Losing at low limit or step it up to high?

[Gelford]

Yeah .. high limits are easy, it's all about capping it on all streets with whatever crappy hand you might have ... until villian with another crappy hand loses his cool and lays down his hand on when river is three bet.

[IronFly]

[ QUOTE ]
I hear at 100/200 they respect some raises but not all.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is that a crack about how no one respects my raises?! [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

[_TKO_]

[ QUOTE ]
Losing at low limit or step it up to high?

[/ QUOTE ]

Stick to the low limits; it will cost you less to learn how to play.

[FredBoots]

I've been doing fairly well at low limits, and here are some hints:
- Find a table with average 6 players seeing the flop and no preflop raising.
- Never bluff, and rarely semi-bluff. Wait till you have a powerful hand and pump the pot.
- Patience! Don't raise 78s in middle position because Daniel did it last night in a NL tournament.
- Don't raise preflop unless you are sure it will knock people out (i.e., UTG). It will just make the pot bigger and make the fish more correct in chasing.

It is typical for me to play 2 hours and make all my money in one or two hands.

Sorry, I just realized you're talking about NL. These hints apply to limit.

[Guthrie]

Move all the way up. Phil Ivey will respect your raises.

[tom10167]

[ QUOTE ]

- Patience! Don't raise 78s in middle position because Daniel did it last night in a NL tournament.

[/ QUOTE ]
Nope, but if the pot is 7 way it wouldn't be so bad to cap it.

[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

[_TKO_]

[ QUOTE ]
Pocket Aces are not worth much against 6 players.

[/ QUOTE ]

They are worth more than any other hand you will get.

[Pog0]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't raise preflop unless you are sure it will knock people out (i.e., UTG). It will just make the pot bigger and make the fish more correct in chasing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bad advice.

[JoshuaD]

Some casino rake structures can make the 2/4 and 3/6 difficult to beat for a substantial amount.


I wouldn't go as high as the 20/40, but I could understand starting at 5/10 or 6/12. Build yourself up from there.