TAGs seem to be losing

[tiltaholic]

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You know what's weird?

When I look at the stats for players in my Party DB, the winningist players are LPA (elephant icon).

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check out the link i posted in this thread.

[Redd]

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Are you fairly picky with your table standards? I can't imagine you can play at every table with such a high VPIP. But what do I know, I'm just a newbie. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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Another good question is how many tables are you playing?

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My limit table selection method is, er... somewhat odd. I sit at a completely empty table, and let opponents come to me. I do this becasue I always get real good tables, full of opponents who are quite bad in a variety of ways. TAGs and tough opponents don't make it to my table until I've already soaked the table. Try it sometime. It really works.

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I'm very intrigued by this. How long does it usually take for the table to fill up?

[GrunchCan]

Well, it can maybe take a little while. You need to be comfortable with SH play. But your opponents won't be, so they will be easy targets.

[bottomset]

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Well, it can maybe take a little while. You need to be comfortable with SH play. But your opponents won't be, so they will be easy targets.

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I think its best if it takes 3-5handed personally, since the ppl that sit tend to be very soft targets .. and getting in a ton of hands against them is +EV

[tiltaholic]

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Well, it can maybe take a little while. You need to be comfortable with SH play. But your opponents won't be, so they will be easy targets.

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yeah. this is so much fun.
i think i need to go back to doing this again.

[AJay]

So let me get this straight. If I sit down at a table alone, people that show up at this 10 person table, when there's only 2, 3, or 4 of us, won't have any real skills at a short handed table? Why would they stay at the table??

Of course, now that I think about it, if they're good full table players, they might tend to go to a FULL table. And if they WANT short handed, why are they not at a 6 max table?

man, ive never done this! I should for sure, i love SH play! will try and post results
cdl

[GrunchCan]

I have a theory why this works. Some people want to play good poker, but don't have any idea how to do it. They've never studied, they don't have any resources, or anyone to talk strategy with. So they come to an empty table trying to figure out how to play poker by reducing the number of variables -- in this case, the number of opponents. But they are still very bad at poker, and it doesn't even occur to them that SH play is different from full ring play.

This is borne out when a player who opens for a raise when it's 3-handed with K6o continues to do the same when it's 10-handed and he's UTG. Happens all the time, and its amazing.

[Nfinity]

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I have a theory why this works. Some people want to play good poker, but don't have any idea how to do it. They've never studied, they don't have any resources, or anyone to talk strategy with. So they come to an empty table trying to figure out how to play poker by reducing the number of variables -- in this case, the number of opponents. But they are still very bad at poker, and it doesn't even occur to them that SH play is different from full ring play.

This is borne out when a player who opens for a raise when it's 3-handed with K6o continues to do the same when it's 10-handed and he's UTG. Happens all the time, and its amazing.

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MrWookie hooked me on to this method and it has been fantastic. I do this a lot now. Sometimes I don't even stay when the table gets past 7 or 8 handed.

It's my preferred method of 6 max play. I mean, someone at a six max table might actually know how to play SH, even a lot of the TAGs at full ring don't get it, otherwise they would be at a 6 max table, right?


Wait. DAMN IT!!

[detruncate]

I find the great VPIP debate interesting. It wasn't so long ago that virtually everyone in Micro played at <20% and general consensus seemed to be that the ideal for Micro and SS was somewhere in the 16-19% range. Now everyone and their dog wants to be in the 20s.

People were winning before. People are winning now. A lower VPIP allows you to avoid some of the more marginal situations while you're still learning a lot about how to properly exploit clear equity edges. A higher VPIP probably helps you improve your play in marginal situations.

However, I'd suggest that it doesn't matter very much which path you choose. You'll be ready to tackle the more marginal situations when you have a solid foundation to fall back on. Likewise, you'll no doubt be able to improve your fundamentals even with the added burden of having to deal with lots of questionably profitable situations (and often downright unprofitable ones).

Don't aim for any particular VPIP as long as you're anywhere close to the sweet spot. Your improving skill in identifying and exploiting profitable pf situations will pay dividends whether it manifests itself in a naturally loose player tightening up, or a naturally tight player loosening up. It's just different sides of the same coin -- too tight players miss out on profitable situations by folding and congratulate themselves on avoiding trouble, too loose players find themselves playing unprofitable hands and manage to convince themselves that they're good enough (and/or their opponents are bad enough) to turn a profit. Both camps are playing sub optimally.

Read SSH's discussion about pf hand valuation. Work to improve your understanding of when it's appropriate to play each type of hand. Learn the exceptions (isolation, blind sealing/defence, adjusting to opponents), and learn when it's appropriate to play each specific hand. Improvements in your pf game will be reflected over time in a constantly evolving VPIP. And more importantly, in ever increasing skillfulness.