Category: Poker

In a post-UIGEA world, which do you prefer? Why?

Had a disastrous session at the middle limits that ate through over a third of the bankroll. A cursory glance at Poker Tracker shows me overplaying or overcalling with second-best hands in far too many hands. Poker Tracker also tells me I got runner-runner’d, 3-outered, and 5-outered enough times to account for the entire loss. The games were juiced up with a few maniacs and I took them head on for a crazy swinging time. At about 3AM I called it quits and started to wonder just what the hell I was playing for. I’ve decided to cash out a chunk of the roll so that I have something to point to and say, “There, that’s what I got spending my free time playing poker,” and banish myself to low-limit purgatory. Because at the end of it all, I’m playing for competitive mental fun, and fun doesn’t usually involve contemplating four figure losses.

One thing I watch out for at the medium stakes limit tables are the all-in limit players. On the surface, the all-in limit player appears to be a suitably tight aggressive player, but if you observe how he plays his hands, you realize he’s actually playing some form of donkey no limit. He makes a single decision with a hand like AK: play it strongly all the way to the showdown. When confronted with a raise on the flop, he is likely to 3-bet to take back the initiative. When confronted with a raise on the turn, he may give up the initiative, but still goes to showdown for another two big bets. He’s decided this hand is going to cost him 4-5BB, and damn it, he’s gonna pay to see your “garbage” hand. These are the players that make hands like top pair weak kicker or middle pair somewhat profitable. Their raising range makes it relatively easy to put them on hands, and in the absence of any scare cards, you can bet the river for value against his high card hand.

In limit hold’em games online, 5/10 seems to be the line that divides the low stakes games from the medium stakes games.

I was discussing my own experiences playing 5/10 with all-around big brain HDouble several weeks ago, and he referred me back to his archives from a few years back where he lamented the mindlessness of four-tabling 3/6 versus moving up to the tougher 5/10 games. Then he added, “But all the good players must have moved up by now….” The implication there is obvious. Thanks, buddy.

At this past weekend’s home game, Bill speculated that the 5/10 games were full of lower-limit players taking a shot at a bigger game, which I think implies that they’re adding more variance to the game. Still, I think there’s a noticeable difference between 3/6 and 5/10. The ratio of solid players to weak or loose players seems much higher.

In my opinion, 5/10 is still a hurdle for many reasonably good players before they launch themselves into the 15/30 and higher games. Let me state the obvious: 15/30 is three times bigger than 5/10. In contrast, the prior two changes in limit have been a fraction of the previous limit: +50% from 2/4 to 3/6, +66% from 3/6 to 5/10, versus +200%. It’s probably safe to assume that decent players lacking the bankroll will not capriciously move up to 15/30, whereas gamblers and affluent players will gladly fling chips with properly bankrolled good players.

Of course, my experience at the 15/30 tables is only a fraction of that at the 5/10 tables (I’m running well, but half-expecting to get hit by the variance train), and it’s based solely on the games at Party, so I’d be curious to hear from other limit players about their thoughts on the games.

Is 15/30 an easier game than 5/10?

Have you run up against the wall in your own game?

Will you be reading a post from me in a couple weeks about how I was playing way beyond my depth? 🙂

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In other poker news:

Grubbette showed up at a short-handed home tournament this past weekend and won when she re-raised all-in with JT vs. my K5. She paired the J on the river. Damn. I played poorly when we were down to four, missing out on some opportunities to chip up. As a result, I entered heads-up play at a severe chip disadvantage to Grubbette, who had managed to bust the 3rd through 5th place finishers. Next time, Grubbette, next time.

Absinthe is off to Vegas for the WSOP, serving as my proxy in Event #37. Send him some mojo. Oh, and I guess he’s also playing in the Main Event, too, but I have no money in that (yet). By the way, if anyone spots any $100 round-trip tickets to Vegas from LAX, let me know. I might pop in this weekend to say “howdy” and collect my money from the bracelet winner.