What Table Stakes To Play?
I've been playing awhile and wonder how do you judge what tables stakes one should be playing at? Are the micro tables to loose with too many tilt players to accurately judge one's playing ability? If a person has a decent poker playing skill, what level of tables stakes would be good to start at?
Comments
Here's an example:
I'm in late position with pocket AKs I raise 3x BB
Bandit is BB and reraises. I call
Flop is A8K rainbow. I raise pot, bandit goes all in, I call
Turn is 2, River is 4.
I show two pair AK's
Bandit show's 3 4's......
So my bankroll keeps going up and down, some days I get a little ahead, and some days I get a little behind. It seems whatever I gain at one table, I loose at another and 9 times out of 10 times it's due to hands just like that.
Should I have folded when he went all in?
If you had a strong read he was going to draw out on you then yes.
Or if he hates money.
Getting your money in ahead is not, however, always the winning move. You still want to make this move though because it has a statistical advantage and thus wins you money over the course of a large enough number of hands. If you make the same move in the same situation 100 times you will win more than times than you lose and would make money on that play.
I agree with the above posters that micro stakes poker is beatable by playing ABC poker (with a little situational creativity) and this is the case largely because there are a lot of players making the exact play you described, these guys are your buddies and if anything you should praise their good play when they suck out on you.
If you are not winning overall then I would suspect it is not because of players sucking out on you, unless you are in a very long downswing. If you determine that your bankroll's zero growth is not simply a matter of variance then you want to be looking for holes in your game. Again when players get their money in bad against you without lot of outs they are making you money regardless of the results of any individual hand.
Bandit was a loose player and when he raised before the flop I knew he didn't have any overpairs or anything too big or he would have gone all in then. When he went all in on the flop, I figured he had hit a pair or K's or A's or maybe two pair K8 or A8. I had wondered if he was holding a pair of 8's, but from how he had played other hands previously, I was pretty sure he would have gone all in preflop if he had been holding a pair of 8's. Actually, when I look back at it, I'm surprised he didn't go all in preflop with his pair of 4's.
If I had a strong read that he was going to draw me out then yes? Do you mean fold before the flop??
That was sarcasm. No one can tell if someone is going to make their draw unless they are psychic. I cannot add much to Makenga's post, pretty much sums it up.