[jetsonsdogcanfly]

You're misunderstanding Joe's point, probably because his first sentence isn't exaclty correct. The point is that expectation is situational, so where a play might be -EV in one situation, it might very well be +EV in another. The fact that representing an Ace againts a preflop 3bettor is basically always -EV in small stakes does not mean that it is, by its very nature, a -EV play in all games always. In higher stakes this play may be situationally a +EV, good decision because you know your opponents actually know how to fold.

That highlights what you yourself said, that at higher limits, the rules change. As other responses have noted, you play straightforwardly in low limit games because the player base is huge and pretty homogenously predictable. There is little reason to mix up your play against these opponents. This is why, why when talking about lwo limit holdem, it is not so incorrect to make generalizations like saying a certain play is broadly -EV in low limit games .