Playing against a Sklansky Disciple

[lehighguy]

Tournament play is different then cash game play.

Fold equity is a diffucult concept to judge, and hard to do so solely with math.

As in his arguements about math/science/philosophy it has more to do with process then making value judgements. So with his theory of poker.

The nature of games these days can reward tight play. Simply put, you don't need to understand fold equity well enough to make a huge roll. There are just too many fish who play too loose. Perhaps as games tighten the EV of learning more about reading people will increase and more will pay greater attention to that sort of game.

If you want to beat a tight ABC poker player you do it slowly by learning his patterns. After all, he goes from A to B to C. How hard can that be. Don't expect to earn money fast, just chip away at him.

Tournaments, the very late stages, are about push/fold all-ins. You'll find people on this forum VERY well versed in such strategy as it is extremely mathematical.

The weakest point in my game is when my stack is 20-30 times the BB. You can get yourself into a lot of trouble there because most EV takes place postflop, and yet you have little room to manuever, you get trapped easily.

[Shandrax]

The way is see it is that Sklansky describes the technical part of poker to perfection. As long as you are technically superior to your opponents you will win, simply because they make more mistakes which add all up to your profit.

As soon as you get to a level where players don't make technical mistakes anymore (obviously a very high level), it is all about psychology and when to do the "wrong" thing at the "right" moment.

The game of poker played without mistakes should be very close (if not) a zero-sum game where only the cards decide the winner on a given day (rake always wins of course). If the very same guys play each other for years without anyone going broke, this only confirms my theory. They could play Roshambo as well.

[troy5168]

here's a thought, and what I try to do. I've read practically all of them and I apply what works for me and at the most beneficial times. I don't consider myself a follower of any of them. Play YOUR OWN game. Take their ideas and suggestions, use some, throw some out. Learn to play your own game, if you have the skills and of course a little luck at the right time you can beat the follower of any of them.

[troy5168]

okay, if he's getting all his chips in with A-6 and winning by drawing out to a str8 please show me where Sklansky would advocate such a thing? Sounds more like a Brunson
10-2 move to me.

[Shandrax]

If I remember correctly then Brunson's 10-2 were played heads-up. In the endgame you play almost every hand in the small blind and you call with every hand in the big blind. I am sure you will hardly see him play 10-2 on a full table unless he feels that he has to prove something in front of the camera.

Also winning by handing a bad beat to someone or mastering the art of drawing out is not covered in any Sklansky work, because if you play well, you will be the favorite in the showdown. That's what good poker is all about.

If you lose to some idiot who manages to turn 7-2o into a full house, that's simply tough luck and not the work of a poker genius.

[wmspringer]

[ QUOTE ]
If I remember correctly then Brunson's 10-2 were played heads-up. In the endgame you play almost every hand in the small blind and you call with every hand in the big blind. I am sure you will hardly see him play 10-2 on a full table unless he feels that he has to prove something in front of the camera.

[/ QUOTE ]

Funnily enough, a couple days ago I was watching Brunson raise preflop with T2 on WPT :-)

(He ended up folding to a reraise)

[Peter Olley]

I haven't responded to many posts here so let me review your situation. You are a very good player and make great reads.Been playing for a long time and have a good fundamental knowledge of Poker. Am I right so far?

You gave the answer to your question in your question. You said that he figured the pot odds very well and took advantage of that.(excuse me for the paraphrasing).So your solution is obvious. When in a pot against him, make the pot odds for the hand you have him drawing to wrong to draw to. Simple solution to what is thought to be a complex problem. Hope it helps. Have a Great Day. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Peter Olley]

A Little add on here. This will take him out of his game and make him make tougher decisions thus increasing his chances of making a mistake. Which as we all know is the answer to winning Poker. Capitalize on the other guys mistake and keep yours to a minimum. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Yawkey]

[ QUOTE ]
okay, if he's getting all his chips in with A-6 and winning by drawing out to a str8 please show me where Sklansky would advocate such a thing? Sounds more like a Brunson
10-2 move to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahh, good question. This was in the late stages of the game with only four players, blinds were quite high for our stacks. I was throwing money at pretty much everyother pot, because the game had tightened up since we were on the bubble at this point. So it was reasonable for him to peg me as a loose overagressive player with nothing more than middle pair. This was literally the only mistake I saw him make the whole night, and as it turns out it didn't work out too bad for him.

[Yawkey]

Ok, I got a couple helpful posts here (thanks lehighguy, Shandray, and Peter). You're right bernie, this I suppose was a bit ridiculous, because I was looking for a quick fix to a long term problem (I was hoping to gain some insight hours before my game incase he showed up). So now I'm going to be re-reading TOP, to hopefully improve my game all around. Honestly the first time I read it (had to be a year ago) I didn't get much out of it for probably a bunch of different reasons including being too early in my poker career to fully understand it. This time around I want to make sure I don't miss the important points. So if you guys could help me out and point out the chapters I need to make sure I pay special attention to that would be great.

Thanks