This is laughable

So, I was just listening to the new epsiode of Cash Plays (link at the bottom), which for those that don't know is one of the many shows on the Poker Road website, and this weeks guest was Samoleus. Samoleus is a pretty well respected mid-high cash player, playing between $1k and $5kNL games. I don't even know where to begin with this, so I guess I'll just sum up what he said.

Basically Samoleus was saying that everyone (well not everyone, but most) but him uses "flawed" tactics, and the fact that he is making less this year than years past is no fault of his own. He was ragging on I guess what you call the "new school" of poker, meaning people that play very aggressively pre-flop with lots of 3 and 4 betting. He claimed this style closed the gap between the good and bad players and "simplified" the game. He says, verbatim, "It reduces the complexity of the decision making process" and "it's made it more of a gambling game and reduced the edge"

I don't even really want to get in to it any further here cause I could pick this apart for ages. I just can't believe how arrogant he comes off with the whole "Everyone else is wrong cause they don't play like I think they should play". I had a good laugh and thought most of the logic he used was very flawed.


Poker Road Radio

the portion of the show I was refferring to runs from the start to about 15mins in.

I'll listen now but to some degree he's right. It's a lot easier to learn about 3 and 4-bet frequencies and optimal play preflop than it is to learn how to hand-read postflop. That's why I've seen a lot of people advocating the style of flatting nearly 100% of 3-bets in position (well the ones you call, so I mean it's call or fold, not 4-bet much at all). But it's a strategy that can be exploited if used incorrectly and if it's a sub-optimal strategy he should be able to beat it. Obviously I disagree with him complaining about it, because it's part of the game and a valid strategy, but I'm pretty sure he's correct about the edge difference. Of course that's sort of like an NFL defense complaining that the other team won't pass they'll only run because their run defense has less of an edge than the pass defense over the offense. It's another aspect of the game and to complain about it is just silly. Alright, gonna listen now.

ok listened to it and the guy's an idiot lol. Adapt to the style and quit whining. If it's a sub-optimal play the money has to go somewhere right? If someone is incorrectly 3-betting SCs then nit it up and get paid then. They only 3-bet you if you raise light, so if you don't want to get 3-bet don't raise light. Of course the good players are observant and would see that and not give you action. So they only 3-bet when it's profitable against the range the guy's raising (assuming he's good) so how is that bad? I think the biggest reason edges are getting smaller is people are getting better.

I get what you're getting at here and yes, to some degree, it is much easier to learn optimal 3-bet/4-bet strategy (hell, Stoxsheet basically solves it) but it's not like this eliminates postflop play completely. And the whole reason to 3-bet light and all that is to expand and balance your range. I mean when it boils down to it, you make money when you get your opponent to misjudge your range, and make a decision based upon a false assumption. So, while you can basically look at a sheet to get the perfect play for the situation, you still have to deduce your opponents range correctly in order for it to work. Better players are better at judging their opponents ranges, which is why they win the monies. If a less than stellar player tries to employ this strategy, and does so incorrectly, I feel it leads to a larger edge than you would have over someone who was basically nut peddling. You can much more easily force them in to mistakes for all or a very large portion of their stack.

Don't see why he should be complaining, everyone has their own style of playing. 3/4 bet strategy is good to start off learning with, then you expand upon it.