TxScorpion
Rock Star
Silver Level
Have a question for the group...
Have you ever noticed that when you're playing against harder opponents, it forces you to play at your highest possible level or else you'll be left broke and embarrassed?
I compared a session I played last night to a session I played a few months back , and the tables were like night and day. First off, last EVERYBODY at the table limped into the pot! Maybe one person didn't limp into the pot, but they called "$5 straight" as a way to open raise into a pot instead doing 3BBs. Is this normal? Or am I being too by the book about this? Secondly, everyone was just content to see a flop, turn and river. Not alot of raise, re-raise, all in etc. Lastly, I noticed that after a while even I was limping into pots (whether they were monster hands or not). It just felt like I was playing down to the level of my competition and it cost me dearly on a few hands where if I had raised them pre-flop, they would've folded the hand but instead I allowed them to catch up and win the pot. Now the table I played a few months back, felt like I was at a table full of Mensa members. If someone limped into a pot, everybody hurried up and limped in because they might not be so lucky to do that on the next hand. That was the first time I felt like I played my best poker because I was forced to make the correct decision EVERY time. Meaning if I was UTG+1 and I had AKo I couldn't just limp into the pot without paying the consequences. If I knew I couldn't raise with a marginal hand to open the pot, I folded immediately. And if I was on the BU and I saw people limping in, I could exact my revenge on the people who tried to limp in as well.
I was told when I first started playing that, (1) you should look for the weak players, (2) try to exploit them as often as possible and (3) stay away from tables where all the players are looking like they are in deep thought. But what I noticed was that if you don't know how to exploit these weak players, you're still just as weak as they are. Although I wouldn't advise playing at a harder table all the time,(your bankroll and self-esteem will thank you for this) I think it is necessary to play those harder tables to get those skills needed to take advantage of those weaker players.
Any thoughts on this?
Have you ever noticed that when you're playing against harder opponents, it forces you to play at your highest possible level or else you'll be left broke and embarrassed?
I compared a session I played last night to a session I played a few months back , and the tables were like night and day. First off, last EVERYBODY at the table limped into the pot! Maybe one person didn't limp into the pot, but they called "$5 straight" as a way to open raise into a pot instead doing 3BBs. Is this normal? Or am I being too by the book about this? Secondly, everyone was just content to see a flop, turn and river. Not alot of raise, re-raise, all in etc. Lastly, I noticed that after a while even I was limping into pots (whether they were monster hands or not). It just felt like I was playing down to the level of my competition and it cost me dearly on a few hands where if I had raised them pre-flop, they would've folded the hand but instead I allowed them to catch up and win the pot. Now the table I played a few months back, felt like I was at a table full of Mensa members. If someone limped into a pot, everybody hurried up and limped in because they might not be so lucky to do that on the next hand. That was the first time I felt like I played my best poker because I was forced to make the correct decision EVERY time. Meaning if I was UTG+1 and I had AKo I couldn't just limp into the pot without paying the consequences. If I knew I couldn't raise with a marginal hand to open the pot, I folded immediately. And if I was on the BU and I saw people limping in, I could exact my revenge on the people who tried to limp in as well.
I was told when I first started playing that, (1) you should look for the weak players, (2) try to exploit them as often as possible and (3) stay away from tables where all the players are looking like they are in deep thought. But what I noticed was that if you don't know how to exploit these weak players, you're still just as weak as they are. Although I wouldn't advise playing at a harder table all the time,(your bankroll and self-esteem will thank you for this) I think it is necessary to play those harder tables to get those skills needed to take advantage of those weaker players.
Any thoughts on this?