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Poker Video: Limit Hold'Em by DeathDonkey (High Stakes)

I personally never ask or give hu at 6max but will ask and give it all the time at fullring.

Right, glad to hear other people feel this way, as I believe this is somewhat standard amongst Stars regs as well.

Interesting topics.

I have mixed feelings. Why study the game (at 1/2 currently) so seriously If I have to use my fists to get a break even seat at 5/T. Possibly making like ten bucks an hour.

Well, I suppose some money can still be made, so will be watching.

Not sure how to reply, I mean people do play in the games and move up to higher limits and generally do well for themselves. Is it as easy as maybe a few years ago? Probably not but its not something I spend brain energy worrying about, its out of anyone's control. It's a competitive game, we keep score with the stakes and $ involved, I am a competitive person and want to "level up", I think a lot of others share that mentality, I don't see why the relative easiness or toughness of that proposition comes into it at all. I'm not going to sugarcoat it and say how money grows on trees at 10/20+ online LHE, but its still fun and profitable for many people.

Really? I have been out of that circle for some time but as I recall this was pretty standard.

well i've never been in that circle so i wouldn't know, but like BB i just have never heard of this differentiation before

The lobby game is fun. Seriously, I thought I'd hate it but having been coloring people for weeks I click the tables like a madman searching for my turquoise friends.

What's your clicks per minute in the lobby game guys? CPM

Not sure how to reply, I mean people do play in the games and move up to higher limits and generally do well for themselves. Is it as easy as maybe a few years ago? Probably not but its not something I spend brain energy worrying about, its out of anyone's control. It's a competitive game, we keep score with the stakes and $ involved, I am a competitive person and want to "level up", I think a lot of others share that mentality, I don't see why the relative easiness or toughness of that proposition comes into it at all. I'm not going to sugarcoat it and say how money grows on trees at 10/20+ online LHE, but its still fun and profitable for many people.

I probably made myself sound more negative than I meant to in the post that you quoted.

I don't need or want the games to be easy. In fact it is not me at all who is saying the games are worse now. They may be, but who cares. Not that guy who just picked up his first poker book or joined a training site. And feels enthusiastic about poker like the old dogs did in 2004 (online). As long as profits can be made and are being made I think the emphasis should be on the fact that the games are good, not the fact that because this is the state of poker now, we must do this now and we must not do that any more. There is a big difference even in saying "the games are good", versus "the games are still good". The latter sounds like a wagon that you don't wanna step into, but if you are in it already you don't necessarily have to step out of it right this minute

Let's just be aware of the current state why compare it to what it was..

Really looking forward to the rest of this series.
What are your thoughts on specializing as opposed to learning more of the mixed limit games? Do you think there's perhaps more profit to be made in the other games in the relative short term(excluding the big bet games)?

I think you are asking is it better to have a range of stakes or one specific stake you plan on playing. This becomes a balance as you increase your limits. When you are playing 2/4 there is not much stake selection you have to be practicing because you can usually find enough good games at your stake. When you move up the limits this becomes hard to do. 10/20 it will be hard to get 6 games going, 4 of which might be good. So you have to branch out. This is why DD says BBB should have 10/20 be his main stake and fill it in with 5/10. I am sure he says this knowing full well that BBB is somewhat of a game selection nit. And he needs to push todd into the right mindset for succeeding at the higher stakes.

Cliff notes:higher stakes lobby skills become more important

EDIT: not what you were asking but still fairly important

Really looking forward to the rest of this series.
What are your thoughts on specializing as opposed to learning more of the mixed limit games? Do you think there's perhaps more profit to be made in the other games in the relative short term(excluding the big bet games)?

Probably? I mean I enjoy learning new games, I think I get fairly competent quick enough that I can play medium stakes and not get killed. Not sure how true that is for everyone, but yeah for game selection its wonderful to be able to branch out.

Will give you an example from a couple months ago - I have played 30/60 stud/8 on stars on and off for years, I think I am around breakeven in the game, the regulars are probably all a little better than me, I'll win in a game with fish. Well there were some 100/200 stud/8 games running a few months ago with a well known high stakes poor player, and I was extremely confident that I would be a winner in those lineups, played, and did well. The game was probably softer than any 30/60 running, but those guys didn't have the bankroll or the guts to play I suppose and so I got into some great games. This same bad player often plays 75/150 omaha/8, unfortunately I think I am very poor at that game so I sit on the sidelines even though he is losing money to the others in the game nearly always.

Just want to say +1 to allstarrrrrrrrt's posts in the thread, thanks for contributing your perspective as someone with experience in the games we are discussing

Time Link to 00:32:48

Love the discussion so far. This is great great stuff.

On the bottom right how do you feel about 3betting K7s from the sb against a TAG btn open? I think it's marginally profitable (especially if they play weak tight post flop) and categorize it as slightly less profitable than say a K9o or QTo type hand, but I'm unsure.

Time Link to 00:33:18

On the bottom left table how do you feel about 3betting a TAGish player like JL from the BB that's more apt to check behind a lot of lower and more connected board textures?

Can you capture more EV by doing this, or is it strictly better because there's so many more board textures that you're gaining extra EV from him/ adding EV to other parts of your distribution that we shouldn't worry about it because we're making up for it there?

Love the discussion so far. This is great great stuff.

On the bottom right how do you feel about 3betting K7s from the sb against a TAG btn open? I think it's marginally profitable (especially if they play weak tight post flop) and categorize it as slightly less profitable than say a K9o or QTo type hand, but I'm unsure.

Can't even find the hands really with a quick look cuz I had the video in fast forward lol, but I think what you are saying sounds right. It's marginal, its a little worse than like QTo but its probably fine against guys you feel you have good control over.

On the bottom left table how do you feel about 3betting a TAGish player like JL from the BB that's more apt to check behind a lot of lower and more connected board textures?

Can you capture more EV by doing this, or is it strictly better because there's so many more board textures that you're gaining extra EV from him/ adding EV to other parts of your distribution that we shouldn't worry about it because we're making up for it there?

I do 3 bet out of BB nowadays, but kpr16 and I had some good discussion about it in that recent video where he sort of convinced me its probably not really any better and requires more thought than simply not 3 betting that spot and figuring out a good strategy for how to handle guys that check behind some flops.

Time Link to 00:40:03

Totally agree with what you're saying here and I say this as a mostly heads up player that starts games all over the place at 10/20 and lower. It's pretty much expected and there's nothing wrong with simply joining a game if you want to play. I mean there are multiple seats at a 6max or 10max game for a reason etc.

Time Link to 00:54:51

How to cope with variance and how to become less results oriented would be great!