Thought Process in High Limit Games

[MHoydilla]

I have only played as high as 50-100 a few times. I thought my knowledge of the game was average but I felt that I was being out played mentally. How many levels of thinking go on in these games? What should going through my head while playing in a high limit game, while I'm in and out of hands? I realize this question is vague, but I feel this is an important subject that gets little or no time on the board.

[bernie]

it's not a matter of the limit. it's a matter of the players your facing.

say your on a 40-80 table with a bunch of idiots. yes, it can happen. by relating to the limit as your barometer, you may overthink your way to a rebuy.

id rather look for clues as to the skill levels of your opponents in their play. not just because theyre playing a higher limit.

just an idea

b

[MHoydilla]

Ok what thought process goes through a pros mind while playing a high limit game with a mixture of other pros, average, and poor players.

[D.J.]

I think you're worrying about this way too much, and by the way like bernie said the limits don't necessarily mean anything. I've played in 4-8 and 6-12 games that were tougher than 40-80 games. Don't sit at a game and try to "outhink" everyone, you'll just end up thinking yourself into a hole. Also, there's very few occasions where you need to go into deep thought on a hand anyway, mostly everything should just be natural and feel based, especially in limit games. I think the high level of thinking really goes on when you're playing big-bet poker like PL where you're deciding whether to put your whole stack in the middle, not the extra 8 chips. The best thing to do is to try to exploit the other player's weaknesses to increase your production. So, however you need to do it that's what you do, you just have to be good enough to figure out what a player's weakness is, and everyone has one I don't care how good they are, everyone has a weakness or two, some more than others and some more obvious than others, you've just got to figure it out as soon as possible. Oh and it helps to get good cards too. Hope you kind of understand what I was trying to get across here.

-D.J.

[Tommy Angelo]

"What should going through my head while playing in a high limit game, while I'm in and out of hands?"

As little as possible.

[mike l.]

"As little as possible."

i couldnt agree more. each time ive moved up in levels a huge problem ive come up against, and i sense it reflected in the initial post here, is that i would give my opponents too much credit. credit for being tricky, credit for being tight, credit for being tough, credit for being fearless, or rich, or solid, or smart. and looking back i can see how completely untrue that all was in general. the only thing i have consistently seen is that 30-60 and up is a bit (and i do mean just a bit) trickier than the normal "duh this game is simple" game you can almost always find lower than those levels. ive also played in some incredibly good soft 30-60 games, but in LA the change in toughness is right around there if there can be such a watermark.

anyway im straying off topic. just sit down play your game and have a good winning game plan going in and dont let yourself be thrown off it by getting all paranoid and contemplative.

there. it took me only 200 words to say less than tommy's 4.

[mike l.]

"Ok what thought process goes through a pros mind while playing a high limit game with a mixture of other pros, average, and poor players."

here're a few:

"this guy's a turkey and the blinds are tight im going to 3 bet w/ AJo here."

"i havent had any hands in awhile. am i still feeling fresh and tight and ready to play well? or should i get out of here?"

"is this game as good as it was 2 hours ago? is that table over there better?"

"let's see i have a little something here backdoor, etc. how many bets are in the pot? will it get raised behind me if i call? or should i be the one raising here?"

"ive been caught bluffing a couple times by this guy so im going to value bet any middle pair or better against this guy heads up for a little while."

"what's the soup of the day?"

in other words all the things you think of playing 10-20 to win. what do you think they should be thinking?

[snakehead]

if the high limit games contained a mixture which included average and poor players, then they would play just like any lower limit game. bu they don't. usually, there is one or maybe two below average players (compared to the rest of the table) in the game. occasionally, there is a big fish, but not that often.

so you might be thinking, "why am I beating my head against the wall in this 100-200 game when there is a soft 40-80 going just a few tables away?"

if you are asking what you have to do to beat the high limit games, that's simple: you have to play better than most of the other players, or get lucky.

[Sooga]

Yea, you don't want to pull a Vizzini and end up killing yourself. I suppose in the end it wouldn't have mattered either way, but he put too much thought into it.

[Apoc]