Developing poker skill

With respect to playing experience and the various types of poker games should an aspiring poker player be one dimensional? What I mean is should a poker player only play Hold’em if that is the game he wishes to be a very good to expert player at, or should a poker player play a variety of poker games such as 7-stud, Omaha-Hi/lo, Hold’em-hi/lo in addition to playing Hold’em? Consider this in isolation. Put all other factors of being a good poker player aside for now.


My thinking is that the variety of situations from the different games would in the long run allow a player to get a better feel for the game, balanced skill level and better understanding of poker in general. Hold’em of course would be played a large majority of the time.


What do you think? All comments welcomed.


RL

ive never seen holdem hi-lo.


i think that if you want to be an excellent holdem player, you need to play holdem. if you want to be an excellent poker player, you need to play all games. to maximize winning potential, you need to be able to have a skill edge in whatever game is available. skills from one game do lead to another game. however, don't expect to be a good omaha player because you have a lot of holdem experience. each game deserves its own special consideration. what you focus on depends on your your goals as a poker player.

If I were raising a son to be a poker pro I'd see nothing wrong with training him to play nothing but limit hold-em to the day he died. It's as if he were going to play a string instrument in an orchestra, in a world where violins outnumber violas and cellos and basses by 10-1-1-1. Sure, he could get by playing cello but he'd spent more time between gigs. And he could work mostly on violin but dabble in cello. Or he could just play the violin and never touch the other three instruments, which, while not necessarily the most fulfilling path, would be plenty secure and profitable.


Tommy

I have to add my two cents here and say that while there are more violin positions available in an orchestra there are also more violinists applying for them. For example, the Juilliard school has some 80 violinists, 40 violists, and about 40 cellists. If the New York Philharmonic announces an opening for each of the three instruments you will very likely have twice the number of applicants for the violin position as you would for either of the other two positions. So even though there are more violin positions available, the competition to get one is more intense.

I think the same could hold true for hold'em. There are more hold'em games and players out there than other poker games and from the mid-limits up the competition is probably a bit tougher because of the sheer number of players.

About the original question, it's probably good to know all the standard games well because who knows when you'll end up in a place where you can't play hold'em and have to play something else.

About a year ago, I read something Mason Malmuth(I think) said in one of his books to the effect that one should strive for proficiency in both HE and seven-card stud, which I've found useful, living in the northeast.At Foxwoods, one

can find both games spread aplenty.


Also, see MM's essays dealing with the topic

of HE v 7-card stud and the differences therein.

It's clear that they're horses of very different colours indeed.


Hope this is of use to you.


perfidious

Hold'em Hi/Lo is played in the small town I live in. It's the only game in town. However, within an hours drive I can be at card rooms that spread the normal games.


Thanks, RL

Tommy


Excellent point.


It's like playing tennis. One could play mixed doubles for the experience, but when you step on the court to play a tough mens singles match all that odd ball stuff you see in mixed does nothing for you when the guy across the net is hitting the snot out of the ball from corner to corner.


Thanks,


RL

If your playing for sheer profit, knowing all the games gives you the best opportunity to sit at the table with the worst players. If your only comftorable that you can hold your own at one particular type of game, and you enjoy playing that game, I see nothing wrong with that either.

By knowing more, you expand your opportunities.

Thats a decision only you can make.

I see Tommy and Viola used a musical reference, which as a guitar player, I can certainly appreciate. Let me take it one step further.

When I started out, I played Blues and Rock. As the years went on I learned Jazz And some classical. I'm extremely comftorable sitting in with any rock or blues band, and complimenting the music. As for jazz and classical, well lets just say I'm still trying! I don't play for a living, but if I did, I would expand my opportunities by becoming more proficient at several different styles, as rock and blues palyers are a dime a dozen.

it feels really good to be in a great game where the worst players start talking about changing the game, they look at you, and you can say, hey, whatever you want to play.


brad

Sklanksy has some interesting things to say about this. He writes that non-study players tend to be experts at just one type of poker, where they happen into the correct strategy, whereas a player who studies can excel in any game.


What you wrote makes perfect sense to me. Even if you're only or primarily interested in Hold'Em, there are things you can learn from other games which would have an application to HE which might be much more difficult to notice if you played nothing but HE.

Learn a variety of games if you have the inclination and time to do so. Being one dimensional at poker (one game - certain limits)has more drawbacks than benefits in my opinion.


Others will have differnt views of course, but learning different games generally should improve your all-around poker skills.


-Zeno

As usual, it depends. If there are plenty of hold´em games where you play, then I say only stick to hold´em in the beginning until you really know how to play it and have become a long-term winner. If however there are not so many hold´em games, it would be good if you could play a second game (mine is stud), also offers more in the way of selecting the good games, because now you do not only have the different games and limits in hold´em to choose from, but also in another variant of poker.

I have studied and still study of course all 3, HE, stud, O/8. Stud is my weak point but mostly because I've had a hard time adjusting to the way the LL games are in the area. If the games were 6-12 or 10-20 I believe I would have a better chance to beat them more regularly. In other words the "book" way doesnt work in low limit and I cant get myself to keep chasing or not raiseing 3rd st with aces.


O/8 I regularly beat. But not until I did a LOT of study. LL just the nuts. FPS doesnt work. But what is wonderful about O/8 is seeing HE players jump in a game. That's where you make extra money. They dont understand the NUTS part of O/8 or drawing for high 1/2 with a low made out there and small pots.


However, O/8 can also HURT your HE game. Will you become too passive or muck TOO much because you think they always have the nuts? I saw myself become way weak-tight after a O/8 session and jumping to HE. Being able to make the adjustments is an absolute if you are going to play more then one game regularly.


Learn one well. do short sessions in the other, then go back and study shortly after that session. That has helped me a bunch. I mostly stick to HE. occasionally stud, but not much. But if I see a O/8 game with 1-2 HE players I am frothing to get in to that game.