Tough Games versus Tough Decisions

[sethypooh21]

'tha Great post...

Though some might say that this 'elasticity' represents a key difference between full ring and shorthanded play in general...

[Ulysses]

Assume limit is same for both games. If you're the best player at the table, you'll make a ton more in the game full of tough decisions than you'll make in the tough game. You pretty much said that in your post. More importantly, though, the tough decision game will also be a lot more fun.

[flair1239]

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CliffNotes: The wider the range of players in a game, from loose-aggressive to tight-passive makes it tougher to multitable/play while drunk.

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This is why you are on my "favorites" list. Short concise, no BS.

[James282]

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I don't see how games with all good TAGs aren't going to be giving you lots of tough decisions. It sounds to me like you describe a "good game" as a game full of tight rocks. I think of that game as "predictable and boring but ultimately profitable." When I think of a tough game i think of a game with TAGs. Aggressive, thinking, tricky players who make your life difficult.

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A table full of James282's and so forth certainly wouldn't be very much fun to play, although the typical player in the games that I'm thinking of doesn't play quite that well in terms of reading hands or mixing up his play. In fact, I'd say the typical opponent in those games will have about the "right" preflop statistics, but will generally play rather predictably, especially after the flop.

Contrast that with the next level up, where people will make some fairly egregious (sp?) preflop mistakes, but compensate by playing extremely well after the flop. These mistakes are probably more exploitable over the long-run by an expert (albeit with extremely high variance) but it's a lot more work and requires you to be a lot more on your toes.

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Holla back for the shout out!

And yes, the type of player you describe here is the old DERB - lots of very bad preflop mistakes, but constantly puts you to the test postflop. He made a lot of people's buddy lists whom he was probably a favorite against, but very good players could show a huge profit against him.
-James