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Answer: You may need to adjust your perspective a bit. When you play in no limit holdem cash games where there is a maximum buy-in, you shouldn't be too afraid to lose it initially. What you fear the most is winning a big stack, then tangling in a pot with someone who also has a big stack. It isn't uncommon to be in for 2 or 3 buy-ins before you get your day going and start winning. Understanding the pace of these games will take some of the pressure off, that is if you have the bankroll.

I would suggest playing in games that both your bankroll and skill level can handle. Let's go over what a regular hand might look like in a $100 NL game. Someone raises to $15 preflop (3 or 4x the big blind). Then someone else calls. Now the pot is over $30. The bet on the flop will most likely bet between $20-30 again. Then the bet on the turn 30-40 and the river the same or more. Right there, you are looking at pretty much your buy-in, even if the game isn't overly aggressive. So the first thing is to have a realistic view of bankrolls for that size of game.

Next, you wrote something about going with the hands more because it cost you so much to see cards AFTER the flop. If you are calling player's raises or even just playing against aggressive players, you want to be in the hand with strong cards for heads up play. You don't want to be playing hands that may catch a draw on the flop and then you'll have to pay more to try and catch. (That becomes very costly against big bettors.) Let me give you an example. You would much prefer to have a hand like 88 than you would have a suited connector hand like 89s.

Suited connectors don't play well against aggressive players because you put in too much money heads up to see if you can get lucky on the flop (remember the vast majority of the time you won't flop anything with a suited connector). Next, if I were to sit down at that table and there was a lot of betting going on between huge stacks, my first job would be to narrow down what kinds of hands they were willing to risk so many chips with. If they were playing solid hands but just betting more than normal with them, my play wouldn't change much. On the other hand if they were in the pot with any two cards and often times just trying to run people over, I would wait for a decent hand, and move in on them.

For example, if I had 99 or AK or even AQ and the maniac raised to $30 preflop in the $100 game, I would go all-in, then let him worry about it. I have enough money in my pocket to weather his luck, and eventually I will break him when the luck runs out. I think most likely your problem is that you would like to see more flops for cheap and then try to play from there. That won't work against very aggressive players. Pick a good starting hand and make a stand with it. Get your money in the pot when you have the best hand, regardless of whether or not it is costly. Besides trying to catch someone in a trap by slow playing, you don't want to be a caller.

If you are doing a lot of calling against their raises, it is a sign you aren't playing strong enough hands. Lastly, if the game is one that you don't think you are comfortable in or can beat, move to a different game, until you are ready.

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