I've been studying and playing NLHE for the past 3 or 4 years. Although the ultimate goal is to make money that isn't what drives me to play. The reason I invest so much time and energy is because I enjoy the competitiveness and the complexity of the game. I like challenging myself to improve not only my play but my understanding of the game. If I had to guess I would say that I've spent several hundred hours learning and studying the game.
For a multitude of reasons I don't play in the high stakes cash games or mtts preferring instead to play mainly in tournaments with $20 or less buy ins. The issue that I find is that over time the quality of play in those games has deuterated to the point where I feel like I'm no longer playing poker and instead I'm merely gambling. The pandemic has brought with it a massive influx of new players. Many of these players have learned the game primarily from playing in either free money poker apps or from playing freerolls and now these player types seem to make of the majority of players in the low stake tournaments.
My main problem with this isn't that I'm adverse to playing against players who aren't very good it's that most of these players have no interest in actually playing poker they're there simply to gamble. They play any two cards in any and everyway possible. You can forget about trying to put a player on any sort of range. You'll see guys limp pocket aces and then a couple of hands later they'll shove a 100bb stack with J4o. Theres no such thing as isolating players. You 3bet or 4bet preflop and hands like pocket 2s or 93o will jam and before it gets back to you 3 or 4 players are likely to have called. Postflop players either check or min raise that is unless they hit top pair or better. When that happens the snap shove all in. This type of play goes on hand after hand after hand. Sure its easy to exploit these kind of players but to me its mindless poker. Forget position, hand ranges, pot odds, bet sizing, bluffing. Just wait for a monster hand and get it in while folding everything else. You want to make a final table? Start folding your top pairs to big bets and get it in with sets, straights and flushes. Thats pretty the only strategy needed. Like I mentioned earlier, to me thats not poker
Obviously the OP was just venting, as they never returned to discuss any of the points.
My starting point would be to ask the OP, "What IS real poker?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBg_aY0pJr0
Very much agree. There is a lot of this stuff, where people just post something to vent, and after that they never return to the thread, they started, or even the forum as such.
And being a "beginner" I found the statement dangerous to new players.
I heard it years ago, when I first started online playing (2008/09).
"Micros are based on luck only"
Still, at that time I was able to min cash some tournaments (PS .10 / .30 cents 180p mtts). At this time, I had read Harringtons on poker and that was it.
Due to my career I stopped playing for years.
Went back to it in 2016/17. Never got even close to min cash.
Absolutely wrecked, ashamed, ridiculed. I had no idea what I was doing, thinking "Harrington's on poker" still the bible to go with (At that time I did not even remember half of it I guess).
And my game, was not online poker game. So, I was thinking "ohh every one goes all in with n cards, this is ridiculous!" why am I not getting my cards on the board??? ohh pooor me, this game is rigged! (yeah, I once had that thinking too).
Stopped again.
This year, I started studying, reading, listening to the insights of the current state of the game.
I invested in information and I am being more active in the communities I participate (very good way to talk poker to ppl who are also serious about it) and after a couple months with just the basics of it BOOOM! I was able to run deep, run good, and even WIN!
So. NO. micro stakes are just a different strategy when thinking poker. To be honest, whenever I blamed another player of a bad play, when reviewing the hand I often found that I was the bad player.
So, if you are not winning on micros first think of the variance, then ask yourself if you are indeed putting in the work or just waiting for rungoods.
It makes no sense saying that higher stakes are easier lol If they were, why aren't all the micro players going to high stakes?
all i hear is,,,,"waaaaa,why don't they let me win? :aetsch: lol
Sure its easy to exploit these kind of players