OT-Poker Strategy

[Lathum]

Was just wondering the Poker players on this boards take on this. I was playing in Atlantic City today at a 2-4 table, now I play online alot and have a very good understanding of pot odds and strong vs. week starting hands etc... Sometimes I will play at a 3-6 table and I tend to do better. Now I think the reason this why I do better is because I am playing against better competition at the 3-6 table. At the 2-4 table evryone stayed in for the flop and I wold lose with pocket kings because some moron stayed in with 3,5 suited.

So my question is this. Do you think playing against inferior competition can hurt you?

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by Lathum

So my question is this. Do you think playing against inferior competition can hurt you?

Only in the short run. In the long run, you'll make a killing against them.

[QuikSand]

As I have to re-tell myself every time I sit down and take a whipping at the low limit tables... even a very long session of poker is still very much part of the short run, and governed mostly by chance.

If youo're noticing that a handful of sessions at 2/4 were worse than a handful of sessions at 3/6... the most likely explanation is that it's just luck. It's also possible that you personally react to the larger stakes and play with a bit more focus.

But all told, it's really hard to draw any conclusions at all.

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by Lathum

So my question is this. Do you think playing against inferior competition can hurt you?

No.

[Lathum]

It juist seems to me that at a lower limit table luck is much more of a factor because so many people see the flop where if you were at a higher limit table and you raised pre flop someone with 9 5 suited would fold.

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by Lathum

It juist seems to me that at a lower limit table luck is much more of a factor because so many people see the flop where if you were at a higher limit table and you raised pre flop someone with 9 5 suited would fold.

This is a very difficult concept to explain, but I'll try.

You want the guy with 95s calling your raise. You don't want him to fold. True, he'll suck out sometimes. What you don't see are the thousands of times that these idiots call down to the river and pay you off (because they muck their hands after losing). If everyone played correctly, nobody would ever win in the long run. They would just keep swapping money back and forth.

Another concept that's hard to explain is AA and KK getting cracked in multiway pots. You've got to understand up front that when you go into a six-way pot with AA or KK, you're only going to win about 35% of the time. However, you're only putting 17% of the money into the pot, so you have a huge overlay in pot equity. I'll take AA or KK every hand for the rest of my life in a multiway pot and retire a multi-billionaire.

[B & B]

Your problem is simple.

Comparing 2/4 to 3/6 games as low and high dollar is laughable.

Double it to 4/8 at the Bellagio, sit down and play for 3 hours, you WILL see that difference you are speaking of.

If this is a legit question, there you go.

[QuikSand]

I'm not sure that playing $4/$8 (or really any level) for three hours will prove anything. Three hours isn't long enough to really see much. Especiually at Bellagio, where $4/$8 are the lowest limits offered... these are basically the same people playing $2/$4 or $3/6 elsewhere - just with nicer chandeliers.

[B & B]

I'll dispute that statement. Walking from the Strip upto and inside the back pokeroom of the Bellagio takes 10-15 minutes, with a consistent 20 minute (or more) wait to get on a table. Buying $8.50 Paulaner's at the next door sports bar while you wait.

But thats just me, maybe some folks play hold 'em at 9:00 a.m. pacific.
Perhaps joe schmoe sticks around at your table longer, but unless he's defiantly passive aggressive - he's sent off in less time on my tables.

[QuikSand]

I'm not sure we're on the same wavelength, B&B.

My point is that three hours at any table, at any level, in any location, is just too short a time to guarantee that anything will go in a particular way. Any idiot can, in three hours, hit plenty of jackpots and have a mountain of checks in front of him. And any totally solid player can miss on hand after hand and end up busted out. The results from three hours tell you basically nothing.

As for the walk to the poker room and the cost of the drinks... well that's another story. If you want to include travel time from Atlantic City to Las Vegas, feel free to include that as well, I suppose. But it doesn't affect the main point -- you need to have long term experience before you draw any real conclusions, and a few hours here or there doesn't cut it.