Tell me what I'm doing right?

Entertaining food for thought.

I have been playing every game I can get my hands on. I started with NL ring games, then tournament,s then 7CS, Omaha, Razz, hi/lo, everything else. Then I spent quite a bit of time playing limit. The local casino only offers limit and I wanted to get better so I could play.

Well after spending about 2 months focusing primarily on limit, I made it profitable. I moved from .25/.50 to .50/1 and 1/2 and I mostly play in 1/2 and 2/4 rooms now. I also play at 3/6 at the casino. But I feel I have done what I want to do with limit. I still play, but I no longer feel I am learning basics. I am simply improving my game, like I am elsewhere.

So I went around to a few different tables and sat down at $25 and $50 NL games yesterday.

Here is the interesting part: I think my NL game has improved since last I played. I can only think this was mostly due to the limit exposure.

Does playing limit improve your NL game?

i'm not so sure because both types are so different from each other. what i do think you got from limit that improved your NL play was reading people.

at first i stayed away from limit because i thought since all the bets are always the same it's too hard for me to put them on a hand. but with experience, you can tell if a bet is a bluff, or a check raise is true or fake strength.

so maybe limit improved your player reading skills?

Have appreciated your posts for some time Humphrind and decided to give my 2 cents on this interesting topic. Soupie and others have suggested a specialize in game selection approach. This makes sense
to optimize learning and application of the different styles and sublties of NL vs limit and ring games vs MTT vs SnG.

In my opinion however an exposure to all games 'initially'allows us to conciously and subconciously appreciate the subltities of the different strategies and gain a greater insight into the game as a whole. This would combine with our improved overall abilities as total playing experience increases. Areas such as reads (as mentioned) betting/board/tells, overall discipline, positional play, etc.. Ultimately I believe some players can be great generalists while others have a personality and ability which better suits itself to either limit or NL.

I play primarily MTT's and SNG's, but I can sit a ring game and double th max buy in in an hour, likewise i can go to the local casino and win playing 1/3 limit there. I believe that the more we play, the more we learn about how the game plays and how we play the game, as well as how other play the game. There are a few fundementals that change, but primarily we continually get better (if we're students of the game :)). This applies to all the forms of limit.

Heck i've never play a limit ring game (not counting the nickle games because I just throw the nickles around :)), but I went to the casino and cleaned up a good 200 - 300 bucks in a few hours, from simple knowledge of the game. hoped into a 20$ sng on party which turned to be limit and took 2nd doing the same thing.

Omaha can kiss my ass, that game is horrible :).

I think the difference is that the fundamentals are the same, just the details are different. I smiled at Hyper's comment, because at the low limits - none of that shizzle ever occurs.

I mean, every once in a while you get trapped by some calling station with above average craft - but basically a check-rasie bluff is almost unheard of because it's so cheap to call (for YOU and THEM!). I have stolen blinds, but only after the table knows I'm tight... and maybe that's giving them too much credit.

It is very difficult to put low limit players on hands... but you win anyway because if you are playing only if YOUR hand is good, then you are usually solid. Just assume they awre on flush draws, mid pairs, etc. This is why AK is such a monster in limit - to someone who plays 60% of cards, AX is a monster, and you take their chips.

Where limit POKER comes in is when you are in a blind and hit middle pair - in NL, middle pair is a better hand, because you can show strength by overbetting it. Can't do that in limit - a bet is a bet. So, with mid pairs or overcards, I will bet out but fold to raises. It's all in the lay downs.

How does this help NL? Perhaps in tempering the aggression. Agression is the key to both limits, but you gotta know when you are (probably) beat and lay it down. Major difference is that in NL, you have the additional difficulty of determining if your opponent is bluffing or not.

Just my .02

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I know after grinding out limit my NL game improved.

I believe the biggest reason was, respecting raises.
In limit you HAVE to give credit to raises, if not you leak chips out all over the places callign raises.

I like a lot of these answers. When I play limit, I use the bet size to determine strength and find player styles.

When I focused on limit, I learned how to play without relying on the bet size as a "crutch" Now that I am back to NL, I find that I don't have that crutch and it allows me to be free with a lot of other aspects of the game.

I think my NL game definately improved after studying limit

I learned many concepts like pot equity, avoiding a bet that will only get

called by a better hand, and patience.

also, I learned more about counting "Hidden" outs/pot odds...

ohyeah, and revisited importance of position :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zenbitz

I smiled at Hyper's comment, because at the low limits - none of that shizzle ever occurs.

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what are you trying to say? that reading opponents doesn't occur at lower limits?