2+2 Small Stakes Hold-EM

Buccaneer · #1 01-09-2005, 01:26 AM

I have been reading here for sometime. I am learning as I go. The site has been very helpful here but a bit technical. I was not getting all the info that is here and using it.

I saw Small Stakes Hold'Em in BooksAMillion this week. I sat down and read it through several times in 8 hours. I tried to not learn the tables but the concepts. The bigger the pot the less a bet really cost you. Betting for value increases the pot and drops players like flys. Pay attention to the board, the more outs you got the better for you.

I must say that I recommend this book! In one day my play has changed from being uncertain and weak, to a much more agressive game, knowing when to be agressive, when to be careful and when to fold. Best money I have spent and the best most productive time spent learning about the game has been spent on Small Stakes. Great book.

A situation that I did not see in the book is this, you are going along betting for value say something connected and somewhere after the flop and before the river you realise that your value has evaporated and that you can not make any hand. I am wondering is this normal and to be expected? If not what should I examine first? If you find your self in this situation can there be more value in folding even though you know that no one is going to do anything but check the hand. Sometimes I do not want my hand seen.

Thanks.

thirddan · #2 01-09-2005, 01:32 AM

it is quite common to be making value bets with drawing hands such as flush draws/open ended straight that do not come in by the river, in that case a fold is necessary, unless you have made some other hand with showdown value (a pair)...it sucks but most of the time our draws do not come in, that shouldn't stop you from playing them aggressively when it is correct to do so...

badboy0 · #3 01-09-2005, 04:37 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I saw Small Stakes Hold'Em in BooksAMillion this week. I sat down and read it through several times in 8 hours.

[/ QUOTE ]

Several times in 8 hours? Is that possible? This is not a novel...

Hack · #4 01-09-2005, 04:48 PM

It took me 10 hours to read it the first time.

I don't see how someone could read the entire thing through(including the quizzes) with decent comprehension in less than 3 hours.

David04 · #5 01-09-2005, 04:49 PM

I have had this book for a week and still have not finished it(read about an hour every night) I sill read sections 2 or 3 times in a row, to make sure I understand the concepts fully....anyone who says they read it more than once or twice in 8 hours and FULLY UNDERSTANDS the concepts is most likely lying.

Buccaneer · #6 01-09-2005, 05:22 PM

I assure you that I am not a lier. Did I read the book from cover to cover word by word three times in 8 hours, no. I read books like this by scanning the contents from back to front, then I read it through very lightly and reread for content the next time. This way I do not seem to overload my brain with concepts that I do not totaly understand. I am able to go back and concentrate on the areas that I think I need to.

The authors say the book is not a beginers book and if I did not have a background in probability as well as having read much of this site then I would be struggling with it still. I found the book written in such a manner that if you had a basic understanding of a concept they were explaining that it was easy to fast foward with out loosing information. Also the links to sites with definitions of the terms used in poker and the book was a tremendous time saver for me.

If suspect that I will spend hours in the future on each chapter because most of us only retain about 10% of what we read if we do not reinforce the material in some way. I chose a quick read and to apply the concepts of the book asap by playing. Now I have two inputs, the book and the results of my play reading the book. Now I go back and review the book to see what I did wrong and what I can improve on. I did not intend to toss any attitude around.

I do have a question about expected value of a few hands I found in the book. I will post in a new thread. I hope you will look at it and give me your thoughts on it because it sure confuses me.

David04 · #7 01-09-2005, 08:09 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I read books like this by scanning the contents from back to front, then I read it through very lightly and reread for content the next time.

[/ QUOTE ]
My point exactly....You really just read it once and skimmed it once...

Buccaneer · #8 01-09-2005, 09:13 PM

You know Davie, the sub-alpha behavior is starting to get old. I don't read the same way you do or at the same speed. Is that really something you want to make an issue of?

KingMarc · #9 01-09-2005, 11:40 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I have been reading here for sometime. I am learning as I go. The site has been very helpful here but a bit technical. I was not getting all the info that is here and using it.

I saw Small Stakes Hold'Em in BooksAMillion this week. I sat down and read it through several times in 8 hours. I tried to not learn the tables but the concepts. The bigger the pot the less a bet really cost you. Betting for value increases the pot and drops players like flys. Pay attention to the board, the more outs you got the better for you.

[/ QUOTE ]

The dog is brown. It says woof. It has a tail. I saw the dog yesterday. It is a good dog. The dog likes poker. Poker is fun. Thank you. For reading.

David04 · #10 01-10-2005, 04:36 PM

[ QUOTE ]
You know Davie, the sub-alpha behavior is starting to get old. I don't read the same way you do or at the same speed. Is that really something you want to make an issue of?

[/ QUOTE ]
Look, my point was, I don't think you could have read the book more than once in 8 hours(which you didn't really, you skimmed once and read through it once). I think in order to fully understand the concepts presented, you need to read sections thoroughly, and often re-read them. And I don't feel that it's possible to do this twice or more in 8 hours.

And if you do understand everything after 1 reading, straight through, no re-reading.....more power to you.