Small Stakes Hold'em (Skalnsky, Miller & co)

[dr_subs]

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IMO, it has really helped my game, especially live. SSHE is not for new players. They assume you already know how to play... the tactics help you improve your expected value in a variety of situations.

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I would also add that this book is not only not for beginners, but is an advanced book -- more advanced than "Hold 'Em Poker for Advanced Players." SSHE introduces advanced concepts about a very specific type of game, whereas HEPAP covers a variety of advanced topics. It is also a dangerous book if incorrectly applied. The concepts in it are very difficult, and cannot be applied selectively (without a very good understanding of what you are doing).

I made the mistake of reading SSHE first, thinking it was less "advanced." I did not understand much of what I read to the degree I needed to in order to bet money on my skills. I recognized my mistake (and holes in my game), and after gaining more experience and reading other books (such as HEPAP), I am now re-reading SSHE. I find the concepts resonate much better with me, especially in the context of the knowledge I gained between readings.

[Hyperrrprank]

SSHE is not more advanced then HEPAP.

[Yepitis]

I am re-re-reading SSHE right now and I know where you are coming for Don. But if you go through the situations in the book they are technically sound. The times you hit your "loose" calls make up for the times you miss and fold. The book is talking about maximizing your profits, not winning every hand you are in.

That said, I am still trying to but the book fully in use so I cannot say from experience it works, but they work out in my head fine.

Online poker is different then live and SSHE is different from the way you played. There will be a breaking in period for both and you combined them.


You also might try "Your Worst Poker Enemy" by Schoonmaker.

Good luck.

[Gene Paulson]

I play small stakes myself now and play that book only,I couldn't beat the smaller games. This book is worth many thousand s of dollars just as it says and also I know you haven't read it very well because it is written for multitabling online not live. read page 2 and the intropage 6.... they are teaching maximum profits, You are just afraid to do what poker is meant for gamble; It also says directly that you are not to copy the chart! and you need only change things you have a thought out reason for, to me you are just to proud to get above 10/20 I had to come a long way down to set in a smallstakes game I could already beat most no limit games and any other game if I had the same players and enough of a bank behind me; no you should not just read it over but read it about 700X in a row, do only what it says ( or write out the more correct play in equal langauge) I have read mine into the dust No if you want to be a really good player that is a must book because it is how to beat bad players which none of the other books shows; I play by that book and I do not lose at all at the table I set at there are only two winners everyone else loses all ther money one is me one is the rake all the other stacks are thrown away. and as for the odds you must not know them because you are using them and winning or not; playing 35s on the button makes a profit; there is many ways to explain it but odds is one of them. If they are so different then what is stated you are not truly seeing what those players are like; So with out knowing what you could possibly mean I only have this to say you are down right wrong and showing by your speech expressed in your writting that you are not what you say and your life is not that good.

[Foreverastudent]

I just want to add my two cents on SSHE, mostly by sharing my own experience with it.

It seems that, for me, when I read a poker book, I don't fully understand all of the concepts in there, misapply them when playing, and then, with some experience under my belt, I reread the book, and say, "OK, now I understand what they're saying." That's kind of the experience I had with SSHE.

SSHE is a great book, and it has made my game very profitable, since right now I can only afford to play at the lower limits with these types of players (3/6 limit). But you can't just read the book and expect to sit down at one of these loose/passive tables and dominate. You need a fair amount of experience with these types of players, understand how they think (or as often is the case, how they *don't* think), learn about their tendencies and habits. For me, a combination of applying the ideas in this book and real-life playing experience has really tightened my game up.

A few more points about some of the other topics you mentioned. You said that you're a tight and aggressive player. That's great, and that shouldn't change when you go to a loose table. With starting hand selection, all that changes at a loose table is that you can loosen up your own calling and raising requirements a *little* (emphasis on little), since a) even once you've loosened up a little bit, your starting hands are still probably better than the majority of hands that your opponents are playing, and b) with many hands, you're getting the pot odds to stay in the hand anyway. But you should *always* be aggressive. Loose tables make tons of bad calls (by far the most common mistake that these players make), and you really need to punish these mistakes by betting and raising when you have an edge, even if you suffer the occasionally expensive and frustrating run of bad luck.

One example from my own experience comes to mind. I'm in middle position with QT spades in a kill pot (i.e. bets are doubled after someone wins two pots in a row). Six people come in with me, and the pot is unraised. The flop comes king-jack-six with one spade on the board. I bet, hoping to buy an out, but I get all six (!) callers. Still not a bad play, since my equity is well over 18% at this point. The turn is a 5 of spades, giving me a flush draw now. I check, and a player two to my right bets out. Three people call, and of course I raise, since I surely have enough equity to justify this play. Everyone is sure that I had a monster at this point. Well, the river is a blank, everyone checks, including me, and I muck the hand immediately. Everyone looked at me like I was nuts, and I felt more than a little pissed at the time that I couldn't hit any of my outs, but that's the way it works sometimes. You've just got to grind it out and keep making these aggressive plays against loose players, and trust me. It will pay off handsomely eventually.

One additional thought. You mentioned 52s and 96s as playable hands at a loose table. Um... yikes! I know that you should loosen up your starting hand requirements, but you shouldn't loosen them up by *that* much. If your cards are low and unpaired, no-gap suited connectors are really all that's playable from middle position under most circumstances at these kind of tables. At best, I think you can play one-gap low suited connectors on the button or the cut off seat, but two gaps is a little bit too loosy-goosy.

[chillrob]

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One example from my own experience comes to mind. I'm in middle position with QT spades in a kill pot (i.e. bets are doubled after someone wins two pots in a row). Six people come in with me, and the pot is unraised. The flop comes king-jack-six with one spade on the board. I bet, hoping to buy an out, but I get all six (!) callers. Still not a bad play, since my equity is well over 18% at this point. The turn is a 5 of spades, giving me a flush draw now. I check, and a player two to my right bets out. Three people call, and of course I raise, since I surely have enough equity to justify this play. Everyone is sure that I had a monster at this point. Well, the river is a blank, everyone checks, including me, and I muck the hand immediately. Everyone looked at me like I was nuts, and I felt more than a little pissed at the time that I couldn't hit any of my outs, but that's the way it works sometimes. You've just got to grind it out and keep making these aggressive plays against loose players, and trust me. It will pay off handsomely eventually.


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Good post - however, if everyone is really sure you have a monster, you should have bet the river. I know it is tough to bluff 3 players in a low limit game, but how many bets were in the pot, maybe 15 bets? I think a bluff would have likely worked at least 1/15 of the time there.

Rob

[bravos1]

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If I look now at the book DS explains that a low suited pocket card is very well playable on middle to late position.

He might be right, but one thing isn't said at this place; you get a very tough decision after the flop with cards like that. Per se, you've got pocket 9h/6h and the flop hits 9s/7d/3h... you've got top pair with no flush draw and just a small chance for straight.. and 2 outs for a set or quad.

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Ed will be one of the first to say that he has issues with hand charts, and actually has said so on his site, since people look at them and just mimic what is in the chart.

SSHE has charts for loose games and tight games, but in reality, there should be 10 charts, 15 charts, whatever....

Situations always change when you are playing and 2 tables are never exactly the same. Because of this, the main premise of what SSHE tries to teach is WHY you should play a hand a certain way. I have had several people ask me about SSHE and one of the first things I always tell them is that they can't expect to just read the book and apply the charts blindly and expect to win. A player needs to understand the concepts behind which the charts were created. Overall a table may have the exact same composition of players, but certain hands will play differently based on your relative position to certain players at the table.

SSHE has been the micro and small stakes bible for so long, yet the games have changed. Some points n the book do not apply as much as they used to, but there is still tons of great info and will continue to be the low limit bible for quite some time still.

Live games still play right into this books strengths. I typically play 6/12-20/40 and this book very much applies to these games. One last thing I will add....If you do no see why at loose tables, you should be opening up you starting hand requirements, you really need to take a step back and re-evaluate the game of poker, how well you really understand it, and exactly where/who the money comes from.