PokerStars micro-limit antes according to "Theory of Poker"

[Agent Zero]

Stud n00b warning -- poster is not experienced in seven-card stud (~1000 hands) and is a break-even player. Please forgive his ignorance.

From The Theory of Poker:

[ QUOTE ]
"I consider 5 percent or less of the average future bets a small ante and 15 percent or more of the average future bets a large ante. Anything in between is an average ante. Thus, $100 would be an average ante in a $1000-$2000 game, while in a $5-$10 game, 50 cents would be an average ante."

[/ QUOTE ]

At Stars, the ante is exactly 10% of the small bet. That is the definition of the "average ante" given above -- but what does Sklansky mean by "average future bets"? Simply talking about an arithmetic mean, in that $5-$10 game, the "average future bet" would be (2*5 + 3*10) / 5 = $8, which means that 50 cent ante is borderline "small" (6.25%).

What is your interpretation of this discussion (in particular what is meant by the term "average future bet"), and would you consider the ante "large" in the 4-8 cent game (1 cent) or the 25-50 cent game (5 cents)? Furthermore, how significant of a play difference would these increased antes entail?

Thanks in advance for any insight you all may provide.

[egordo877]

it makes a difference but not as much as you might think. I would advise you to not think about that paragraph too much. more important is what sklansky describes later in that chapter, and keep in mind that some opponents don't really adjust their standards at all and you need to adjust to that when playing hands with them, sometimes contrary to what the ante structure would dictate.

i would consider the $5-10 and $10-20 structure on stars (10 percent) small ante games. and the 4-8 cent structure you describe (25 percent) would be a large ante game, yes. in between just use your judgement, the differences are not that significant though.

check out the "Playing in Tightly Structured Games" section towards the end of Seven Card Stud For Advanced Players. The theoretical implications are described in more detail.

[Bartholow]

There are a lot of discussions of the effect of ante sizes in the archives, do some searching and you'll find some interesting stuff.

In general we tend to think of it less in the TOP way and more in the 7CSFAP way, where the typical $5/$10 and $10$20 ante (such as that at Stars) is a smallish ante, and the ante in the smallest and biggest games on Stars, and all the games on Full Tilt, is largish.

I'm a big believer in the ante size significantly changing your play, others in this forum sometimes disagree [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. In general you should be a bit looser and considerably more aggressive in high ante games, particularly in terms of trying to get the pot headsup (if you think you CAN) with those hands that do better headsup. This includs pairs and even 3-flushes if they have a couple of big cards. In small ante games you should try to trap a little more often, and be more wary of being trapped.

[Andy B]

Here is one of several posts I've made giving rough guidelines as to what constitutes a high-ante game vs. a low-ante game.

[Agent Zero]

I'm starting to realize I'm a total nub... "Use the search engine, Luke." That said, thanks for the assists. I'll be sure to keep this info in mind.