lower connectors on tougher -or- laggier tables, and add in a few suited 1-2 gappers to nitty / bad tables.

This means you are playing like 19% UTG. Personally I think that's too high and too ambitious, but not reckless.

I like how live players say "I open a wide range UTG and its +EV." Yeah right, how would they know? They would have to track their results for every hand played for like 48 years.

i'd probably take out the AT, JT, 56s, 54s and be pretty happy with it. 200bb deep I like your list.

Only played there twice. Had a real bad experience the first time- had lurkers at the cage and got followed outside at like 5 am after playing short-handed 10 20 all night and waiting for a cab. I can't get a box there and don't like player banks. Played downstairs the second time and had a much better experience, but that was with friends and we left mid-day. Sample sizes obv, but that first time was real sketchy...

Why? You don't notice the games changing/getting worse there?

What's your standard utg opening range? PM me if you play with too many people on here. Thx.

oh, i guess i can't speak for the sketchiness, as i hadn't had too many probs, but i do usually make it obv i'm dumping my loot into my player's bank when i leave.

yeah, games have changed and got worse everywhere, but not _that_ bad. generally yes, people don't stack off as much, learning to pot control, all those things. but we talk about this stuff all the time, and i find many of the regs here are adept at coming up with different lines to counter these types of plays.

my opening range is almost identical to yours, except maybe i generally throw out a6-a7/a8, and like i said in other post, tighten up a few of the connectorish hands at tough or laggy tables.

Thx for the feedback. The bold is so true...

Thx... Your location made me lol. How goes that transition? I did it in '06 and was tilted to death at the pace for a long time (still am really).

maybe this response is reflective of the fact that i've been running like fat albert in the houston marathon, but:

historically, i've opened all pocket pairs from all positions. lately i've started to consider either open mucking small pairs (22-55) from early position (UTG -- UTG+2 in full ring play) or limping along if there have been limpers ahead of me. i've been on the bad side of set over set pretty often lately, though, so maybe that is skewing my view.

the reverse implied odds of opening ATo UTG seem to kill the value of the hand. so often you are up against AQ / AJ who call your raise and then win a nice pot when you both flop a pair.

the medium suited aces seem to play the best when you can over flush someone. these hands are the some of the only ones that i might consider open limping. you give K4s, Q6s, etc. a chance to get it in drawing dead when you don't open for a raise.

and i think i take out 87s and below from an UTG opening range. i still like 89s and 9Ts. the 76 and 87 seem to have limited opportunities for a caller of a preflop raise to connect hard on the same flop that you crush. obv i still typically play those hands in position.

Yeah, my main adjustment is to just not play every hand dealt to me any more--> this thread...

And I would argue that the change in games is a lot more significant/drastic than you are suggesting. Almost every pro I know is having their worst year ever in '11.