Advice applicable to loose games?

[TJD]

Hi all,

New(ish) here. Love the discussion groups; a lot of useful stuff from obviously experienced players.

Some background might put my question into perspective.

I started hold'em about 6 months ago, read Jones, Carson, Krieger, Sklansky etc and played a LOT (too much?) in low limit (mainly $1/$2) games on line. The games were almost always loose and I built up a decent profit ($5000 or so)

I have not played much in the past couple of months, partly because of other things getting in the way and partly because of the fact that I was becoming bored with playing.

The fact that "proper" play has me folding so much PF and giving up on so many flops meant that on days when I got poor cards I was losing the will to live :-)

I have tried to attend to the boredom problem by now playing 2 tables at once at normally higher stake tables (up to $3/$6 occasionally $5/$10) and by only playing at tables where the number of players seeing the flop and the average size of the pot indicate lively (but not crazy) action that should be profitable.

Having been pretty much out of action for the past 2 months, I revisted this site with much more enthusiasm and was once again impressed by the depth of thought that goes into some of the discussions. The amount of effort you experienced players put into trying to read the hands of opponenets in order to save/make bets is very impressive.

However, (the question at last - hurrah!), is such deep thought necessary in loose low limit games or can it in fact be counter productive?

I could add more but I would prefer to let you more experienced folks lead the discussion in the right direction.

TYIA

Trevor

[lil']

You've won $5000 playing $1-2 over 6 months after taking 2 months off? That's an average of 625 BB for those 4 months. You'd have to play 40 hours a week and earn about 4BB an hour to do that.

You must be running crazy good!

[Angel]

Good day,

In reference to your question, "However, (the question at last - hurrah!), is such deep thought necessary in loose low
limit games or can it in fact be counter productive?"

I would suggest that the answer is two-fold. Yes, it can be counter-productive in a loose low limit game where most if not all of your opponents are pleasure players. If they notice your deep thought, they may very well start to realize that there are actually decisions worthy of consideration. This epiphany may lead to them taking the game more seriously which could, god forbid, lead them to studying and improving. Not something that you want your opponents doing. On the other hand, that said, I would say that in depth thinking about hands - even at the low limits, is crucial - just do it away from the table. Prepare in advance for situations you may face when you are at the table so that you can act quickly and give the impression that you too are a carefree, unthinking player.

Peace,
Angel

[TJD]

Thx for reply,

Probably nearer 60/70 hours pw for the first 4 months and about an average of 10-15 for the last 2 months during which I often play 2 tables, so not 4BB an hour.

However, the oft quoted 1BB an hour is for B&M games I believe (I may be wrong). With on-line games playing more hands per hour and no tokes, I would think(guess) that the win rate would be more.

I have no idea really, perhaps others would comment.

As for "running crazy good", it does not feel like it. As you would expect I get sucked out on a lot but I do not have enough experience to be able to judge whether I am in fact being much luckier than I ought.

Cheers

Trevor

[kiddo]

Which moves at a poker-table is based on "deep thoughts"? What excatly is it that u dont need to do playing low-limit?

[TJD]

Thx for the reply.

The reason I was not sure whether thinking about the game could be counter productive is because of my experience at bridge.

It is possible to make a play that would "fool" a near expert player, giving you a good result, but would have an effect exactly opposite that required if used against a weak player.

In other words if you attempt to deceive, there is little point if either a) they are not looking anyway or b) the will glean the "wrong" inference from your play.

Equally, if, when playing a hand, you base your choices on assuming that your opponent is playing "right" you may well get it "wrong" 'cos they have no idea what they are doing :-)

I wondered whether in poker, attempting to read poor players hands can be equally self destructive.

Thanks again for your reply.

Trevor