My thoughts on Nate's "Too tight post" (long)

[flair1239]

I thought I would respond here since the post was directed at primarily small-stakes players.

When I first read the post, I did not like it because it had the feel of one of those I am better than you posts. However, I reread it and the following posts on the thread a few times and decided that much of it was valid.

However I still have some lingering issues that I would like to mull over and see what you guys think.

I think the ability to play more (marginal) hands profitably, is driven by the developement of certain skills. I would think that hand reading ability and the ability to identify player types (specific patterns and tendencies, not just PT stats) are central to being able to succesfully play a higher percentage of hands.

I saw a couple of replies in the thread to the effect of "I am only playing 15% of my hands right now, I am going to loosen up.". I think this is the wrong approach. I think the proper approach should be to work on the skills that will help you make more hands profitable.

Like many things, I think this is an incremental process for most people. Sure, there are a few people who just "get it", but I imagine most people have to work on things.

In the last month my girlfriend has started taking the game seriously and has been asking many good questions. This made me realise how many things are easier for me now that used to take a lot of thought.

(8) months ago I was still memorising charts to make pre-flop decisions, then the PF section of SSH just clicked for me and I started making decisions based upon concepts instead of rote.

(6) months ago my CPU would beep at me frequently as I counted my outs and compared them to the size of the pot.

Now these decisions are made quickly and my time is spent thinking about different things. But it took time. I am willing to admit that it maybe even took me longer than most of you.

The point of this rambling is that I believe that as you develop more skills, you will naturaly start to broaden you range of comfortable hands. Whereas sitting down one day and just deciding to play more hands, will probably be a waste of time and money.

The other thing about the thread that, I thought about a lot, is that there seems to be a sort of underlying perception that there is a ultimate "proto-typical" playing style that we should all aspire to. While I agree that in the vast majority of situations there is a "correct" decision that is better than all the others, I think the variables that make one decision better than the others are numerous and subtle. I think that one of these variables is a style of play that is close to your comfort level. This is not say that you should discard concepts that make you uncomfortable, but that you should think about how best to integrate them with your style.

[mr pink]

i have to agree... especially for people who are relatively new to the game and still struggling with some weak/tight tendencies, adding some marginal hands could cause some serious problems. not to take away from nate's post because i think he made some good points, but you have to be comfortable playing these hands in order for them to be profitable.

i have loosened up a bit in response to nate's post, and i think it's improved my game to some extent... but i think most people should be careful before rushing into anything they're not prepared for.

[QTip]

Ditto...timing is everything with development. I just happened to read Nate's post at the right time in my game (in my opinion). I've gone from 15% to 18.5% VPIP and also my PFR% has gotton much healthier (from 7 to 9.5). I think there has to be a time when after you've gotten the basics on starting cards, you focus on postflop play and get some experience than (as SSHE suggests), you have to go back to PF play and refine your skills.