Comments on: Winning In Live No-Limit Games

By: Jacob P

Jacob P — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:54:56 +0000

Very interesting article Ed, I enjoyed reading it very much. Would you recommend this strategy also for early to middle stages of a SNG? And another question, why do you distinguish live players? Don’t you think that players who see a lot of flops, hit hands, and stack opponents holding second-best hands are mostly a factor or the micro to low buy-in?

By: Jemy

Jemy — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:55:23 +0000

Excellent article Ed, keep it up ! Hopefully not too many live fish read it ^_^

Carmen, nice level .

By: Carmen

Carmen — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:50:12 +0000

I disagree with you on this article. Your other articles are always right on, but not this one. I’m a very good TAG player and I can’t win at low NL games. I pay attention to position, study people well and I just run real bad — even when I hit the board hard. I play at Commerce in L.A. and the NL games there are treacherous!! Maybe it’s cuz I’m usually the only girl at the table — I don’t know. I don’t have a lot of $ – I’m giving up poker. I’ve read books, your articles. I’m just completely discouraged. I hate AK. I do a little better online.

By: Ed Miller

Ed Miller — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:16:12 +0000

I absolutely wouldn’t characterize the style I write about as loose-aggressive. You’re making a ton of out of position folds. This article describes a very specific situation where I think somewhat looser play works well.

Also I wouldn’t worry too much about the rake. Most live games are solidly beatable after the rake. It’s not insignificant, but you shouldn’t let rake consideration dominate your strategic thinking.

Sbruno,

The key point is that you end up in position against one or two opponents postflop. Obv you can accomplish this by raising from off the button sometimes. But the further off the button you go, the greater the chance an opp will wake up with a big hand and also in general the less predictable the outcome.

But ya I do this sometimes from off the button. Also if someone has raised already you can reraise to isolate sometimes for sure. Just requires a good nose for the situation. You want to be able to predict the action behind you with good accuracy.

By: Risk Oriented

Risk Oriented — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:42:46 +0000

To me, it seems like you’re asking us to play loose and aggressive in games where our opponents play loose. Not to mention, in games where the rake is like 10% of the pot.

By: John W (SandMan @ Poker Academy)

John W (SandMan @ Poker Academy) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:44:47 +0000

Ed, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for this generous giving of your time and expertise. Poker is such a predatory game and I appreciate a fellow predator who’s willing to speak candidly about the hunt. Your observations and advice have made a significant impact on my poker game.

By: SBruno

SBruno — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:57:49 +0000

I guess we will have to try this play sometimes from other positions. The optimal situation (having the button + top third of hands + no raise + one or two limpers) covers probably no more than 1 percent of all deals.

What adjustments do you suggest for the other late positions, namely one or two off the button?

And if the opener opens with a small raise?

By: Anonymous' Poker Blog; the poker philosopher/shrink. From beginner to … ? » Blog Archive » Playing in loose/weak micro stakes cash games

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:06:13 +0000

[...] Winning in Live No-Limit Games Ed talks about similar situations in live games, where the play is often not unlike the micro [...]