Seat: 1 Leason
Seat: 2 SLOPPJOE
Seat: 3 Stoneburg
Seat: 4 chriss1313
Seat: 5 Berbatov
Seat: 6 Mybook
Seat: 7 4_joker
Seat: 8 gotdotnet
Seat: 9 Kouddi
Seat: 10 sudda (Dealer)

Standard loose table. Sloppjoe seems loose but is pretty new so I am not sure, gotdotnet seems passive but has a monster stack, slopp and I have about equal stacks.

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OpeningBetRound
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Leason : Posts small blind 0.10
SLOPPJOE : Posts big blind 0.20
Stoneburg : Calls for 0.20
chriss1313 : Folds
Berbatov : Calls for 0.20
Mybook : Calls for 0.20
4_joker : Folds
gotdotnet : Calls for 0.20
Kouddi : Folds
sudda : Folds
Leason : Folds
SLOPPJOE : Bets 0.20
Stoneburg : Calls for 0.20
Berbatov : Calls for 0.20
Mybook : Calls for 0.20
gotdotnet : Calls for 0.20
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AJo is the worst hand I will play UTG. Nobody shows strength behind me so I consider it an auto-call when BB minibets (have i mentioned I hate minibets? Well I do). I wouldn't call a real bet.

Flop $2.10 [Kc]
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SLOPPJOE : Bets 0.20
Stoneburg : Raises for 2.00
Berbatov : Folds
Mybook : Folds
gotdotnet : Calls for 2.00
SLOPPJOE : Calls for 1.80
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Well that's about as pretty as a flop gets. I get the nut straight but there's a flushdraw out so there is NO way I am going to slowplay. When I get TWO callers I'm thinking "Two pair/set/TP and flush draw". KQ is a pretty common hand to see people miniraise with.

Turn $8.10 [Ks]
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SLOPPJOE : Bets 0.20
Stoneburg : Calls for 0.20
gotdotnet : Calls for 0.20
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Ok that card felt like a slap in the face. Ok, I have the flush draw but I could be drawing dead (against a boat) or slim (against a flush). When the BB minibets I'm also not sure if I have ever seen him bet any other way, some people just don't seem to be aware that they can bet more than the minimum. I don't know what to do, the bet is too small to fold to but the board looks scary... so I just call, I get an overcall behind me.

River $8.70
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SLOPPJOE : Bets 0.20
Stoneburg : Calls for 0.20
gotdotnet : Calls for 0.20
SLOPPJOE : Shows cards
Stoneburg : Shows cards

He minibets again! Now I am thinking that I'm probably dead, either to a boat or a flush but I can't fold to this bet. If it gets raised behind me I'm going to lay it down though.

Results later.

hmmmm.. This is tricky. That was a very bad card for you and he allowing you to get to a cheap showdown. The only problem is normally once you call the first one, they often bet big on the river. Since he didn't make you pay, I probably just call as a lot of hands beat you now. If if are still ahead, you will not likely be called if you raise.

plus I didn't notice that you had the so seeing the river cheap isn't bad.

Result was a bit surprising actually. BB shows JJ with the and LP shows A6o... turns out the minibets were indeed blocking bets. I was thinking I left a lot of money on the table and that I played this hand way too weak so it was good to hear that I'm not too timid when I get scared by the . Going from the nuts to a hand that is drawing dead against KK, KQ, KT, TT and slim against any flush really put a wet blanket over my enthusiasm, but I think I SHOULD have recognised the bets for the blocking bets they were and risked a raise on the turn (folding to a re-raise obviously), and just called another minibet on the river.

W/r/t mucking it preflop, as I said, 55/66 and AJo are the worst hand I play UTG and only at normally passive tables. I checked my stats now and I am making a small profit (0.88 bb's/hand) playing AJo from 6-9 positions off the button so I guess I could just save myself some variance by mucking it. Then again, I'm already down to a vpip of 20.

Stone (and others), this whole VPIP fetish caused by pokertracker (the enormous benefits of which I also definitely recognize) is a real problem. I've also done the same thing.

But truly "tight" imo is close to 15%. At the same time, as rdale points out (not completely sure I agree with him in detail, but it's definitely the right approach), it's VERY much table-dependent.

What I've definitely done before (and I'm sure others do it, too) is keep looking at my pokertracker stats and thinking, "Oh, I'm playing too many hands," or "Oh, I'm not playing enough." There are tables where it's great (I rarely do it, but sometimes) to see 35% of flops, and, I've even some guys play quite well seeing close to 100% against tight-predictable opponents. I wouldn't, but it's not necessarily bad if you can keep your betting under control while playing very LAG-ish.

To truly "play the table" online, I think my ideal would be to go ultra-tight (which for me means close to 14% of flops seen at this point) for about 2-3 orbits while observing what's going on. At the end of that time, then you can just decide what's playable and how, and there is simply no generic formula for that. I do come up with about 14% of hands (more in LP, fewer in EP) that I think are just good bets any way you slice it, and I'm going to play those whenever possible. But something like that would really be my "ideal" for single-tabling online--and after the observational orbits, I may still be super-tight or I may loosen up quite a bit. Just depends on who's doing what.