A Favorite in the Game or an Underdog

[Tall Kitchen]

In chapter 1 of his book, THE THEORY OF POKER, Mr. Sklansky discusses the significance of knowing "whether your a favorite in the game or an underdog".

What are the general criterion for making this decision? How about specific criterion?

Many thanks in advance.

[KingOtter]

[ QUOTE ]
In chapter 1 of his book, THE THEORY OF POKER, Mr. Sklansky discusses the significance of knowing "whether your a favorite in the game or an underdog".

What are the general criterion for making this decision? How about specific criterion?

Many thanks in advance.

[/ QUOTE ]

Get to know your opponent so you can place him on a range of hands.

Then you compare your hand to that range of hands. If you're mostly/likely ahead, you're a favorite. If you're not, your an underdog.

KO

[istewart]

I believe he's talking about in the game overall, not a specific hand.

[Isura]

Generally you want to be sitting in a game where you feel that you can make more correct decisions and be put in as few difficult situations as possible. You want to be the player that is putting your opponent in difficult situations, and inducing mistakes from them. I think developing this understanding takes time and experience. You usually go through the same process as you move up limits. As an example, say a weak player limps and you isolate raise in late position. By making this play, you are fairly confident that you can make better decisions than your opponent postflop. You generally wouldn't do this against a tough player since you know that it's more likely that he will induce mistakes from you. It's late, and I don't have anything more thoughtful to say at this time. Try also posting in the Theory forum, you might get better responses

[Aaron W.]

[ QUOTE ]
In chapter 1 of his book, THE THEORY OF POKER, Mr. Sklansky discusses the significance of knowing "whether your a favorite in the game or an underdog".

What are the general criterion for making this decision? How about specific criterion?

Many thanks in advance.

[/ QUOTE ]

0) In general, you should be a favorite in almost any microlimit game if you've done any amount of study.
1) How does the table play overall? It is very tight? Very aggressive? These are types of conditions that can (if you can't adjust) make you a dog. Very loose or very passive games are the softest of all.
2) Are players making intelligent plays (from what you can tell)? Are there lots of cold-callers? Are there people limping from the cutoff instead of raising? Are they chasing with junk? What sorts of hands are they showing down?
3) Are there players that you know are TAGs and are possibly better than you at the table? Is there one who has position on you? That's bad. Across the table is fine because there are generally enough fish swimming around that you're not going to have to fight over them.
4) Are you playing within your bankroll? This usually doesn't really apply to microlimits, but if you're playing at stakes where you're concerned about breaking your bankroll, this will cause you to play less well (too conservative) and that makes you an underdog (or at least less of a favorite).

[jookiebrown]

if you play at a sight where you can see flop percentages look for a high 'see the flop' percentage with a low avg pot size. you should be at a table with loose/passive players who wont put you under much pressure and will pay you off. Even when players like this beat you they dont put you under any pressure and dont exact all of their bets.

At a table like this a good, tight, aggressive player should be able to maximize wins and minimize losses. That's my idea of a favorite.

after a couple of orbits you'll learn to tell when a table is not for you.

once you get comfortable in your game there will be very few micro limit games that you wont be a favorite to win in. you'll be more interested in finding a table where you are not just a favorite but a prohibitive favorite to win.

[Tall Kitchen]

What is it for a TAG to "have position on me". It seems like a TAG could influence me on the right and read me from the left. Will having a few players between the TAG and I help insulate me from him? Thanks again - superb response, by the way.