What do you play?

So yeah, I tried making this thread in the GD forum and got reamed.

Anyway, what game do you play? Casino, online, or home games? etc.

Just curious to see what everyone around here plays. I'm betting on a lot of NL HE.

up to 5/10 limit online, up to 10/20 limit live (foxwoods), small stakes NL games, and occasional NL tournies live and online.

online, nl, 0.5-1 & 1-2

hopefully Ill grow some balls (and skills) and move to 2-4 in a few months time

50 & 100 NL HE
10+1 and 20+2 NL HE SNGs
occasional 5r or 10r on ps

1000 and 2000 NL on partypoker

Also Multis

Online, nl mtt mostly satelites, 10+1, 20+2 sometimes 100+10. I rarely play ring games, but I am going to vegas this weekend, so I'll be @ bellagio for a bit. :)

I play mostly low limit (3/6-5/10) in casinos. It pays for books and spending (I'm in college). Not really into Internet games and there are a few good Indian card rooms around my house. NL for home games too.

I was just out playing low limit HE (Saturday night) for a few hours... jesus christ, what a bunch of maniacs. So many loose-aggressive players come out of the woodwork to gamble. It's impossible to get any respectable pre-flop hands to hold up.

Small Stakes Holdem will help you in dealing with tables like that. It's doing wonders for my game at incredibly loose tables (ie: party poker)

Small Stakes Holdem will help you in dealing with tables like that. It's doing wonders for my game at incredibly loose tables (ie: party poker)

Yeah, I intend to make that purchase. Lee Jones' "Winning Low Limit Hold Em" is a really good intro book though. It improved my game a lot... last night was my first losing session (and I made my buy in last a long time... just took huge swings due to the other playing styles) in a long, long while.

I think lee jones book doesn't get into loose games the way that small stakes holdem does though.

What you come away with in small stakes holdem is a true understanding of pot odds/equity and how to make bad players pay the maximum to see their draws to the river. I've read most of both, and find small states to be the much better read of the two.

Any book is a good read in terms of poker though. Every perspective helps as long as you can take it for what it is.

I think lee jones book doesn't get into loose games the way that small stakes holdem does though.

What you come away with in small stakes holdem is a true understanding of pot odds/equity and how to make bad players pay the maximum to see their draws to the river. I've read most of both, and find small states to be the much better read of the two.

Any book is a good read in terms of poker though. Every perspective helps as long as you can take it for what it is.


i'm having trouble beating .10/.20 limit on PS with that books advice... i always end up getting rivered because of the amount of people in the pot. Its hard to protect your hands... might just be my luck though.

i hustle people at .01/.02 and get them to play me in $10 heads up where i own their asses

I think lee jones book doesn't get into loose games the way that small stakes holdem does though.

What you come away with in small stakes holdem is a true understanding of pot odds/equity and how to make bad players pay the maximum to see their draws to the river. I've read most of both, and find small states to be the much better read of the two.

Any book is a good read in terms of poker though. Every perspective helps as long as you can take it for what it is.

I haven't gotten to this part of Miller/Sklansky/Malmuth's book yet (bought it today after making that post... read a ton on odds--I'm not particularly math oriented so it's slow going for me) but I think Jones's offers a lot of good advice on pre-flop hand standards and an excellent introduction to the benefits you can reap with position. My game improved tenfold after just reading the pre-flop stuff because I no longer played things like QXs. Granted, I have a pretty good sized ego and considered myself a better player than most of my low limit opponents even before reading anything on it. Jones's book has a good, accessible bit on pre-flop hand standards and position.

$hady--couple things. Dunno if you've read Jones's book (you were referring to Miller/Sklansky/Malmuth's, no?) but you should. It is mostly directed toward defending your hands. Also, from what experience I have with loose-passive low limit games, it only makes sense to play extra, extra aggressive when you have good hands. Often people will call with crazy draws and dominated hands at the flop and you will (in the long run) make more money by charging them heavily for these draws. And sometimes, you can get people to fold. Just gotta raise and re-raise if you think you've flopped the nuts or a monster draw. It's also important to be aggressive preflop with strong hands so that you can get some of the shitty cards out that might flop two pair or trips, etc.

I haven't gotten to this part of Miller/Sklansky/Malmuth's book yet (bought it today after making that post... read a ton on odds--I'm not particularly math oriented so it's slow going for me) but I think Jones's offers a lot of good advice on pre-flop hand standards and an excellent introduction to the benefits you can reap with position. My game improved tenfold after just reading the pre-flop stuff because I no longer played things like QXs. Granted, I have a pretty good sized ego and considered myself a better player than most of my low limit opponents even before reading anything on it. Jones's book has a good, accessible bit on pre-flop hand standards and position.

$hady--couple things. Dunno if you've read Jones's book (you were referring to Miller/Sklansky/Malmuth's, no?) but you should. It is mostly directed toward defending your hands. Also, from what experience I have with loose-passive low limit games, it only makes sense to play extra, extra aggressive when you have good hands. Often people will call with crazy draws and dominated hands at the flop and you will (in the long run) make more money by charging them heavily for these draws. And sometimes, you can get people to fold. Just gotta raise and re-raise if you think you've flopped the nuts or a monster draw. It's also important to be aggressive preflop with strong hands so that you can get some of the shitty cards out that might flop two pair or trips, etc.


Well Jones book is more for beginners, thats for sure... so he goes more in depth as far as starting hands go. Although SSHE covers starting hands, it focuses more on what to do situationally rather than what to do with certain hands. It is not easy to get through for a beginner I'd imagine, but it will be very beneficial to get through and grasp just some of the concepts that are touched on.

The thing about playing tables like .05/.10 and other micro limits, is that your variance will be very very high. It's not to say that you can't beat those limits, its to say that you'll have a lot of losses that come between your wins.

small stakes holdem is probably the most informative book i've read. been almost a year since i read it tho, my game got 'lazy' and i think i stray from the strategy too much now, so i've been playing a lot less holdem lately until i force myself to read it again.

anyway, i still play:
the occasional 1/2 or 2/4 limit HE
1/2 or 2/4 stud hi/lo <--most played
mtts, mostly stud and NL he, up to 30+3
10+1 or 20+2 2 table sngs, don't like the single tables
$10 heads up NL or stud sngs

i have a friend teaching me to play pot limit omaha/8, but i don't really like the game. on top of my not being very good at it, it seems like a lot of get multiple good draws, push, hope you hit and get more than a split. at least at the limits i've been playing at.