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Makes sense to me. but it also sounds like that is strictly a bluff...isn't it?

it's so much more than this that it's hard for me to answer this. perceived range is the "playing the man" aspect of poker." It's what everyone perceives you to have and how you become creative. It's also how you read and develop reads on your opponents. It's why a good player can play poker blind and make sick hero calls. it's what poker is imo.

i have a feeling you are really new and if you work hard at studying and gain experience you will have a much better understanding of your range and your opponents ranges including the different types of opponents and that will then help you understand perceived range more. I see you joined in march so you should have started studying your open ranges in the different spots around the table by now. That's the beginning.

ummm... ok

ummmm..ok kinda implies to me "I dont think so idiot, you have no idea what you are talking about"

Disagree/have a discussion but saying "ummmm..ok" achieves nothing for anyones learning most of all your own

I think for now what MI5 Mark is telling you is what you want to be doing. When you raise on the button with the cards he suggested you can sometimes outright steal the blinds, sometimes take down the pot when called, with a continuation bet (depending on the flop), and sometimes, occasionally, flop a hidden monster to win a big pot. Just be willing to fold when someone fights back. If you try doing anything fancy from early position as a new player in the micros, you are going to go broke.

Try to get inside each player's head. Challenge yourself to get at least one decent read on each player every half hour or something. If you see a hand go to showdown do you remember what happened? Does that tell you anything about how someone plays draws/can value bet/opens preflop, etc, etc.

It's perfectly fine if you are not willing to make big UTG bluffs if you feel you are not ready, it'll come when a better understanding of the game will emerge from your experiences.

Start by opening up from the button and, once in a while, attempt to steal the blinds when folded to you with hands you would normally fold. Your aim isn't to play them to showdown (unless you flop something, like a top pair that has some showdown value, and obviously a monster hand), but pick up the dead money, in essence, bluffing your way to win preflop or flop pots. If raised back, just fold and move on. If called, look for good boards to make a half-bet continuation bet on : disjoined boards like K84 or rag rainbow flops. If they float/raise/play at you and your read is that you are beaten, check/folding is okey, and the more you gain a feel about your opponents and the game, the more you'll feel easier about double-barreling in spots that allows it credibly.

Also, start to have a feel of your table dynamics. If most people play passive and fold often to raises, start stealing blinds from the CO or take shots at the pot even more often from the BTN. I allow even myself to open-raise UTG with low suited Aces or trouble hands like KJo on tables like these. If you feel people, especially in the blinds, call/raise you often tighten up for a while until you feel you can start again.

During downtimes, take notes and reads to identify the players' tendencies. Try to know which hand they raise and play with, how they play the three streets, if they overplay theit TPGK on a drawy, flushy board, if they tend to fold to cbets or double barrels if they don't improve, if they go AI with smaller pairs, if they tend to check-raise with air, etc. These will help knowing which range they tend to play with, and from these you can expand or retract your own range AND have a feel on how to play postflop with them, even if called with your marginal hands.

ummmm..ok kinda implies to me "I dont think so idiot, you have no idea what you are talking about"

Disagree/have a discussion but saying "ummmm..ok" achieves nothing for anyones learning most of all your own

I think OP was implying a lack of understanding on his part, not that you're an idiot. Your previous answer was pretty technical for someone really new to this.

OP watch some of the intro videos by Tuba Steve and maybe read a couple of intro books. Harrington on Holdem or Super System come to mind.

lotta FPS advice itt... keep it simple. learn to observe opponents.

guess what each player is doing on every single hand. try to guess what someone's going to do against a bet or a check. how each hand flows from preflop to river. what kind of hands people showdown or never show down. what kinds of hands does he raise in what positions? what kind of hands does he call in what positions? what kind of hands does he never seem to raise/call with? again, think about positions. how does that strategy differ from what i'm doing? is it better or worse? if you don't know, those can be good questions to ask on the forums (write these down if you need to).

take beaucoup notes. review your notes constantly. revise and simplify your notes wrt how you think you can exploit a particular opponent. doesn't matter if you actually know how to do this yet, just try. if you get confused on how to exploit someone, again, good questions to ask on the forums (or ponder in your daydreams). keep thinking, keep watching. if you do this diligently, actually playing your hands can almost become a distraction.

also, you can grade yourself afterwards on how engaged you were that session. if you're daydreaming a lot, you can't improve.

fist pump folding times.....

lotta FPS advice itt... keep it simple. learn to observe opponents.

guess what each player is doing on every single hand. try to guess what someone's going to do against a bet or a check. how each hand flows from preflop to river. what kind of hands people showdown or never show down. what kinds of hands does he raise in what positions? what kind of hands does he call in what positions? what kind of hands does he never seem to raise/call with? again, think about positions. how does that strategy differ from what i'm doing? is it better or worse? if you don't know, those can be good questions to ask on the forums (write these down if you need to).

take beaucoup notes. review your notes constantly. revise and simplify your notes wrt how you think you can exploit a particular opponent. doesn't matter if you actually know how to do this yet, just try. if you get confused on how to exploit someone, again, good questions to ask on the forums (or ponder in your daydreams). keep thinking, keep watching. if you do this diligently, actually playing your hands can almost become a distraction.

also, you can grade yourself afterwards on how engaged you were that session. if you're daydreaming a lot, you can't improve.

This advice is pretty vague and flouncy, esp when you criticise other advice in the thread for being FPS like try to open a 35% range from pokerstove (which is pretty simple and practical to do for a newbie).

This advice is pretty vague and flouncy, esp when you criticise other advice in the thread for being FPS like try to open a 35% range from pokerstove (which is pretty simple and practical to do for a newbie).

i wouldnt worry about it or get offended man. sometimes advice or what you effectively do goes right over people's heads because they don't understand or you aren't explaining clearly even though it makes perfect sense to you. No biggie.

I just like arguing with Nawhead, but thanks

This advice is pretty vague and flouncy, esp when you criticise other advice in the thread for being FPS like try to open a 35% range from pokerstove (which is pretty simple and practical to do for a newbie).

your advice was fine. i was talking about the guys talking about bluffing UTG.

i tried to give simple steps for spending time between hands. i said observe and what to observe. i said take notes and what to take notes on. i said think and what to think about. if that's vague, i don't know what's explicit.

thats a lot of info and I feel like I may be even more so lost than I was before. I understand taking notes and whatnot, but the players in the online room I play in dont have screen names. they just have numbers based on what seat they are at, you never know who you are playing against. I might get a slight read on him and then hes gone. I think reading people, especially at micro stakes, is pointless for me. Poeple go all in with Ace-rags off suit for absolutely no reson pre flop. how do you read someone like that? I tend to just stay away unless I have a made hand.

also, play in a better poker room. not anonymous tables.

As long as you're playing with someone longer than a few minutes you'll be able to work out something about them. Having a read that they'll jam A-rag is pretty useful, why not use that read to open pokerstove up and figure out what equity you have against all A-rag with the hand you have at the time, do this enough and you won't need to check pokerstove and voila, you've just got a bit better.