Diagnosing a poor win rate.....

[Blarg]

I think you're likely to get the bet in either way, in the super loose games I'm playing now, 1/2 and 2/4 on Partypoker. But one way you face a possible raise, and one way you don't.

It really depends on the game I think. It's just that I notice myself very frequently bet into on the end and having the best hand, and when I'm not, I often have the worst hand anyway, so no loss. I've just saved some money. It varies table by table though. Just trying to note that I really see it varying a lot depending on the players and the level of the game, and the expectations for loose games and how people think in them vary dramatically from what you find in the generally far tighter games, full of far smarter players, that Malmuth and Sklansky write about.

Maybe it's partly my table image too. I'm not a loose-aggressive or loose passive player, so perhaps people try to bluff me a lot. A player with a really high VPIP might find himself more suited to always betting out on the end, as if he does not, he will miss bets that I personally tend not to, at least in low-limit loose games. That's how I play too, in higher limit games.

Anyway, I think we have to think of these betting concepts as principles more than rules.

And I think that the idea that the only time a guy will bet on the end is when he has you beat is not a good one unless it's a game where you and your opponent are both reasonably smart or at least sensible and know each other well enough. In the lower levels, people bet for all kinds of reasons, and abandoning a pot at the end too quickly just because someone bets is very often a terrifically costly mistake. I scoop up lots of pots all the time by just calling in a low limit game with a hand I would fold without hestitation in a higher limit game. And get that last bet in the bargain as a very low-risk freebie.