ok first off I'd like to say that Rob does not speak for me, for the purpose of this or any poker argument, how much money anyone has made is irrelevant. I talk about my money in my
blog (yes I know, shameless advertising
) but you'll notice I'm not going to talk about any of that in most of the forums because it's simply irrelevant. A good solid poker strategy shouldn't have to have authority backing it, it should make sense on its own.
Basically, I haven't said that this is a bad guideline, I'm just saying that it's not always in the best interest of everyone to eliminate a player, and that if the side pot is big enough, bluffing for that can give you enough of a chip advantage to justify letting a small stack stay in and not bust.
Basically my problem is this - I always like to understand things, I don't like just memorizing stuff. This goes from topics like poker, baseball, math, etc. When I was learning addition we learned about number bases so we would understand why we carry when we get to 10. It's how I've been raised to learn. I approach everything that way. So for that reason I just cannot stand it when basic rules are stated without the corresponding logic behind it. It may be the fastest way to start making money to just teach beginners the basic strategy without any logic, and believe me that's how a lot of people learn.
Many people (even on this site) still don't understand topics such as why we bet. So sure if the beginners in this section are looking for the fast track to beating the low-stakes sngs they can probably follow guidelines like that, but if they're actually trying to learn the game, it's important to understand why we do things. That way, they'll recognize the exceptions, and figure out for themselves when to do different things, rather than just be like "well the forum topic said never to bet when a player is all-in without the nuts". The great thing about nlhe is that there are an infinite amount of situations and the best players are the ones who understand the game and can adapt to new situations. I understand this is the beginner's section, but we need to be teaching these people the reasoning behind why we do things, not just general guidelines that could be true 95% of the time. Because it's that 5% that will make a decent player into a great one.
As I mentioned, I'm still learning, hell I'll never stop learning about the game, that's what's so great about it. As long as poker's still around I'll hopefully still be involved and learning about it in 50 years. There's always more to learn. So I apologize if I come off as a bit harsh, I'm certainly not trying to say I'm superior to anyone, I'm just saying I think we need to approach giving advice to newer players as a good foundation for learning, helping them to understand the basic concepts before they start getting into advanced topics without having fully mastered the fundamentals. I've been playing poker for several years now and only as recent as within a year did I learn the logic behind why we bet and the reasoning behind the plays I make. That's when I stopped becoming a gambler and became a real poker player. I'm trying to help other players the same way. The sooner you start approaching the game with an attempt to understand it and don't try to take shortcuts and memorize rules, the more successful you'll be imo. This is true in many aspects of life, but definitely poker.
Sorry for the length, seems like I'm writing a book lol.