Too much trickery??

[CmnDwnWrkn]

I'm reading through these threads, and I can't help but think that people are trying to be way to tricky in their play, especially for the microlimits. There are so many examples of people trying to check-raise, set traps, slowplay, etc., that I think they are missing out on a tremendous amount of value that is gained from more "bread and butter" value betting and continuation betting.

Don't get me wrong, deception definitely has its place in this game. But I think that you can be too deceptive for your own good, and it can get you into lots of trouble if you are always trying to be deceptive and creative rather than extracting value in a more straightforward manner.

I offer you this advice from experience. I had a good amount of tournament experience before I started playing at NL25, and once I switched to cash, I couldn't understand why I was losing. The players were obviously not very good, and I knew that I was a decent player, so why was I losing? I began to look closely at my play, and I noticed that I was trying to be far too deceptive for NL25, and it was making me a losing player. For example, I was checking when I should have been betting, slowplaying when I should have been playing faster, raising when I should have been folding. My plays really weren't correct for the situations when it came down to it, and I was missing far too much value that I would have gained from playing in a more straightforward manner.

Again, deception has its place, and you do need to mix up your play in order to be predictable. However, tricky plays and traps should be something that you use every once in a while when the situation calls for it, not every time you are involved in a pot.

You've probably heard that you can only bluff good players, and I think this is especially true at the lower limits. If you are having trouble seeing results in the microlimits, I suggest that you evaluate your play and determine whether you are trying to be too sneaky.

Straightforward, solid poker is definitely what works best at the lower limits. If you are playing a solid game, you will be successful and capitalize on your opponents mistakes. Worry about adding more of the tricky stuff later on, when you move up and textbook poker doesn't work as well against tougher opponents.

All I'm saying is at this level you don't need to do too much, and less is often more. Once you get back to basics and focus on playing solid poker, you'll be surprised at how good your results will be.

[WarhammerIIC]

I think the real problem is that people use tricky plays without even considering who they're playing against. There are definitely people out there at micro stakes who can be trapped. But there are more that can't. I think a lot of people here just don't bother considering that. They just say "hey it'd be fun to check-raise bluff here", without considering that this person won't lay down A-high to anything.

[prodonkey]

uhm that's because A high is the nuts

[cowboy billy]

meh, I feel the opposite is true when comparing cash tables and tourneys, I've been playing lots of tourney's lately and never have I seen such bad players before, they suck so much it's frightening

I agree with what you said about players wanting to be too tricky though, straightforward is good, I always bet strong when I'm holding teh nuts and lol hard when I see donkeys slowplaying themselves into tiny pots

however, when you don't hold the nuts, trickery does have its merits, I win lots of pots with floating and bluffing which gives me a lot of extra value

[vixticator]

I play my big hands very straight forward and strong. There are times I think it's costing me a lot of bets, against certain players. In general you can't go wrong by just playing them fast. Knowing when to slow down and let them bluff is difficult for me; I have the opposite problem of most people.

[sputum]

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I play my big hands very straight forward and strong. There are times I think it's costing me a lot of bets, against certain players. In general you can't go wrong by just playing them fast. Knowing when to slow down and let them bluff is difficult for me; I have the opposite problem of most people.

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This problem costs you a lot less than theirs costs them [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]