Change my style of play?

You are winning 9bb/hr and you want to switch a style that's winning 6bb/hr and is also criticized as not being proper?

FYP

Change your style no. Add some variety vs players that KNOW you are hyper aggressive AND have made the proper adjustment to exploit your current style by playing tighter vs them. Are your stats showing you that your win rate is going down as a function of time suggesting some players are now trying to exploit your deviation from a GTO strategy?

Banana,

Step away from the keyboard. You're obviously drunk.

Feels like this thread is just going to create an unending debate, but here goes...

Yes, we should all strive to improve our game. But that doesn't mean making wholesale style changes if the net effect is simply to lower variance. There's a mountain of data and math proving that playing a max-value game nets more profit long-term, even if it means having to stomach higher variance.

There are lots of things you can do to improve your game, like reining in the aggression in spots where it makes sense to rein it in, and finding some incremental additional value in spots that are somewhat marginal, or might benefit from a little more thought before acting.

I'm not a coach, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt, but...

I notice you tend to use smaller sizes with all your pre-flop raises, which I think is a mistake in high-rake low-stakes games.

I also notice (as have many others) that your reads are often at odds with the reveals in your hand histories, suggesting that you may need to pay closer attention to and think more about what your opponents are doing and why. Many of your reads tend to lean towards the extremes, with most of your opponents described as crushers or idiots, followed by hand histories in which the crushers play badly and the idiots play well.

You also seem to make a lot of plays that don't make logical sense - taking aggro lines in spots where you can't credibly rep thick value, or taking passive lines with strong but vulnerable hands.

Lastly, I suspect you have a tendency many of us fall prey to - disregarding what our instincts say, in favor of doing something "fancy" or otherwise ill-advised.

I think if you just increased your pre-flop raise size slightly, work on developing your reads more, listen to your gut, and avoid fancy plays, your win rate will improve quickly and dramatically.

Half of your hand histories have somebody telling you that you're just clicking buttons. The other half is mostly where you try to do fancy things and rationalize them with player descriptions and otherwise flimsy reads. Just stop doing that. If you're making 9bb/hour then there probably aren't major issues with what you're doing otherwise.

Being able to play aggressively is good. However, if you reduce some of your button clicking and fancy play syndrome leaks, you should be able to do better, and beat higher stakes where effective aggression actually works better against players who can fold.

So just tighten vs regs who know you and play your normal style vs ppl who dont know you

Ok well I guess by popular vote I'll just keep doing what I'm doing

bizarre thread

GG makes weird posts saying to limp everything. You make some weird plays with bluffs that don't represent anything, etc.

If what you are doing is working, keep it up. I would think an aggressive image would usually be an advantage. Most low stakes players are straightforward, so if it is hard to read whether you have value or a bluff or semibluff, that should be helpful.

However, it isn't necessary to play real aggressive to beat 1/3. It is easy just to build pots with good hands against loose passives. Then be able to bluff and semibluff in the right situations, when most players are only betting their good hands.

I don't understand GG's posts about limping. If you have a good hand and people will call with junk, then obviously build the pot. There are selected situations where open limping or limping behind may be a reasonable option.

I would consider making a symbolic change to your game like wearing a different hat or something. Or maybe you could add a chip protector to your arsenal of tricks. Some regs may think the change in your image correlates with a change in your playing style and misadjust, which could, if variance is on your side, result in your wr reaching double-figures per hour.

I'm confident he could pull off wearing a boutonniere.

Having regs think you are agro is an advantage, because it is harder for them to read your hand than if you played ABC.

I used to wear gloves but my hands got sweaty, since I only really use my right hand to shuffle shuffle chips I started wearing a glove on that hand only.

Not sure why I've been dragged into this thread, but I think overall this would be my opinion. Do what works well *for you*. Put yourself in spots which *you* are comfortable with, and avoid spots where *you* have no idea what you're doing. Play to *your* strengths and play away from *your* weaknesses. It won't be the same for everyone, so copping someone else's style seems pointless to me.

If you're shipping 9 bb/hr over 1000 hours, you've certainly gotten off to a good start in your game. But, you also have to be honest with yourself. IIRC, didn't you win a BBJ... or am I thinking of someone else? Are you including this in your winrate? If so (?), aren't you really shipping at sub 6 bb/hr... of which there is no shame in doing, just sayin'?

Also, try to keep an even keel. The long haul in this game is long. Results over any 1000 hours stretch is pretty lol. I've mentioned this in the Winrates thread, but my personal best over 1016 hours is ~3x as large as my personal worst over 1307 hours.

Good luck and gogogo, imo!

GcluelessNLnoobwhowassittingat9.4bb/hraftermyfirst2000hoursG

Two best takeaways from this thread for any lurkers:

1. GG has an amazing response, as is often the case. And is more polite than I would be.

2. If you see anyone wearing a glove on his right hand shuffling chips, and none on the other ... call down, or raise, wide.

*trying to continue to ignore this bait thread*

I bluff a more in tournament games and limit games. The action is so crazy in NL where people will call down big bets with 2nd pair of whatever, so I don't pure bluff that much.

Generally, playing aggressive makes you harder to read. The exception is a maniac, who you know is almost always going to bet, and you can often just call down with good hands postlfop.