Quercus
07-07-2005, 12:11 AM
In my database, I have 100,000 hands of full ring games. Limits from 0.5/1.0 to 2/4. I'm a decent sized winner at each limit (2-3BB/100) just by playing ABC poker.
I've read TOP, SSHE, HPFAP (and a few others). I was a regular reader and contributor to this forum and yet, I never seemed to feel like my game was improving. I was stuck and didn't really know how to improve.
So, I decided to change some things around. First, I started playing shorthand poker. I crushed the 0.5/1.0 game on Absolute for 10,000 hands and then started working on the 1/2 game on Party. 25,000 hands later, I felt like my blinds play, aggression and preflop hand selection were all vastly improved. It was the first jump in my game that I felt I'd attained in quite some time.
While there is a lot to like about SH play, there are some things I don't like. First, the variance is an unholy nightmare. You play a lot more hands and are in a lot more pots with marginal holdings. You can win or lose a lot in a hurry. Nothing like starting a session with a 70BB downswing in the first hour. Of course, nothing like starting a session with a 70BB upswing in the first hour either.
The second thing I don't like about shorthand is the pace. Multitabling takes an enormous amount of concentration and stamina and though is very nice for rakeback, the constant decision making can be physically tiring after a remarkably short period of time. Tired play leads to mistakes which leads to bad decisions, which is the bane of a good winrate.
From shorthand, I decided to dip my toe into the NL waters with something akin to Ed Millers shortstack strategy. For those unfamiliar with it, its a relatively lowrisk way to start off in NL poker. Its hard to generate a high winrate with it, but its hard to loose much (if anything) for a neophyte. I played about 10,000 hands or so of NL and realized that the edge a decent player has against a poor player is much greater there than in limit. Mistakes in limit take a long time to drain a bankroll. In NL, a bankroll can be drained with just a few bad decisions.
Because you can win or lose so much more in NL than in limit, it taught me how to slow down and actually think through situations. If you like money, your ability to read situations, hands, and opponents will improve greatly.
Mixed in with my NL play I've stared playing a fair amount of the Party $10+1 single table NL tournaments. One thing that I really like about these is that they utilize skills I've picked up in each game I've learned. In limit, I learned the basics of ABC poker, hand values, etc. SNGs go shorthanded, and the SH experience about controlled agression has been invaluable. The stop off in regular NL helped me better understand the value of starting hands, pot management, and aggression.
For a long time, I resisted moving out of regular 10max ring games. I wanted to feel like I'd "mastered" a game (defined as 3BB/100 winrate over a large number of hands) before trying to add something to the mix. What I've learned though is that its entirely likely that I could have played another million hands and not seen a significant improvement in my game. For me, I need to get some time in the other hold'em variants to break through some barriers.
If you feel stuck in a rut, moving to other games might be just the thing to help break out.
I've read TOP, SSHE, HPFAP (and a few others). I was a regular reader and contributor to this forum and yet, I never seemed to feel like my game was improving. I was stuck and didn't really know how to improve.
So, I decided to change some things around. First, I started playing shorthand poker. I crushed the 0.5/1.0 game on Absolute for 10,000 hands and then started working on the 1/2 game on Party. 25,000 hands later, I felt like my blinds play, aggression and preflop hand selection were all vastly improved. It was the first jump in my game that I felt I'd attained in quite some time.
While there is a lot to like about SH play, there are some things I don't like. First, the variance is an unholy nightmare. You play a lot more hands and are in a lot more pots with marginal holdings. You can win or lose a lot in a hurry. Nothing like starting a session with a 70BB downswing in the first hour. Of course, nothing like starting a session with a 70BB upswing in the first hour either.
The second thing I don't like about shorthand is the pace. Multitabling takes an enormous amount of concentration and stamina and though is very nice for rakeback, the constant decision making can be physically tiring after a remarkably short period of time. Tired play leads to mistakes which leads to bad decisions, which is the bane of a good winrate.
From shorthand, I decided to dip my toe into the NL waters with something akin to Ed Millers shortstack strategy. For those unfamiliar with it, its a relatively lowrisk way to start off in NL poker. Its hard to generate a high winrate with it, but its hard to loose much (if anything) for a neophyte. I played about 10,000 hands or so of NL and realized that the edge a decent player has against a poor player is much greater there than in limit. Mistakes in limit take a long time to drain a bankroll. In NL, a bankroll can be drained with just a few bad decisions.
Because you can win or lose so much more in NL than in limit, it taught me how to slow down and actually think through situations. If you like money, your ability to read situations, hands, and opponents will improve greatly.
Mixed in with my NL play I've stared playing a fair amount of the Party $10+1 single table NL tournaments. One thing that I really like about these is that they utilize skills I've picked up in each game I've learned. In limit, I learned the basics of ABC poker, hand values, etc. SNGs go shorthanded, and the SH experience about controlled agression has been invaluable. The stop off in regular NL helped me better understand the value of starting hands, pot management, and aggression.
For a long time, I resisted moving out of regular 10max ring games. I wanted to feel like I'd "mastered" a game (defined as 3BB/100 winrate over a large number of hands) before trying to add something to the mix. What I've learned though is that its entirely likely that I could have played another million hands and not seen a significant improvement in my game. For me, I need to get some time in the other hold'em variants to break through some barriers.
If you feel stuck in a rut, moving to other games might be just the thing to help break out.