D
davidkopp
Rising Star
Bronze Level
Berry-patch in the Desert
For many poker enthusiasts, “Poker” simply means: No-Limit Hold’em--- and throughout the post boom years this has been hard to argue (untrue, yet hard to argue.) Initially seized upon by eager marketers upon as the pauper-to-a-king Chris Moneymaker myth, No-Limit has, over the years since 2003, come to be discussed by everyone wearing a hoodie as the best game ever--- “The Cadillac of poker”--- NL has gone from almost never played to almost only played.
For the first few years of the boom, there was more dead money in poker than ever before. This led to poker rooms capping buy-ins --- a "protection" measure designed to keep the bad players from losing too fast. Once the hemorrhaging was controlled, hobbyists had a chance to breathe deeply and look around. When they did, they found information being shared on an unprecedented scale. It is largely due to this in my opinion, the general public plays NLH better than they did 10 years ago. A lot better. Pot limit Omaha, too. But this is not true of the traditional limit poker games. If anything, people play stud, razz and stud 8 worse than they did 10 years ago. Limit Omaha 8 play has improved a bit, but Omaha 8 is the one game that everyone believes they play at an expert level.
I have personally always believed that anyone who is serious about making money playing poker must know how to play all the games. This is more important today than it ever was. This should significantly affect your thinking about value in tournament poker. wsop limit tournaments are structured to make sure there is lot of play on day two. The increased starting stacks have improved day one for the better player.
($1500 is a lot of money for most poker players. The Golden Nugget has lots of limit events with buy-ins starting at $250 and the best 1 day tournament limit structures you will find. And, obviously, the level of play is considerably lower than WSOP tournaments.)
As far as tournament choices go, it is important to ask yourself “would you rather have a small edge in a big tournament or a big edge in a small tournament”.
For many poker enthusiasts, “Poker” simply means: No-Limit Hold’em--- and throughout the post boom years this has been hard to argue (untrue, yet hard to argue.) Initially seized upon by eager marketers upon as the pauper-to-a-king Chris Moneymaker myth, No-Limit has, over the years since 2003, come to be discussed by everyone wearing a hoodie as the best game ever--- “The Cadillac of poker”--- NL has gone from almost never played to almost only played.
For the first few years of the boom, there was more dead money in poker than ever before. This led to poker rooms capping buy-ins --- a "protection" measure designed to keep the bad players from losing too fast. Once the hemorrhaging was controlled, hobbyists had a chance to breathe deeply and look around. When they did, they found information being shared on an unprecedented scale. It is largely due to this in my opinion, the general public plays NLH better than they did 10 years ago. A lot better. Pot limit Omaha, too. But this is not true of the traditional limit poker games. If anything, people play stud, razz and stud 8 worse than they did 10 years ago. Limit Omaha 8 play has improved a bit, but Omaha 8 is the one game that everyone believes they play at an expert level.
I have personally always believed that anyone who is serious about making money playing poker must know how to play all the games. This is more important today than it ever was. This should significantly affect your thinking about value in tournament poker. wsop limit tournaments are structured to make sure there is lot of play on day two. The increased starting stacks have improved day one for the better player.
($1500 is a lot of money for most poker players. The Golden Nugget has lots of limit events with buy-ins starting at $250 and the best 1 day tournament limit structures you will find. And, obviously, the level of play is considerably lower than WSOP tournaments.)
As far as tournament choices go, it is important to ask yourself “would you rather have a small edge in a big tournament or a big edge in a small tournament”.