I welcome you to the Live Low stakes NL forum. All are welcome here, from the player who is about to play his first hand of live NL poker to the pro who is making their living from playing NL poker. By even coming on to 2+2, you have shown that you are looking to get better than the majority of players you face. The purpose of this forum is be a resource for people looking to improve their game. We're here to help you.

2+2 has been around a long time and much of the wisdom of poker doesn't change. Below you'll find links to some of the best advice on the site. If you read and absorb what is linked below, you'll be able to beat LLSNL. At the same time, that's not going to occur in a day or two. There's months worth of material here.


I Want to Go Pro

This comes up on a regular basis. In a word, don't. But if you want to ignore this advice, I've linked three threads about what it takes to make it. They have the advice of players you've most likely never heard of, but actually have managed it at least for a while. The first is from dgiharris, which goes over what you need to do to have the very slight chance of making it. Prepare to spend years getting to point where you can actually consider it. The fact that he struggled later just points out how hard it is to succeed.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/32...g-pro-1426688/

The second is the LLSNL containment thread on asking about people who actually have done it (or tried) what their experience was.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...layer-1344624/


How Do I Tell What is Good Advice

One question that comes up when reading through a thread is "I see two or more suggestions on how to play the hand, who's right?"

The number of posts and/or an attitude of superiority are not a good indication. Neither is a post that is supported by, "I'm a pro, I know what I'm doing." What I look for in deciding if someone has given good advice includes:

1. "Why," not just "What" to do. Good advice includes the reasons for taking a line. The poster will refer to the OP situation for explanations of how he or she came up with an answer. They will give a range that they put the villain on and have used pokerstove to estimate their equity against that range. If they take a line that is contrary to what others are posting, they'll explain why they are taking a different line.

2. List of assumptions. Often the OP will lack key information. A good response fills in the gaps with what they think is important to know.

3. Consensus. If someone makes makes a detailed post and people post comments that agree, the odds are good that's the right answer. That's not a lock though. Sometimes group think is wrong. However, if you can't pin point why it is wrong, it is best to assume it is correct.

4. Ask others via a PM. If there is a poster you respect after reading for a while, there is nothing wrong to ask them via PM, "I see this post, do you think it is good?"

After a while, you'll figure out who gives good advice regularly and who doesn't. Keep in mind that if you play like a LAG, a TAG's advice could be perfectly good for a TAG, but not appropriate for a LAG.


Why do People Keep Telling Me to Fold Preflop

Frequently, people create threads where there is a big decision on the turn or river and they want help with what is the right decision. To their surprise, posters start responding that the big mistake in the hand was was made pf. The initial reaction can be, "that's not the problem, it was only a few dollars to call. I need help with deciding whether to commit my whole stack." Poker is in many ways like chess. A small mistake early can be exploited into forcing you to make difficult decisions with lots of money on the line. While Limon's "Random Shyt" thread is a classic, I like going back to the movie "Patton." To paraphrase an early quote, "Your goal is not make difficult decisions with your stack on the line. It is to make the other poor bastard make difficult decisions with their stack on the line."

The thread below explains well the process of coming to this realization.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17.../#post46568703


Any Books I Should Read?

There's an on-going book discussion in this thread.


Links and Resources

We have an on going educational series know as the Concept of the Month (COTM). These discuss various problem areas focused on live play. You can get to the thread listing all of them, along with the discussion of what you'd like to see presented here.

In addition, we have a Play A Hand With Me (PAHWM) series. These are more interesting and drawn out discussions of a Hand History (HH) from invited posters. If you are posting a HH, these approach the ideal you should be shooting for when you post a HH.

If you are more interested in the mathematical side of poker, one of the best resources for a live player is the Micro FR NL forum.

The FAQs there, along with the Concepts of the Week, will provide you with a wealth of information. Yes, the conditions are different on-line compared to live. However, unless you want to eventually get crushed low stakes, you’re going to have to learn how to adapt what you know to differing table conditions. A player that can master both the mathematical side and psychological side of poker is going to be a long term winner. Ignoring one or the other is a huge leak.

The 2+2 website has been around for years. People you see on TV, see as coaches, and read about often had their start posting in threads just like you are doing today. Below are two anthology links that give the "best of" some of these older threads.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/69...hreads-430489/
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...82&postcount=4

There are a lot of tools available for poker players to do analysis on equity for various hands against an opponent's range. One used frequently is Pokerstove. While the program is no longer available from the original authors, this link has a downloadable version you can use http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...ution-1403275/.

While we are a cash forum, we also play tournaments at time. Long time poster dgiharris wrote a spreadsheet to track tournament winnings. The link to the thread is below.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...lator-1351878/

Good Luck