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Pastimes : Gamblers--can you make a living? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: koan who wrote (88)	12/11/2011 3:23:31 PM
From: koan	Respond to of 113

A few more thoughts and some Omaha. I usually do not play below 15/30 hold em (easy game to beat as the large blind allows for weaker players to have a chance against rocks) as bluffing is such a big part of poker and is not effective below 15/30. In Omaha I will play anything as long as it is large enough. Primary rule for Omaha. All four cards must work together. A trick I learned in las Vegas. In places where there are lots of Omaha players who play every day, what you will often see is the "regulars" sort of working together. What they do, is not raise each other and try to hit the low nuts on the flop. The tourists do not know this is going on and the regualrs can scratch a few hundred bucks a day out of a 6/12-10/20 (often with a kill) using this approach. But there is a trick you can use to beat that game almost every night. Although I am not sure how long you could pay in the game as they get pretty upset-lol. The trick is this, to wait for a good hand high or low and then raise and reraise constantly. They are not used to this and cannot adapt and they also usually do not play high hands as they cannot flop the nuts in high. I live in the far north, so I don't get to las Vegas very often, but the last time I won every night I played using this tactic, but I felt it was good I left by the end of the week-g. My kid and her husband had just graduated from Berkely and I took them there for a vacation. We had lots of mad money that trip.

To: koan who wrote (88)	12/11/2011 5:42:51 PM
From: Solon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 113

All good advice. The sort of big hands I will come in on vary with the people behind me and (in tournaments) with a whole lot of factors. Speaking of tournaments, I play pretty tight until the blinds and antes make hands very valuable. So even when I have run cold all tournament an ace high all in will often scare off the crew and replenish my stack a bit to allow me to continue waiting for a decent hand. Back to limit... I generally count on a tight image to bail me out of necessary bluffs or less than perfect draws but as Koan says everything depends on everything and everybody. Which is another reason for my normal tournament strategy: It gives me time to know them--and time for them to know who I am pretending to be. Generally speaking I don't play pairs under nine and probably will not go under A,J suited. It takes patience but I love waiting for pairs. So many play suited connectors and grasshopper straights and what not that when the flop does not hit them it leaves you with a lot of options for continuance depending on what/who you are dealing with and whether you hit a set or not. I find internet tournament players can not resist trying to steal if you play weak through the turn. And you can often get them to top up the pot on the river, too. I hate to give anyone a free draw but if a seemingly lucky turn for them will only dig them a grave it can be a good thing... Also, by having a tight image I can often switch gears from time to time by playing say a J,10 or something that I would not normally play and get free or very cheap draws if say an ace or king hits and they are afraid to bet their queens. Of course a really good player would find out what I have but it is hard for an average player to raise into someone who normally turns over a really high pair or a set. Limit poker has a lot of variables that need to be handled differently. For instance, in N/L one can force good players off the draw by controlling the pot odds. Unfortunately, with limit (and with poor players) they will simply call all your raises and if you have 5 poor players, your good starting hand is crunched. Koan apparently can deal with this by playing in a bigger blind structure or by being the one with a 6 high straight! And perhaps playing in a bigger game is the only solution to this problem. Now I know a good player can fold those starting aces because after all if you are honest you KNOW when you are beat. But getting all your raises called after having trip aces on the flop and having three guys eventually go to the river with two different flush draws and a straight draw on board is not a good feeling. In N/L only the BIGGEST dummy would be on a bad draw for everything and if he won he would be there for plucking later! But in limit it is now mandatory that they all take the final draw by putting a tiny bit more into the pot. Grrrr... Sometimes in limit I will simply not bet my great hand before the flop when I know that 3 or 4 people will call. That way some decent money is still in and I (at least) have the option to fold. And apparently many do not have that option! LOL! One of the most interesting books I have read was by "Anonymous". amazon.com It is full of gems and stories from a lifetime of playing limit for a living alongside of Brunson and Tree Top and the like. For instance he says he NEVER plays KQ, KJ, K 10, AJ, A 10 in early position if there is a raise before the flop. He says, "I'll absolutely guarantee you that against AK, KK, AQ, or QQ...7,2 will win more pots than KQ HANDS DOWN! Plus, if you catch nothing on the flop to go with 72, you can quickly get away from the hand, but if something comes out to match KQ you will be almost drawing dead against any of the hands mentioned. In late position the analysis is somewhat different... And another small idea. Suited cards make a flush only about 3% more than unsuited cards. So that should never be what anchors your decision. Flush AND a Straight potential is an entirely different situation. So that is off my chest! Limit is still the only way to go for controlled profit. As for playing with big pairs, Koan, you have pretty much echoed what Hellmuth said in his first book. He jammed the pot pre-flop with tens or better. Of course when he was born you were thinking of retiring but we gotta give him credit! youtube.com