For the last few years most of the poker I've played has been online. Even though I'm a Southern California local and there are a half dozen poker rooms within a half-hour drive it is still more convenient (and less rake, and no dealer tipping) to play online.
The last week, though, I've wanted to get back into the live game and see what changes if any there are in the low limit arena. I played a total of about 30 hours at the following limits: $2-$4, $3-$6, $6-$12 and $9-$18.
Much of what was true in 2000 (when Low Limit Holdem Strategy and Tactics first appeared) is still true today about these tables. They're all very loose and many are very passive.
The difference now vs then is a slight reduction in the number of people that will see the flop, especially at the limits above $3-$6. While it's still very common to see 5, 6, or 7 people see the flop in the past there were many tables where every single person would see the flop almost every single hand. In terms of the starting hands for these loose/passive games that are listed on LLHSAT I'm considering a couple of revisions the most notable is to drop the unsuited connectors from the late position list of hands and perhaps some slight tightening in early position.
The drop (which is how the local cardrooms handle rake) ranges from $3 to $6 every single hand (!) at the low limits ($1 of the drop is for the jackpot and the rest is a fixed amount--unlike online rake which varies according to the pot size). What makes it possible to overcome this astounding charge is how badly many live players play both pre and post-flop (calling with 3, 2, and in many cases 0 outs to the best hand after the flop). If you haven't dipped your toes in the live poker action water it's definitely worth doing if only for the experience.
0 comments:
Post a Comment