[iagainsti]

Well, I am tired of seeing people get hammered on this one. I wonder how many of you have played 1/2 limit at commerce.

These games are tough to beat (yes, I've read and completely understand SSH) in fact, I used to always get the "Boy, you sure are tight" comments from everyone as I folded hand after hand. Why are these game hard to beat?

First, the rake and tip are monsters in a game like this. If 9 people sit down with $50 to play 1/2 limit they must all go broke within, at most, 6 hours.

Do you see why? :P

The second reason that these games are frustrating to the "good" player is the collective effect of SO many bad players at the table. Pocket Aces are not worth much against 6 players. Following SSH guidelines you will only get a playable hand fairly rarely. God forbid if it's raised in front of you, because then you'll have to throw that AQ that you've waited an hour for away. You will then watch, in horror, as the pot is scooped by someone with A4o.

Having said all this, yes, in the long run a good player should win at these games, but, as Sklansky himself has said, it would be best to play at the 10-20 or higher so you're not fighting the rake so much. If you can't do this, then play online where the rake is reasonable and there is no tip.


As a side note, my ex business partner has been playing professionally for about 5 years and has built a 6 figure BR--not bad. When I was starting out and told him that I was reading this or that book and that I was going to crush the low limit games, he patiently (as if I were a 2 year old) explained that "the book doesn't work in those games"

Just my .02