I've played a little less than 1500 hands so I'm not sure if it's enough of sample size to see the following things in general, but here are some things I've seen that seem to apply to almost every session I've played. Have you guys seen different?
1 - There is always at least 1 person, and many times more, with at least 50% VP$IP at your table. Many times I have someone who has 20% or more PFR as well, but it's usually a min-raise.
1a - If you play aggressively against these people, they shut down.
2 - People play very weak with AA or KK. Everytime I have been against someone with one of these hands, they will make a pre-flop raise but then only bet something like $1 into a $5 pot on the turn and river. I'm not sure how to handle this because I can't give credit for Aces or Kings to these weak follow-up bets.
3 - Blind stealing? Is it ever really worth it at this level? Considering how loose it is, a lot of people will call a $1 raise and since the blinds are only a combined $.35, is it really worth risking more on a steal. (The opportunity comes up so infrequentely as well in these loose games, but I will tend to try it if there is at least one dead blind poster in the hand in front of me.)
4 - Stealing pots. There are 2 ways I do this and it seems to work almost every time. Even though you see so many people limping in with any hand, they are almost all terrified of aggression post-flop.
4a - In LP I will raise with any hand that I will play for a limp as long as nobody else has raised more than one of those cheap min-raises. Low suited connectors or one or two gappers included with any suited Ace. The only hand I may actually just limp with is a low pocket pair trying to set against a big stack because that is usually the most well disguised hand and I can make more money off of it.
No matter what flops, no matter what I have, if it checked to me I will bet pot. Depending on the other person, if it is bet, I may raise him. And they give it to me almost EVERY TIME! If I am called or if someone makes a decent sized bet before me I shut down. The times they call me on this are more than made up for by the times they just lay down for me.
4b - If I am in a pot and a flush or a straight draw hit on the flop I will call any bet up to the size of the pot if there are 2 or less other people in the pot. Then if the flush or straight completes on the turn I bet out the size of the pot no matter what 2 cards I have. Unless they have hit the draw themselves, they almost always give it up. This actually works better if I am out of position because I get to check it first then call their flop bet and represent the hand first on the turn so it looks more legitimate.
4c - After I have done this a lot more than few times and haven't had to show down any hands, I will slow down and only do this with strong hands and by the time they catch up to me and start getting brave enough to call my bluffs, I'm not bluffing anymore and I get my solid hands paid off.
Am I just getting lucky or is this $25 NL at Party in a nutshell?