Self Education and Review

As of late, I've spent a lot of thought on poker. After a horrible week in results, I decided it was time to do some poker research. Specifically, I re-read books, passages, and read some new books. I thought over and over again about my play of specific hands in specific situations and tried to apply what I read to the situation. I've been re-reading The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky. I also re-read Hold'em for Advanced Players, Improve Your Poker, Doyle Brunson's NL Section of the Super System, Internet Texas Hold'em by Hilger, NO-limit Texas HOld'em by Daugherty & McEnvoy, and Low Limit Hold'em by Lee Jones. With the exception of Daugherty and McEnvoy and Hilger's books being targeted toward beginners, all the other ones were worth the re-read. I also read Harrington on Hold'em both part 1 and part 2. This was an excellent book and I'll detail why I think so later. I also browsed The Making Of A Poker Player: How An Ivy League Math Geek Learned To Play Championship Poker by Matt Matros and various other poker books at the bookstore.

I think I'm pretty caught up on my reading. The problem I actually want to muse over is one about structure. On page 258 of Sklansky's The Theory of Poker, he details that it is important to evaulate the structure of the game and adjust to it. Low ante games with small blinds neccessitates tighter play and higher preflop standards and favors trapping in pots that are often smaller. Loosen your play is optimal in higher blind/ante structures. I've been thinking about this in my standard 100x BB buyin games online and I think it neccessitates that I tighten my game (w/ the exception of heads-up play and shorthanded). I typically avoid full ring games because it requires much more patience, and skills such as trapping and discipline go up in value. While at short handed tables, aggression, reading ability, and effective bluffing go up in value. The latter is more favorable to my strengths.

Now the real problem is Casino NL hold'em - I still don't know how to go about adjusting my style of play to suit the structure. For example, typical low limit NL games at casinos are usually about 30x to 40x the big blind buyin ($2-$5, $200 buyin, $5-10, $400) and play 9 handed with always at least a raise and many (2-4) callers. On one hand, since you are buying in with a small amount compared to the blinds and everyone else is as well, it seems you should loosen your play and be more aggressive. On the other hand, the table is still nine handed and loose preflop play (such as raising with K10) will almost invariably run into a bigger hand (such as AK, JJ) at a full ring game. Playing tight against these loose players still makes the pots very occassional because any time you are in the hand, there are 3-4 callers reducing your chances of winning the pot dramatically. Also the blinds are much more damaging since one standard raise (4x-5x BB) followed by not connecting on the board usually means you lose 10-15% of your stack since bluffing is not an option against 3-4 callers who are extremely loose and gambling types. Is tight aggressive still right here? Is loose aggressive? Is tight weak?

How should I adjust my preflop standards and flop deliberations? The players are such fish at these casinos (almost to the point of not knowing how to play) that I just have to figure out an effective strategy for this structure if there is one!