I was referring to when I would go down from $2-$5NL to $1-$2NL when my roll would get light from time to time. It turned out it was so -EV and I couldn't make the shift that I wound up just buying in light at 2-5 and ground back. Now I am not playing live at all really, and have kind of had to start over at online. I learned that I was basically an awful player that was only +EV because I could read better than most. The online transition this last year has been a real lesson. I caused myself a whole lot of pain by not doing exactly what was recommended to the OP. I should have played ABC first. It is much harder to break bad habits than to keep to the rules to begin with.
So, online I have been playing .25-.50 HORSE, 10SNG, generally not higher than .50-1 NL until I can get to be +EV
I have a tiny roll now because we were heavily leveraged in Real Estate, and my roll disappeared with the economic downturn. I figure I will play bigger as I earn my way up, and I will continue to play 2-5 NL in Casino's occasionally despite not really having a complete roll to ride the variance, more or less as a parlay. If I get up to a real roll in cash I imagine I will start driving to the live games witch is a pretty long way.

The best player at any poker table, assuming that he has no glaring deficits in game theory or tilt control, is generally the one who can most accurately read the minds of his opponents. The first level of his advantage comes when he is able to interpret the meaning of their current actions based on information from previous streets or hands or sessions, and thus make the most +EV immediate response. The second level of his advantage comes when he is able to use similar analysis to anticipate their future actions. Armed with that knowledge he can adapt his strategies at a moment's notice to put himself in the most +EV situations.

So how does this affect you? Well, the most likely problem is that your opponents are operating at a level of thought so far below yours that you are unable to accurately assess the direction their thoughts lead them. Many of their actions will seem irrational, and as such you are unable to analyze them in your normal manner. My advice when playing against such players is that usually the best way to beat them is not to try and out-think them, but simply to play a much more solid fundamental style of poker (Often called ABC poker, though it doesn't have to be so basic). It will be very difficult for your opponents to take advantage of you, and in the long run their mistakes will compound and lead to you profiting.

Ideally, the best opponents for you (or any player) are the ones who are usually one level below you in thought. Imagine if you were playing at a table where you knew that every player had recently read the same poker strategy book as you, but that none of them realized that you knew that. It would be incredibly easy to exploit their weaknesses and profit from them, stealing many pots with air when they are obviously weak and showing up with a huge hand when they reveal their strength too early. Playing against people a level below you is just like that, in that you can often figure out what they're thinking and thus why they would take such an action, and then read their hand quite accurately. Also, they are more easily manipulated into making big mistakes when you can feign weakness. Alas, these players are not to be found in the microstakes, so either you need to grind up a bankroll to play midstakes or you need to acquire the money elsewhere somehow and jump right into it. I'd recommend the former, for the sake of your psychological development (being able to accept losing gradually larger and larger amounts of money, tilt control, and of course building up the "Blink" style subconscious library referenced in earlier posts).

[QUOTE=asmitty;6477467]sorry, this is probably rambling and useless, but bear with me:

i consider myself a pretty smart guy (straight-a student at a top 20 school, ranked top 10 nationally in debate, 170+ on the lsat, etc.) but do not "get" poker for the life of me.

I am always a little suspect of people that tell us how smart they are and then do their post.

It is like a beautiful girl that cannot get a date on Saturday night.

Poker is more streets smart than book smarts. Granted there are very smart people that succeed in poker on television and elsewhere. Also, the street smart guys like Matusow do well too.

Sometimes you have dumb yourself down to the game you are playing.

But, good luck on picking up the nuances of the game.

Brilliant post DJ Sensei. Thanks for sharing.

Do you use any software ?
PT, Genius, Holdemmanager ?

If not and u have a larger leak, you have less chance against the Semibots.
The game is far away from the game in 2004, 2005.........and for myself not longer worth the time.

Its not that easy to make 30-70K / year with püoker these days.

just play smart poker, no need to get compulsively tricky, unless you're up against stiff comp. a few tricks n bluffs is all u need the rest is to just to play smart poker

I think it's pretty easy for uNL players to convince themselves that they're thinking on too high a level for their limit and use this to justify their lack of skill.

Just because you're able to think on a higher level in a few situations due to some video you saw or some MSNL hand history you've read, doesn't mean you're overall level of thinking is above the uNL level. There are so many other spots where you're not out-thinking your opponent and making costly mistakes. If you really had a strong grasp on the fundamental skills to beat a level, I don't think that occasionally outleveling your opponents would prevent you from becoming a winning player.

On another note, I really hate it when people say "just play ABC poker". They make it seem so easy -- like there's some ruleset that defines ABC poker and if you stick to it, you can crush any limit below 400nl, where supposedly people start getting tricky.

This is simply not the case. Poker consists of an exponentially large number of situations that require individual analysis based on many different variables. You must learn how to process all this information using a set of generalized rules you've acquired and output some sort of decision. Doing this takes tons of experience, and it's impossible to define all the rules one needs to use to make a +EV decision. This is precisely why there are not successful no-limit poker bots.

What people really mean when they say "just play ABC poker" is "don't outlevel your opponents" or "don't exhibit symptoms of fancy play syndrome". It's more about what not to do than what to do, since, as explained earlier, what to do is just not that simple.

cosign

There are no successfull neural net based no limit bots ?

Or you dont detect them ?

Truism: Poker is very tough, both emotionally and psychically. Few individuals are "built" for it i.e., predisposed.

Advice/Suggestion: Use your intellect for more meaningful endeavors which may help towards the benefiting of society and mankind, if not only yourself. Play cards as a recreation.

My $0.02 (worth less with the crap the markets are in right now): Poker has become an alternative generic, pop-culture dream aspiration amongst hordes of young males. Other such "dreams" are all variations of 'celebritydom', such as forming a music band back and touring the country with groupies, or acting on the big screen. Poker is an easier outlet to dream, which is probably why so many directionless high school graduates are gravitating towards it.

It's good to dream, but humility takes precedence over persistence and determination. In poker humility and self-criticism is often absent (surprise), yet they're vital to the accepted standard of 'success' not only in this game, but in other realms of unconventional ambition. You've demonstrated that you can be critical of yourself. The hard part now is rationalizing that you're probably not suited for it and directing your talent/skills towards more meaningful areas.

P.S. I'm a cynic, so if my post is discouraging to you it is simply by consequence, not by intent. Have a nice day, and good luck.