Hi Professor,
I ordered a copy of the book tonight after being rather enticed by the opening chapter available to read on Amazon. I'm actually more interested in it for its perspective on the state of poker today--I am trying to find more material about the history of poker and players' changing approaches to the game during the last 25 years or so--but I am also interested in your book as someone who is trying to learn to play the microstakes again after being introduced to online poker in 2012 after Black Friday and spirits were low in the US poker scene. Would you say that your book is useful to someone who plays NL25 or less online, especially without a HUD?
I am currently using resources from Alton Hardin and some of blackrain79's advice to establish a foundation for online play, but I have a sneaking suspicion that 1. their techniques rely too much on using a HUD, which is more or less impossible for me to do on Linux where I'm limited to "instant" play in the browser (and is technically disallowed on Ignition), and 2. if every non-recreational player taking the microstakes seriously is more or less using a TAG approach, at what point are we mostly pushing money around for marginal profits among ourselves in between junk plays by whatever fish are left? 2020 may have encouraged a little more fishy play online due to limited or unavailable casino access, but it seems every year people are saying that each stake is "one level" harder than it was a few years ago--5NL today is as hard as 10NL was in previous years, 10NL today is as hard as 25NL used to be, etc. At what point will the microstakes be as hard to beat as the mid-stakes are now? Everything in the poker economy just seems headed towards diminishing returns as everyone tries similar strategies to win the same limited amount of profits to be made.
Anyways, I got off on a tangent. My main question is: would your book help someone trying to be profitable at the microstakes, and if not what resources (if any) would you recommend towards that end? Also, I'll try to keep you up-to-date on my impressions of the book as I read it once it arrives. Regardless, thanks for adding a fresh perspective for metapoker junkies like me to explore!
Great - I really hope you enjoy the book. Your comment on heading towards diminishing returns is probably the key motivation for me writing this book - I want to steer poker away from that.
I think to answer your points that you are right - microstakes is getting a tougher place to beat. As part of this book I put in thousands of
hands at all kinds of different stakes and game formats to see how the games were playing. My impression of microstakes (and particularly Fast/Zoom) is that there are not many
very very poor players in the pool - its a lot of average players winning or loosing a few bb/100 hands, and the
poker sites winning. The weak players also get protected in 'Zoom' because they're encouraged to fold more, which pushes them closer to a better strategy for their skill level. I'd always advise focussing on who are the really bad players and targetting them specifically, and then trying to hold your own vs everyone else at the lower stakes.
My opinion of Blackrain's material is that it is great as a 'horse for course' type learning. In other words, its some of the best for maximising your profits vs the weakest players, so is definitely a good place to start. But I think a point you make is relevant here - each passing year the highest stake that these styles will be effective at will be
decreasing, so I am not sure of the longevity of such an approach.
To asnwer your question: I actually have a few sections in the book that you may find interesting on these types of topics. It has some intro pages on various topical things in poker, then goes into my new tools to break the best players and make their lives tough. However, if your main aim is to beat 25NL and below online, the second half of the book will be much more relevant to you, and it has some good sections with tips and pointers for online games of different stakes, and a section on who actually makes money from poker. It's also got some 'online
tells' pointers - which are a thing at the micros (!). It's not designed to be a complete tool, but certainly to supplement other resources in an effective way.
As a side note - HUDs are, in my opinion, key to achieving the highest profits at lower stakes if that is your pure aim. For example, to make a decent hourly rate, most players will be playing exceptionally high volume at lower stakes, and it's the HUD that dictates a lot of strategy post flop - because you'll find players who overfolds to check-raises/overbets, or who will cbet flop & give up turn all the time as obvious leaks.
Let me know how you find the book and if you have any questions
Professor Poker