“I think you've been afraid all your life”
- Decimus Meridius (Gladiator)
I have a good question for you players out there:
“Why am I so afraid?”
I always think that any flop that shows 48 would make a straight whoever bets has the straight. Am I wrong? In this no-foldem .50/1 world?
Is it smart to be cautious of every possible straight and flush out there? I have been burnt a lot by those. Online poker is definitely any two s00000ted, so am I playing chicken or being aware of the situation? When I bet high pair to the river is this bad? Should I ever raise? Do I get suspicious when I get called?
I guess these are the questions a Poker player has to ask.
I just flopped a set of tens. It is bet and raised. I just smooth call. Raise on the turn when a possibly flush shows up, and suck out a chip on the river from both players. Nice $19 pot. Not too much to be scared of. Easy to play.
I flopped a set of 6’s. There was nothing terribly scary. I bet it slowly though. Why? The guy in front of me was raising the pot with his set of 2’s.. Maybe he had QQ? Nope. I won. I could have won a lot more though. Do raise his bets? I probably would have been either 2 bets or capped to the river since he had a set. Would QQ have raised? Not on this passive table. I guess I need to work out what aggression level I am comfortable with.
Card Player Magazine had a good article from Daniel Negreanu about running bad and thinking about Poker as one long session. The thing I recognized in my play the most is trying to win back my loses every night. He suggests just setting a time limit and when that time is up stop. There is always tomorrow. No hit and run. No Trying to win everything back. I really never liked Daniel Negreanu from WSOP clips, but his article was timely and excellent to read.
I am thinking of buying Ed Miller, David Sklansky, Mason Malmuth book called Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big With Expert Play. Mixed reviews. Not sure. It says it talks a lot more about After-Flop play, aggression and betting. I would like to read a good book about these topics. If someone has another suggestion let me know. I may give Sloe an Amazon kickback on the book if I do not do it through my own account.
I went on an epic run tonight. I played only two tables and went up and down. I set a time of 11PM as quitting. As we speak I am up 50BB+ on the tables combined. Actually $61 on one and $41 on the other. Sweet night! 11 Minutes left to go.
posted by SirFWALGMan at
7:38 PM
5 Comments:
Sometimes I'm afraid that blogger will post my entry twice....:)
5:32 AM
I'll caveat my opinion with the fact that I suck at limit. If I'm in a hand and I'm betting, I want people to think that I could be equally likely to hold nothing as I am the nuts. Showing the aptitude to show aggression with less than the nuts will get your nuts paid off as they should.
I also think that hand-reading skills can tell you when to show aggression and when to lay back. I'm not sure if it is possible to read hands at low-limit holdem, but you can for those players you get to know after a couple orbits.
Rocks make money though. Being a rock isn't necessarily a bad thing. Boring, but not bad.
9:47 AM
Problem is I am not a rock either.. more like a yo-yo. Heh. I tend to mostly have winning sessions at these low levels but I am hard on myself for all the yo-yoing I do. I beleive it is part of the ebb and flow of the game but I also think it has a little bit to do about a few pre-flop bad choices, and more post-flop. I do not think my style of play will effect my bottom line until I get to higher levels, but looking to improve as always.
10:11 AM
Good news. Malmuth says that players who are classified weak/tight, or look for MUB's are most likely to become world class players down the line.
Ed's book would be a great primer to step up your aggression. Ed is very aggressive (yes, we've played together) and knows what he is talking about.
11:07 AM
Very rarely will you have a hand that is the stoney cold nuts, so every pot you're in holds a potential to turn into a disaster for you. No point in "what if"-ing the thing to death. If a board comes 456 and you hold AA, what do you do? What about if you're holding 55? Truth is, you don't know anything at this point, other then you're holding a POTENTIALLY winning hand. You use the information from players betting and reactions to bets to try to build a case for what others have.
Of course, in low limit, this can be quite a trick, as many player will play any two cards for any amount pre-flop. Likewise, many players, both good and bad, will try to make "moves" on the flop, while it's still cheap. If you've got a legit hand on a board like that above and bet it and someone raises you, what are you thinking? Is he making a move? Does he have something? Sometimes the best move is to pop it again and see what his reaction is both now and on the turn. It's been said that, at the low limits, you really start to find out how players like their hands on the turn.
Basically my creedo in this limits is fold-fold-fold pre-flop, and pound-pound-pound post flop.
And, you'll be amazed how often you'll find people capping the flop and betting the river with J6o when the board comes 6 high.
5:40 PM
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