poker tip... (and general poker discussion thread)

[limon]

middle limit (30-60/40-80) limit holdem games in los angeles are as good as ive ever seen them, maybe better. i sat in the 40-80 at HP about 3 months ago and just couldnt believe the game, since then ive tried out a few of the other non- commerce mid limit games including stud and have been just amazed at how loose passive they are. it seems that these middle limit games are the last resting place of the people the poker boom left behind. its also telling how often someone brings up the fact that NL is a "crap shoot" or all in fest.

ED: Edited title (be warned, I'll be doing a bit of this). Anyway, I don't want this forum dominated by poker threads, so please use this thread to post your general poker tidbits. If you have any awesome stories like limon and J. Brown tend to have, feel free to start new threads if they are deserving. But small tips/thoughts/comments should go here. Thanks.

[daryn]

i wish all the LA casinos were within an hour drive of where i live. that would be sweet.

when i visited commerce it made me want to move to LA.. but i really don't like LA.

[private joker]

Limon, why are you advertising these games? The object is to keep them fishy.

[danzasmack]

[ QUOTE ]
Limon, why are you advertising these games? The object is to keep them fishy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Stuff like this never used to get on my nerves. Now it can really bug me sometimes. Of course, I'm on the east coast so this post means nothing to me, but in general (ie: "the SH games on such and such site are the softest")

[Senor Choppy]

If you're able to beat tough, mid-limit games, you should learn NL instead. It's suprisingly easy and quick to do, and will make your life infinitely easier starting in about a month. More money, less variance, better game selection, etc.

If you decide to stick with limit, either move to CA or enjoy fighting with all the other dinosaurs for your piece of the ever shrinking limit economy.

[Victor]

"If you're able to beat tough, mid-limit games, you should learn NL instead. It's suprisingly easy and quick to do"

everyone says this but i dont really believe it. ive been a winner at 10/20+ for a million hands. one of my friends has as well.

we both tried to move to nl and after around 50k combined hands at 1-2 and 2-4 both of us were about breakeven. combine that with the absolute mind numbing boredom of nl and i dont think ill ever go back.

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
combine that with the absolute mind numbing boredom of nl

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah this has been my biggest road block everytime I give NL a serious go. Its soooo boring that I lose all desire to learn to play it. Id rather learn to knit or something.

[ianlippert]

What do you guys find so boring about it? Are you just sitting there waiting for good hands?

[limon]

[ QUOTE ]
Limon, why are you advertising these games? The object is to keep them fishy.

[/ QUOTE ]

im trying to help this forum w/ some really good info. normally i wouldnt say boo.

[Victor]

[ QUOTE ]
What do you guys find so boring about it? Are you just sitting there waiting for good hands?

[/ QUOTE ]

i like to make decisions. i like constant action. i like to see showdowns. i like to win money. none of these things happen with enough frequency in nl.

[xorbie]

[ QUOTE ]
i like to see showdowns. i like to win money.

[/ QUOTE ]

this could be the source of your problem

[Justin A]

Yeah the LA games are really great. Vegas games are still fantastic also. As a strictly live player I see no need to switch to limit. Recently I've been trying to learn just for the sake of better game selection though.

[CrayZee]

[ QUOTE ]
ive been a winner at 10/20+ for a million hands. one of my friends has as well.

we both tried to move to nl and after around 50k combined hands at 1-2 and 2-4 both of us were about breakeven.

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe you just have some work to do on your NL game. 50k hands compared to 1 mill, is pretty small in comparison.

Admittedly, I haven't played that much NL, but you must like the frequent and thin calls and value bets of limit better or something.

[Taylor Caby]

[ QUOTE ]
"combine that with the absolute mind numbing boredom of nl and i dont think ill ever go back.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is one of the most baffling things i've ever read. i don't know how anyone can think no limit is boring once you truly learn how to play the game. the game isn't about showing hands down, the game is about making big hands and showing them down, and making opponents fold their hands when you don't make a big hand.

this just seems a lot more exciting to me than the mechanical nature of limit hold'em. who cares if you can't see a showdown, it's much more fun to play 40% of the pots like you can playing short handed NL.

tc

[Victor]

"it's much more fun to play 40% of the pots like you can playing short handed NL."

well you can do this sh limit too.

" i don't know how anyone can think no limit is boring once you truly learn how to play the game."

well this the key. i dont truly know the game and everything i read on the forum is ppl folding huge hands. in practice i got owned so many times. i flop a set and put money in the pot and the [censored] folds and actually has the audacity to show his aa. or i hit 2 pair and call pot sized bets to obv see the nuts. thats it. the only reason i stayed afloat was bc i stole so many pots pf and on the flop when everyone had nothing.

[Claunchy]

I've played a considerable amount of both limit and NL, and NL is far more entertaining to me. I agree with what Taylor said about limit being mechanical; I feel like I'm playing with handcuffs on or something. In NL I have so much more freedom to take lots of different lines, and much more interesting situations seem to come up.

This is only online though; live, limit is way more fun for some reason. Probably because I'm getting drunk.

[w_alloy]

[ QUOTE ]
"If you're able to beat tough, mid-limit games, you should learn NL instead. It's suprisingly easy and quick to do"

everyone says this but i dont really believe it. ive been a winner at 10/20+ for a million hands. one of my friends has as well.

we both tried to move to nl and after around 50k combined hands at 1-2 and 2-4 both of us were about breakeven. combine that with the absolute mind numbing boredom of nl and i dont think ill ever go back.

[/ QUOTE ]

I played only limit for my first 200k hands and was winning at 2.5BB over 100k hands at 10/20+. In my first month playing NL (i jumped into NL600) I made half as much as the whole year previous playing limit. In the next month I more than doubled my lifetime poker earn (including the previous month).

For the first month I still thought limit was more enjoyable and a "better" poker game. NL is now way more enjoyable for me and I feel a more complex and interesting game.

[The DaveR]

limon, A friend of mine used to be a pro in LA in the mid 90s. He stopped playing there (and generally) for fear of collusion and teams after being asked to join one. You've suggested in the past that the mid-limit games are clean now because of the lure of online poker. Any thoughts on what will happen to 40/80 games in LA now that online is being choked off?

[shag]

limon,

Why would someone want to play 30/60 if you can have at least the same winrate at a 5/10NL uncapped with a lot less variance

[The Ocho]

[ QUOTE ]
limon,

Why would someone want to play 30/60 if you can have at least the same winrate at a 5/10NL uncapped with a lot less variance

[/ QUOTE ]

one of my reasons:

i don't always show up with my A-game. playing a C-level limit game is a lot less risky than playing a C-level nolimit game. i guess that kinda flies in the face of the "limit has higher variance" doctrine, but whatever.

[Senor Choppy]

[ QUOTE ]
everyone says this but i dont really believe it. ive been a winner at 10/20+ for a million hands. one of my friends has as well.

we both tried to move to nl and after around 50k combined hands at 1-2 and 2-4 both of us were about breakeven. combine that with the absolute mind numbing boredom of nl and i dont think ill ever go back.

[/ QUOTE ]

For background, I've played limit exclusively for 8 years before switching. Most of it was full ring.

I tried full ring NL and didn't really like it. Everyone was a nit, and anytime you got action is was a set or huge draw, it seemed. I switched to 6 max and things changed. It seemed like players weren't nearly as handcuffed and it just feels like a better structure.

Learning something new has definitely kept me interested and made poker fresh again. At the end of my limit days, I could barely play 2 hours without wanting to kill myself. With NL, I log 5 hour sessions all the time and usually enjoy it. I feel like new situations come up all the time, instead of knowing my exact line with a hand for virtually every scenario before it happens. I make dozens of mistakes every session, and it makes me even more determined to get better.

[Kyle]

[ QUOTE ]
limon, A friend of mine used to be a pro in LA in the mid 90s. He stopped playing there (and generally) for fear of collusion and teams after being asked to join one. You've suggested in the past that the mid-limit games are clean now because of the lure of online poker. Any thoughts on what will happen to 40/80 games in LA now that online is being choked off?

[/ QUOTE ]

Anyone with any experience about this care to comment. How benefical is playing on a team? Are you really going to get that much extra EV I assume that guys are signaling to each other and letting best hand play. Perhaps, pumping draws as well and drving people out of pots. I would imagine this would be easily noticed if not done well. From my live experience there are very few really good live pros anyway especially at the middle limits. ALso the commerce 40/80 is so soft that I think I could still smash it even with a few guys playing on teams.

[limon]

the varience in the limit games im reccommending is nil. theyre that bad. after 500 hours i can count the number of times ive been check raised semi bluffed on the turn on one hand.

[Golden_Rhino]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What do you guys find so boring about it? Are you just sitting there waiting for good hands?

[/ QUOTE ]

i like to make decisions. i like constant action. i like to see showdowns. i like to win money. none of these things happen with enough frequency in nl.

[/ QUOTE ]

I had given up on online poker until I started playing NL. I prefer limit in person (keep in mind I don't go to casinos, I pretty much stick to home games).