[evilintentions]

I play premium hands most of the time. If you are getting cold cards when do you switch gears and lower your starting hands?

[Lytspeed]

I think it really depends on the nature of the table. If you are not getting premium cards and the table is playing very tight, you can probably afford to play some non-premium hands. If the table is loose, I'd say you're better off waiting for the killer hands. Even if you are last in chips, if the table is loose you may get a couple of callers and double or triple up.

[123Law]

Thats a good question. At some point, you need to decide to get loose and go after some chips.

As Lyte said, the table will tell you when. If it is loose players, well then you need to wait for the right time. If the players are tight and only playing premo hands, then you can start to bully a bit even with a small chip stack.

Tough to decide when though.

[evilintentions]

I've been trying to incorporate the table mood into my game here lately. I never noticed how the table played before maybe a couple of weeks ago. I record my hands and how i play them and result of them. That helps me tons. Thanks for the response it will help tons.

[Acorn89]

Originally Posted by evilintentions

I play premium hands most of the time. If you are getting cold cards when do you switch gears and lower your starting hands?

Make sure that you know the reason why you are switching gears, you are not switching gears just because you are getting cold decked. The reason you should switch gears is because of your table or how many chips you have. These thing might be related to geting cold decked but you should be aware that you arent switching gears because of your cards because evenually the cards will even out.

[Arjonius]

Is this question referring to tournament play or ring games? In tournaments, at least in freezouts, you have to be significanly more concerned with maintaining a reasonable stack size since you can't just replenish your stack whenever you feel like it. So, you can only sit and give up your blinds for so long before you have to get into the action whether your cards start getting better or not.

[wheeloftime]

how do you record your hands? That would be helpful to be able to look back and see my mistakes and wins

[Lytspeed]

Originally Posted by wheeloftime

how do you record your hands? That would be helpful to be able to look back and see my mistakes and wins

Most poker sites give you the ability to go back and view all the hands you played in a tournament. Some sites also track your playing statistics for you, which is kind of handy.

[elon05]

I agree that it depends on the other people at the table. If the other players are playing tight you may want to loosen up a bit and try stealing some pots. If the rest of the table is aggressive though I say continue to lay back and wait for the big hands to come or else you will end up loosing a lot of chips fast.

[wheeloftime]

i appreciate the input. Hearing from other players, and knowing your not the only one is a bonus.