Warren Whitmore
10-19-2002, 11:09 PM
My win rate has always been lower at paradise than other internet sites. This has mystified me for quite some time. /forums/images/icons/confused.gif I did my best to figure out why. Relative to other sites I tested for loosness of games, win rates at various times of the day, the four primary games, and all of the various limits of play. My win rate persisted at being lower across the board than at other sites.
Then just when I about to give up the search someone posted a message asking about the merits of learning one form of poker to improve thier play at another form of poker. Al answered that it dident work that way and as an illustration mentioned that when people where trying to learn a foreign language they did better to focus on the language that they were trying to learn than to diversify by learning other similar languages.
That was the key. I now believe what is happening is that at parasise because it is such a large site offers players whatever game and structure they want. As a consequence players are always playing in thier comfort zone. This means I cannot get as much of an edge because all of the players in a game are at a similar skill leval. Contrast this with a small site. People who are marginal players are afraid to start a game or play short handed. As a consequence they will join a full game even if they are not that familiar with that particular game or structure. Because I play all games and structures equally well I can simply scan all of the small sites and choose the weakest game which can never be at paradise. This is why on average my win rate is lower there.
To test this hypothesis I looked for names in the various poker games. Sure enough at paradise the Omaha players were generally playing omaha and the stud players were generally playing stud etc. At the smaller sites players were playing whichever games and limits had full games going.
Thanks again Al, as usual your advice has made me $.
Then just when I about to give up the search someone posted a message asking about the merits of learning one form of poker to improve thier play at another form of poker. Al answered that it dident work that way and as an illustration mentioned that when people where trying to learn a foreign language they did better to focus on the language that they were trying to learn than to diversify by learning other similar languages.
That was the key. I now believe what is happening is that at parasise because it is such a large site offers players whatever game and structure they want. As a consequence players are always playing in thier comfort zone. This means I cannot get as much of an edge because all of the players in a game are at a similar skill leval. Contrast this with a small site. People who are marginal players are afraid to start a game or play short handed. As a consequence they will join a full game even if they are not that familiar with that particular game or structure. Because I play all games and structures equally well I can simply scan all of the small sites and choose the weakest game which can never be at paradise. This is why on average my win rate is lower there.
To test this hypothesis I looked for names in the various poker games. Sure enough at paradise the Omaha players were generally playing omaha and the stud players were generally playing stud etc. At the smaller sites players were playing whichever games and limits had full games going.
Thanks again Al, as usual your advice has made me $.