1. 2008-02-29 04:14:47

   What to play???

   So the quest for me this year was to have a goal that was achievable. So I had to think about what would be ideal.

   I have been playing poker, mainly tournaments, for almost a year with very mixed results. 95% of these tournaments were small buy-in. The tournament is very challenging and interesting. But if I was spending about 10-12 hours of my weeks playing these with no monetary gain to show, I didn't see much of a point in playing them. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the challenge and more importantly having fun playing them.

   So I started looking into the alternatives - home cash games, online sites and local cardhouses. Home games were fun with my friends, but if I wanted to be serious and learn new stuff, the same crew of recreational group didn't seem the right way to go. Online seemed a good alternative, but depositing and withdrawing money didn't seem all that easy considering all the legislations in place. So I hit the cardhouses.

   Obviously, the first thing I noticed is there is not much low stakes no-limit available around the area. The alternatives were spread limit and limit. I tried both these versions. Between the two, I found a little early success in the limit. So I paid more attention to it. It is a different beast to the no-limit that I was used to.

   One of the first things I learnt was slow-playing big hands will absolutely demolish you, especially against multiple opponents. The cardhouse patrons were kind enough to teach me this lesson the hard way :-( The second thing I realized was the concept of raising to get a free card. This works well with new players, but not veterans of the game. Obviously, the key is to play against one or two opponents for one pot rather than 4-5 opponents.

   But the one similarity I found between no-limit and limit is aggressiveness pays off.

   And so my quest continues. It's been two months now and the progress report is green. Share your thoughts and let me know if you know good limit poker books, papers or concepts.

   and so it begins... the quest.

   Posted by Linus at 2008-02-29 04:14:47

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Comments on “What to play???”

1. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-03-02 20:35:01
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   • Nick, you crack me up :p Some people's skills and brains are better at limit than spread limit. I definitely like spread limit way better than limit, though. For the most part, it's a lot like limit. However, around here, a lot of the spread limit games are pretty crazy. People pot-commit themselves with bad hands or draws just to try and double up, since the max buy-in is 200, there are people at the table with 400+, and most flops cost $10 to see. Because of that, I can see why limit might be a good choice around here...

     Good luck on your quest. I read "Winning Low Limit Hold'em" by Lee Jones a few years back and it seemed good. Basic, but it got my mind thinking limit better. Raising for free cards, raising for value when you're on a big draw, etc.

2. • Posted by Nick L g 2008-03-01 20:21:53
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   • I would recommend Million Dollar Hold'em Limit Cash Games By Johnny Chan. Then the limit section in Play poker like the pros by Phil Hellmuth is a great read for that game. It gave me ideas and concepts to use good luck with everything oh by the way spread limit is way better than limit.

3. • Posted by Linus g 2008-02-29 19:38:26
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   • Thanks Krishna. I will look into that option more seriously.

4. • Posted by Krishna (unverified) g 2008-02-29 05:11:19
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   • If you want to improve your game I highly recommend playing online.

     Reasons:
     Easy to play and you can play limit, no limit, omaha, razz, stud and whatever you can think of.
     Hands/hour
     You can do hand analysis using software and track your progress.
     Live games are 10 times easier and you will be on auto pilot mode after playing thousands of hands.

     You can get plenty of playing time from 100$ and with your experience your roll should only grow when played at proper limits.
     If you are not sure how to deposit then one of us can help you out. Most players keep growing the roll and never withdraw. I am sure there are ways to withdraw if you really need your winnings.

     That being said I love playing live and I think we have enough members from SF meet up on this site that we can organize few games.