The Dean Looks at More Poker Myths

In last months Poker Pro Europe, I looked at the merits of one of the best known pieces of “advice” in poker and this was the time honoured quote of never going head to head with another big stack. In this months article I will be taking a look at another couple of well known poker myths and the first one is the belief that a top player could automatically be successful in games that are below the level that they are presently playing at.

This is a common misconception and one that I am going to disprove right here and now. Let us firstly look at one of my specialist games which is Limit Texas Hold’em. The conventional view by many people is that if a player is playing at the $200-$400 level for instance and is successful at that level then they could be just as successful in every single level below that.

This is blatantly wrong for numerous reasons and I will be taking a look at the main ones here. While many players do in fact play above their optimal level and lose significant amounts of money, there are also players out there who are playing below the level of which they could be successful. If this was never the case then top football clubs would never try to sign players from lower league clubs and so forth.

The skills and abilities that a player needs in order to be successful at various limits can be vastly different. For instance in a low stakes game like $3-$6 Limit Hold’em then the required skills would be playing in a tight solid mechanical way and with next to no bluffing as bluffing in games with multi-way pots is basically just handing other players your money.

But many players no not want to play in this mechanical robotic way, to them it is akin to watching the proverbial paint dry. But the knock on effect of this is that if you do not have the proper mind set to play at this level then you will lose money plain and simple. A top professional poker player could be an absolute fish in a $3-$6 Limit Hold’em game purely and simply because they lack the inclination to be able to grind it out.

Another factor that could prohibit better players from succeeding in lower limits is that many of them could in fact have technically deficient games. Bear with me hear because I am sure that that din that I can hear over my shoulder is all the howls of derision that may be heading my way after this article goes to press. But depending on just how that particular player earns his money in the bigger games then they may in fact not have the skills to beat a low limit game.

A skilled no limit player for instance or a high limit player would earn a fair chunk of their money through selective aggressive play. Bluffing and getting good players to lay down the best hand is much more easily achieved in high limit play than it is in low limit. This is simply because the sophistication of the average player is significantly higher than it is at low limit. Pressure betting and making moves that require an awful lot of heart and courage can get a player an awful long way in a game like No Limit Texas Hold’em. This takes me on to my next poker myth and that is that bluffing in Limit Hold’em is impossible or at the very least very difficult and not worth the effort.

I have heard this stated many times down the years but most of what you hear is statements that are spewed out by people who are either copying what they have heard from some other source or because they simply do not understand Limit Hold’em. I have even heard top poker players make this statement, obviously they are either referring to low limit poker or they are speaking out of total ignorance about Limit Hold‘em full stop.

If there was no bluffing in Limit Hold’em then the game would essentially be reduced to a card holding contest and I would never have been able to make the kind of living that I have over the past few years. Obviously there is a lot more to this game than bluffing because value betting and extracting and saving bets is a critical skill to have in this form of poker. But let me provide you with an example from a $30-$60 Limit Hold’em game of mine from a few nights ago.

I was in the big blind with a 9s-8s when a solid book type player from middle position raised before the flop. I knew that they either had a premium pair or two Broadway cards to have done this. The mathematics of the situation dictated that they had the latter. Everyone folded around to me and getting well over three to one with a live hand, I called the extra $30.

The flop came 7d-3s-2c missing me completely but also possibly missing him completely as well if they indeed did have two high cards and not a premium pair. I checked, they bet $30 and I check raised to which they called. The turn card was perfect for me, another seven and this gave me the opportunity to represent top pair on the flop and now trips. I bet $60 on the turn and my opponent folded.

I have lost count of the number of times that I have made plays of this nature but it is plays like these that are a large part of my earn rate. Anyone that states that you cannot bluff in Limit Hold’em obviously does not have the ability to be able to spot when a bluff can be launched successfully in this particular form of the game.

This is one of the major reasons why it can be so terribly difficult for any one that is new to poker to succeed at it simply by reading books. Each and every author will have their own ideas and ways to do things. Each author will also likely have their own particularly favourite forms of the game as well. But there are just too many people in poker now making judgments and giving advice in areas that they have little or no knowledge in. These can be big named players as well but just because a player has won a big tournament and got their face on the front cover of a poker magazine certainly does not mean that they are an expert on all of the other poker forms.

There was a $100-$200 game a few months back where I successfully carried off six consecutive bluffs in six consecutive pots with relative ease. But any student cannot be faulted for totally believing what they have read and taking it as gospel and especially if the player giving advice is a named player. But what I sincerely hope that this and the preceding article has underlined is the need for each and every one of you to learn to think for yourself in poker and not be so quick to believe everything what you read or hear. If you can learn to separate the good from the bad then your future in poker should be a profitable one.