Bowlboy
04-17-2007, 08:13 PM
Not sure if it's a good idea anymore. People just call so darn much. Perhaps it's just that I lack the postflop skills to make the money, and that is likely true, however when I play like a nit, I seem to always do fine.
I just started playing NL 6max last fall. I was a limit donk before, but I really grew to hate it. I wanted something where I could exploit my edge when I held a strong hand for the maximum. I switched to NL and started playing .01/.02 with a $40 bankroll. I was tired from working so hard at limit moving up to .25/.50 only to have a big downswing and ending up right where i started. I didnt want to have to deposit again, because of issues at home and fears that gambling would become a problem for me as it was for my father. So, I played really tight at .01/.02. Small pots for small hands and big pots for big hands. Marginal hands got folded to heat. I was a nit out of neccessity. There is an upside to it though. I was booking winning sessions consistently. In fact, I crushed .01/.02 for 23PTBB/100 over 20k hands playing like a nit.
I eventually moved up to 10NL which was around the time Tien first posted the 6max fundamentals. I loved this post, and still do to this day. It inspired me so much to play aggressively and to learn to become better. I did okay with it for awhile. Here and there I'd have some bad sessions but I was beating 10NL for 5PTBB/100 over lots and lots of hands, so it seemed to me I was doing something right. Whenever I've taken shots at 25NL, it seems either I have really bad luck, or am just too much of a donkey to win at that level. I usually manage to put myself on tilt after losing my stack a couple of times and end up losing a couple more buyins. Ok, so I'm not ready for 25NL even after playing over 100k hands at 10NL. I know, this is sad. I've always been applying this TAG style though, trying to do what everybody says is right. I believe that if done properly I can make good money playing TAG but I cant help tilting when I start running bad like that. When I play like a nit though, I dont think I've ever dropped 2buyins in a session since I've been playing NL. If I have I probably made it back later on. When I play like a nit, I put myself in a lot less marginal situations and fewer large pots where I have a tough decision to make. Most of my money comes from big hands like sets, or preflop monsters like AA and KK. When I play like a nit, there is little variance, which means that I dont end up on tilt, which also means that I'm a nicer person to be around and I'm still making money, just more consistently.
I'm not saying that TAG is'nt the way to go. For me I dont think it is, at least while i'm down here in the nanos. I play to win, and being a big nit seems like the easiest way to do this. Very few of my opponents actually seem to pay attention to the big hands that I'm showing down over and over again. Just because I'm at the table, the maniac will still be the maniac and the 65%vpip fish will still be the fish. Apparently nobody is adjusting to my nittiness.
Another advantage that being a nit seems to give me is multitabling. I make my money off of big pairs and sets for the most part. I see about 700 hands per hour playing 9 tables and in an hour I can see a lot of big pairs and a bunch of sets. I know some people think I should play less tables and learn how to play good poker. I agree that would be better and definitely more enjoyable. Playing TAG is much better for self esteem. Being a nitty weak tight player does absolutely nothing for my ego. But ego is'nt what it's all about. It's about the money. I'm not too sure about what kind of winrates I can sustain long term but I'm pretty confident I can pull of $10/hour playing the .02/.05 tables on Stars. I havent really played enough as a nit on 10NL though. I always try to tag it up, so long term I'm only 5PTBB/100, with a lot of variance and tilt. Making really good decisions in poker requires skill. So does being able to make decent decisions while grinding out 9 tables.
I think if I get a better monitor or video card or something I can handle 12 tables. I run at about 14/10 so it's not that difficult. I feel like I can 9table in my sleep now.
Are there any more experienced players here that think like me? Can somebody like me playing this nitty make money at 25NL, or even 50NL? My winrates at those levels would'nt need to be high in order for the cash/hour to be significant.
Sorry for the long post, probably not of any use to anybody but myself just sorting things out. I was thinking that maybe some others might benefit if they were to start out playing poker as more of a nit and slowly add some hands or moves into their game rather than starting off with playing too many hands and trying to make too many moves and then having to sort through all the leaks and fix things. Kind of seems backwards.
I just started playing NL 6max last fall. I was a limit donk before, but I really grew to hate it. I wanted something where I could exploit my edge when I held a strong hand for the maximum. I switched to NL and started playing .01/.02 with a $40 bankroll. I was tired from working so hard at limit moving up to .25/.50 only to have a big downswing and ending up right where i started. I didnt want to have to deposit again, because of issues at home and fears that gambling would become a problem for me as it was for my father. So, I played really tight at .01/.02. Small pots for small hands and big pots for big hands. Marginal hands got folded to heat. I was a nit out of neccessity. There is an upside to it though. I was booking winning sessions consistently. In fact, I crushed .01/.02 for 23PTBB/100 over 20k hands playing like a nit.
I eventually moved up to 10NL which was around the time Tien first posted the 6max fundamentals. I loved this post, and still do to this day. It inspired me so much to play aggressively and to learn to become better. I did okay with it for awhile. Here and there I'd have some bad sessions but I was beating 10NL for 5PTBB/100 over lots and lots of hands, so it seemed to me I was doing something right. Whenever I've taken shots at 25NL, it seems either I have really bad luck, or am just too much of a donkey to win at that level. I usually manage to put myself on tilt after losing my stack a couple of times and end up losing a couple more buyins. Ok, so I'm not ready for 25NL even after playing over 100k hands at 10NL. I know, this is sad. I've always been applying this TAG style though, trying to do what everybody says is right. I believe that if done properly I can make good money playing TAG but I cant help tilting when I start running bad like that. When I play like a nit though, I dont think I've ever dropped 2buyins in a session since I've been playing NL. If I have I probably made it back later on. When I play like a nit, I put myself in a lot less marginal situations and fewer large pots where I have a tough decision to make. Most of my money comes from big hands like sets, or preflop monsters like AA and KK. When I play like a nit, there is little variance, which means that I dont end up on tilt, which also means that I'm a nicer person to be around and I'm still making money, just more consistently.
I'm not saying that TAG is'nt the way to go. For me I dont think it is, at least while i'm down here in the nanos. I play to win, and being a big nit seems like the easiest way to do this. Very few of my opponents actually seem to pay attention to the big hands that I'm showing down over and over again. Just because I'm at the table, the maniac will still be the maniac and the 65%vpip fish will still be the fish. Apparently nobody is adjusting to my nittiness.
Another advantage that being a nit seems to give me is multitabling. I make my money off of big pairs and sets for the most part. I see about 700 hands per hour playing 9 tables and in an hour I can see a lot of big pairs and a bunch of sets. I know some people think I should play less tables and learn how to play good poker. I agree that would be better and definitely more enjoyable. Playing TAG is much better for self esteem. Being a nitty weak tight player does absolutely nothing for my ego. But ego is'nt what it's all about. It's about the money. I'm not too sure about what kind of winrates I can sustain long term but I'm pretty confident I can pull of $10/hour playing the .02/.05 tables on Stars. I havent really played enough as a nit on 10NL though. I always try to tag it up, so long term I'm only 5PTBB/100, with a lot of variance and tilt. Making really good decisions in poker requires skill. So does being able to make decent decisions while grinding out 9 tables.
I think if I get a better monitor or video card or something I can handle 12 tables. I run at about 14/10 so it's not that difficult. I feel like I can 9table in my sleep now.
Are there any more experienced players here that think like me? Can somebody like me playing this nitty make money at 25NL, or even 50NL? My winrates at those levels would'nt need to be high in order for the cash/hour to be significant.
Sorry for the long post, probably not of any use to anybody but myself just sorting things out. I was thinking that maybe some others might benefit if they were to start out playing poker as more of a nit and slowly add some hands or moves into their game rather than starting off with playing too many hands and trying to make too many moves and then having to sort through all the leaks and fix things. Kind of seems backwards.