[NFuego20]

This is a great discussion and I think the games will constantly be evolving. Back before the UIGEA I was playing on Party Poker. My stats were 30.73/5.21/1.23 over 71k hands and I was up $20.8k making 8.26 ptbb/100!!!

You couldn't play that way over the past year and not lose an awful lot of money. (Anything is possible, but if I see an opponent with those stats now, donk comes to mind). On party you could limp almost any hand in any position, get to see the flop since nobody was very agressive preflop unless it was somebody playing 70/50, and then just get paid when you flop something big. I was 2 tabling 1/2 NL and making about $50 an hour, and quit my job.

I came over to FTP after Party stopped accepting our business, and in the first few months while not employed, I'm finding it impossible to win! I couldn't get away with limping out of position any more. The games got tighter, and position raises became commonplace. After three months of frustration breakeven poker with huge downswings to constantly battle back from, I knew I had to adapt my game. Needed to really tighten up while focusing on position and play more tables if I wanted any chance to survive. Now I've worked my way back to +3ptbb/100 still playing a somewhat passive and unorthodox 18/4 style, but it obviously won't be the last time I make changes to my game. I think most of us who take the game seriously are smart enough to look at our results and make adjustments if we think the games are becoming too difficult to beat.

Obviously I don't play anywhere close to the style of the average 2+2er, but I'm not sure I want to play like everyone else. I think realizing what your opponents are doing and trying to counter that in some way is far more important.

Anyway, a lot of valid points are being made in this thread.

Just for fun, a throwback to the great days of party where guys like this dumped off at least a grand a day:

***** Hand History for Game 3656427185 *****
$400 NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, March 02, 23:04:28 ET 2006
Table Hades (No DP) (Real Money)
Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: IceFishKing ( $722.89 )
Seat 2: GL2UM8 ( $415 )
Seat 3: ejhunter_1 ( $164.20 )
Seat 5: eased13 ( $656.81 )
Seat 10: kiosk_______ ( $543.14 )
Seat 9: mycva06 ( $387.46 )
Seat 6: Gamboooool20 ( $617.86 )
Seat 8: Beoupe ( $394 )
Seat 4: Sally_T ( $400 )
Seat 7: beerNpizza01 ( $400 )
mycva06 posts small blind [$2].
kiosk_______ posts big blind [$4].
beerNpizza01 posts big blind [$4].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Gamboooool20 [ 6c 6s ]
IceFishKing folds.
GL2UM8 folds.
ejhunter_1 did not respond in time.
ejhunter_1 folds.
eased13 calls [$4].
Gamboooool20 calls [$4].
beerNpizza01 checks.
Beoupe folds.
mycva06 folds.
kiosk_______ checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ts, 3c, 5d ]
kiosk_______ checks.
eased13 bets [$14.30].
Gamboooool20 calls [$14.30].
beerNpizza01 folds.
kiosk_______ folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jd ]
eased13 bets [$14.07].
Gamboooool20 calls [$14.07].
** Dealing River ** [ 9s ]
eased13 bets [$220.66].
Gamboooool20 calls [$220.66].
eased13 shows [ Qh, Ac ] high card ace.
Gamboooool20 shows [ 6c, 6s ] a pair of sixes.
Gamboooool20 wins $513.06 from the main pot with a pair of sixes.