Can any book really help you in micro stakes limit poker?

[hammerva]

With my bonus points at Full Tilt, I bought Small Stakes Holdem. I also have SuperSystem 2 and Lee Jones book on holdem. And I read and I read and I read and still struggle in micro limits under $1 badly.

Lets be honest, most of these books are based under the idea that "low limit" poker is 4/8 or 3/6 at worst. The normal 3/6 player is nothing like the .25/.50 player. So I guess my question is does these books really help in micro levels.

Does Small Stakes HOld em expect 5 player on the flop when you raise?
Does Small Stakes Hold em expect someone to call your early position raise with J 2 offsuit?

yes I am on tilt and feel that I am the worst poker player ever (seriously down $15 in 4 hours in .25/.50 limit is freaking pathetic) but I am really wonder if these books and magazines are useless at the lowest levels.

[playersare]

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Lets be honest, most of these books are based under the idea that "low limit" poker is 4/8 or 3/6 at worst. The normal 3/6 player is nothing like the .25/.50 player. So I guess my question is does these books really help in micro levels.

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the book is citing 3/6 and 4/8 as low limits in B&M casinos, not online. these games are not particularly harder than a 25c/50c table on your computer.

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Does Small Stakes HOld em expect 5 player on the flop when you raise?
Does Small Stakes Hold em expect someone to call your early position raise with J 2 offsuit?

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yes and yes. small stakes limit is all about betting for value against multiple loose opponents. when you have a premium hand, they can call you with whatever they want, and you profit in the long run.

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(seriously down $15 in 4 hours in .25/.50 limit is freaking pathetic)

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30 BB's is one buyin dude. even experienced and skilled players can lose 3-4 times that in a single multi-tabling session on a bad day. getting sucked out is just part of the breaks when you play correctly. if you don't understand why bad calls from your opponent are good even if they get lucky and win sometimes, then you're not grasping what poker is about in the first place.

learn and experience variance, and keep your tilt in check. it should all work out in due time.

[phydaux]

Yup. Keep at it. Play tight and play AGGRESSIVLY.

Remember your pot odds, and don't chase draws if the odds aren't with you. On the other hand, in multi-way pots you RAISE with flush & straight draws if you belive most of your opponents will call. Sure, sometimes your draw won't come through and you'll loose. Other times it will, and the huge pots you win will MORE than offset the few bets you spend to hit your draws.

'Cause in limit, you spend bets to win pots. And the loose, multi-way pots you see at small stakes limit hold'em tables are ripe & juicy for a patient, disiplined, selectivly aggressive player.

Always remember - If all you have is three to a flush or three to a straight, then you have nothing and you must throw that hand away.

Pick up Hold'em on the Come. The last half of that book is this wierd, awkward system for calculating implied odds in limit hold'em that I think is utter quackery, but the first half is a system of counting outs, discounting outs when you aren't drawing to the nuts and finding hidden outs. And it's GOLD - A must read for new limit players.

[amulet]

the books will help. ssh is a terrific book. but learning poker is hard, and wining at poker is harder. keep reading and rereading, keep playing it is very important to play as you study. you will lose at first, and even an expert has bad sessions, bad weeks, bad months, and in theory can have a bad year. the normal flucations in poker are high. chess has almost no flucation - the better player will almost always win. don't let your emotions effect your play. if you can't afford to lose then play for free and learn. i can guarantee you several things:
1. if you study you will get better.
2. your results will improve with study and play.
3. you will lose in the begining
4. you will always lose more often then you want and expect to.
5. learning and making the correct decision will please you.
6. the results will become less important short term and the decisions you make more important as you play each hand - emotionally.

to reiterate: the books are helpful at all levels. but just because you read a book doesn't mean you will win - learning will take time. poker is hard.

[phydaux]

And stop cold calling raises with suited connectors. That one cost me a lot of money before I got it under control.

[dirty banana2007]

I started playing last september at 2/4cent limit games on Pokerstars. I now play .50/$1 games on several sites. I have been profitable at all the levels i have played at so far (touching wood it continues) I have learnt a lot from reading GSIH, Winning low limit Holdem, and SSHE, and i know that there is still a helluva lot more that i can learn from those books as i am a very poor player, I am certainly nowhere near as good as most (if not all) of the other posters on this forum, and there is always something in those books that makes a light switch on in my head.

Those books provide the basics for your poker play. if they cant help you at the smallest levels, they arent going to help you at higher levels either.

[xxx]

Yep, SSH is the book for your games. Reread it, play, repeat.

And 30 bb is nothing. Ever wonder why the bankroll requirements for poker are so large? This is the reason. (And by the way, the swings get worse the higher you play!)

[hammerva]

I want to think I understand variance but my play is just a constant roller coaster. Two or three good sessions with 5 - 20% profit (on average) followed by losing my whole buy-in ($15 for .25/.50 for example). To me that isn't variance; that just means I stink at poker. And judging from my pokertracker stats (704 total hours played at a loss of 44 cents an hour), it is pretty obvious.

I probably should drop down to .10/.20 since my current balance is only around $30 but I can't stand the river suckouts and meaingless raises already. I figure the average players per pot is 65%.

[RatFink]

Review the sessions where you are losing a lot.

You'll find problems beyond just people getting lucky. Things you can correct. Like

- You have a particularly bad seat at the table
- You are tilting after a bad beat
- You fail to believe people have an unbelievable hand
- You are not adjusting to the other players weaknesses/strengths

The books are helpful. But poker requires adjusting to the players at the table with you.

Take the time to review your sessions (good and bad), ask a friend to help you. Participate in the Micro Limit forum.

You aren't alone. If people like yourself didn't run into this problem, and desire to learn how to get through it there would be no market for the books.

[dirty banana2007]

You should definitely drop down a level or two if you are playing with that sized bankroll and not winning.

That might be something affecting your decisions. You need to remove all distractions so you can focus on whether you are making the correct decisions.

Remember, river suckouts and meaningless raises can happen at almost any level. Whats important is that you focus on trying to make the best decisions to profit from them. Also, its very easy when starting out to put down someone elses play as a suckout or meaningless but when you know a bit more about the game you may start to realise that their play is valid. For example when i started playing i was shocked to find players betting draws on the flop against my pocket aces, then i did some reading and found out that it can be an acceptable strategy in the right circumstances....then a little more playing and reading and i realised that in the micro limits there are many players who bet those draws too aggressively, they assume that they can pump as many bets as they can headsup and still regard it as value.

You are there to try and profit from their mistakes, while minimising your own.If they dont make mistakes, your not going to make any money.

Be patient, study more and play. Something will click and you will find yourself turning a corner.

Post some hands that are troubling you on the micro tables
section so people can help you plug your leaks or reinforce your confidence if you played it correctly and just got unlucky.

Good luck.