09-28-2005, 06:59 PM
In my experience (which I'll admit is not much), I've found that there is a bit of ranking for how important a concept is in poker. The basic rule is that the simpler the concepts are, the more important they are.
From the beginning, the new player will lose money simply by not knowing to calculate pot odds(the most basic thing in the game, because you don't even need to think deep). Something more complicated are things like starting hands, position, gear-shifting, and bubble play. After that is reading hands. At the top is going to be things like psychology when everyone else doesn't make mistakes. At the very end is intuition when everyone else uses psychology too.
All of this may seem rather pointless to state, but then I found that this 'Importance Ranking' is probably what you should use to see the easiest way to beat your opponents. If you see a guy that's clearly making mistakes about pot odds, then that's where you can beat him over time with no real risk to you. Pot odds is what should be the basis for all the next-level concepts, such as position, M, starting hands, etc. If someone's making a mistake here, then that's where you can win money from them. I know that $33s can be beaten this way.
All of those more complicated concepts should be the basis for reading hands. At the $55s, this is probably where you make money. I don't know because I haven't been too successful.
Reading hands should be the basis for psychology, and psychology should be the basis for intuition. This is probably what it takes to beat the $109s and $215s.
I used to think that reading hands was a huge part of this game. It really isn't. It's unreliable compared to other things at the lower levels. Now I just look for where I can beat the money out of other people, starting with pot odds. If all else fails, then I know I'm facing a tough opponent and finally rely on reading hands.
This should all make sense. As the saying goes, you can't put bad players on any hand. But they're the easiest to make money off of.
Here's an easy example. I see many people getting into tough decisions with these bad players early in the tournament because they decided to slowplay pocket aces, didn't improve, and the bad player stuffed all his chips in out of nowhere on the turn or river. I've been there too. Now the fact that I have aces doesn't mean much. I should be making risk-free money out of them because of the bad player's simple mistake on the concept of starting hands. Now the bad player's mistake is negligible compared to having to read the guy's hand. And believe me, a bad player early in the tournament is not the player that you want to try to read.
Another example is bubble play. If they're making some fundamental mistakes like folding too much, then you don't need to try to read what hands they're pushing with because you'll get the best of it in the long run anyways, and their mistake is more reliable than your reads no matter what. Start from the very basics of bubble play, and work from there. There's some really weak players ITM. It's not uncommon to have games where the other 2 players are playing mind games with me, when I'm simply raising every single time and going all-in after the flop no matter what. They're trying so hard to read what I hands I have when they're making the fundamental mistake of folding too much. See how easy it is for me? I could probably beat them by outreading them but I really don't care, because I read that they fold too much and that's a far easier and more reliable read.
"Keep it simple, stupid".
From the beginning, the new player will lose money simply by not knowing to calculate pot odds(the most basic thing in the game, because you don't even need to think deep). Something more complicated are things like starting hands, position, gear-shifting, and bubble play. After that is reading hands. At the top is going to be things like psychology when everyone else doesn't make mistakes. At the very end is intuition when everyone else uses psychology too.
All of this may seem rather pointless to state, but then I found that this 'Importance Ranking' is probably what you should use to see the easiest way to beat your opponents. If you see a guy that's clearly making mistakes about pot odds, then that's where you can beat him over time with no real risk to you. Pot odds is what should be the basis for all the next-level concepts, such as position, M, starting hands, etc. If someone's making a mistake here, then that's where you can win money from them. I know that $33s can be beaten this way.
All of those more complicated concepts should be the basis for reading hands. At the $55s, this is probably where you make money. I don't know because I haven't been too successful.
Reading hands should be the basis for psychology, and psychology should be the basis for intuition. This is probably what it takes to beat the $109s and $215s.
I used to think that reading hands was a huge part of this game. It really isn't. It's unreliable compared to other things at the lower levels. Now I just look for where I can beat the money out of other people, starting with pot odds. If all else fails, then I know I'm facing a tough opponent and finally rely on reading hands.
This should all make sense. As the saying goes, you can't put bad players on any hand. But they're the easiest to make money off of.
Here's an easy example. I see many people getting into tough decisions with these bad players early in the tournament because they decided to slowplay pocket aces, didn't improve, and the bad player stuffed all his chips in out of nowhere on the turn or river. I've been there too. Now the fact that I have aces doesn't mean much. I should be making risk-free money out of them because of the bad player's simple mistake on the concept of starting hands. Now the bad player's mistake is negligible compared to having to read the guy's hand. And believe me, a bad player early in the tournament is not the player that you want to try to read.
Another example is bubble play. If they're making some fundamental mistakes like folding too much, then you don't need to try to read what hands they're pushing with because you'll get the best of it in the long run anyways, and their mistake is more reliable than your reads no matter what. Start from the very basics of bubble play, and work from there. There's some really weak players ITM. It's not uncommon to have games where the other 2 players are playing mind games with me, when I'm simply raising every single time and going all-in after the flop no matter what. They're trying so hard to read what I hands I have when they're making the fundamental mistake of folding too much. See how easy it is for me? I could probably beat them by outreading them but I really don't care, because I read that they fold too much and that's a far easier and more reliable read.
"Keep it simple, stupid".