The Great Debate: 1 Year On.

[john kane]

i'm trying to do an essay today, and as ever this turns into surfing 2+2 for 50mins of every hour. i was searching over my old posts to see how i used to view poker, given i like to think ive improved a lot from a year ago.

the great debate post was 367 days ago http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...rue#Post5494287

and still i think preflop decisions like this shape and effectively determine how high someone like myself's win rate will be.

i'd like to think postflop i am a competent player, im at 6ptbb/100 over 100k+ hands at 2-4nl, and i generally think i can make decent decisions, as a lot of us can on this forum.

however, it is still preflop which is the problem.

for example, in november and december i was playing a 30/20 game and crushing the game. in jan and feb i went down to around 25/16 and turning over 6ptbb/100 or so. in march i played 20/12 and ran at 3ptbb/100. i want to play around 22-26/18-22.

all months 8 tabling, so no change in number of tables, or any other factors.

my belief is that it hassle and annoy people preflop is getting increasingly important. the rise of the 3 bet pf in the past year has been very noticeable, although maybe gone too far in some instances.

personally, i try to avoid 3 betting. i find it just increases my variance way too much. ill only 3 bet fish, im not looking to make money off the tag regulars.

i remember in nov-dec i would get comments such as 'blind stealer' 'stop doing that you dick' due to my frequent raising pf. this was especially evident when there were one or two limpers and i was on the button and i'd chunk it up to 6big blinds. or i'd raise every single button when it was folded round to me, sometimes most cutoff if button was tight. id still be very tight utg and utg+1, but i'd punish limpers when i had position and steal as much as i could.

also if it was folded round to sb who limped and i was in bb every single time id raise 5-6bb.

i think this was a very good preflop strategy and one ill use over summer when i get back playing in 4 weeks time after exams.

so, i'd like to put a question in, one to reflect my post 1 year ago. this time, its a slight moderation. this time utg+1 is tighter, to reflect the tighter game we play in.

i'd also like to thank everyone on this forum who has helped me improve my game in the past 12 months.

good luck, thoughts very much appreciated.

john

[BobboFitos]

how is this a great debate? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[kotkis]

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how is this a great debate? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

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It's a well deserved anniversary thread for THE Great Debate post back in the days!

[john kane]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
how is this a great debate? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]
It's a well deserved anniversary thread for THE Great Debate post back in the days!

[/ QUOTE ]

apparently matusow and negreanu had a fist fight over this debate at a WPT event recently. it really has sent shockwaves throughout the poker community this past year.

seriously though, if you look at the posts on this forum, 95%+ are on postflop theory/strategy. maybe thats becuase a lot of you have already nailed the preflop game, but i find it very easy to drift back to playing tighter during breakeven spells/bad variance, which just compounds the issue.

i dont think its of any coincidence that whenver i play 25-30/18-20 game my win rate is consistently higher than when i play 15-20/10-12.

just i think that ensuring my preflop game is optimal in terms of when to raise is crucial to long term success, especially when to try to raise limpers.

[Esuom]

i raise them all to 5bb

[FBP]

I raise them all to 6bb except Axs which i'll overlimp.
Axs gets huge value from flush over flush (and trips top kicker over trips), if you see flop 4+ way, it's not that rare. I feel it's a hand which has more to lose than to gain from raising in position after limpers here.

[Gobgogbog]

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i dont think its of any coincidence that whenver i play 25-30/18-20 game my win rate is consistently higher than when i play 15-20/10-12.

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Well, that would make sense if:

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i find it very easy to drift back to playing tighter during breakeven spells/bad variance, which just compounds the issue.

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[john kane]

ps i understand this will also depend on how frequent you have raised in the last few hands, but as a general 'will never raise that' or 'will always aim to raise that to xbb'.

[john kane]

lol sorry it is more of a review of last year's great debate.

i'll try to come up with a even greater debate when i think of someone which has been blowing my mind with confusion.

[dtan05]

what? I raise with all.