Questions like this are kind of fair but also tend to be a little overdone

I’m sure in their long playing experience they have dealt with all player types, and change in games over years mostly just means in overall change in ratio compositions of these various types

So while they definitely should have put in time at the tables and at various casinos and locales I don’t think they had to put in massive volume to be qualified like your post seems to suggest

It’s just poker, not all that complicated

The title of the book should say whether you are giving advice on how to beat low stakes online or live poker.

Both are completely different animals.

Yeah, the title is long enough as is, and they probably don't want to contract their market, but it would be more accurate to include the word "live".

There are actually several books on this on how to beat low stakes NL. However, the authors are mostly low stakes NL regs. These authors may not have as many hours playing 1-3NL or whatever. However, based on their other books, it will probably be more systematic, academic style, and useful than competing books.

I got about 300 hours at $1-$3.

Mason

I think "live" was implied. Online is just about dead unless you are a bot or RTA/HUD cheater.

Agreed, there are no books on bum hunting, seat scripting, or organizing effective boycotts against high rake sites

There aren't books on playing 1-3NL etc. by good mid-high stakes NL cash regs. The crushlivepoker videos are mostly 2-5NL and above and Bart says you can't beat the rake at 1-2NL. Like he doesn't really want to deal with games where it is harder to put players on ranges etc.

Indeed, how dare someone have to think about what they are doing

Just buy Ed Miller's "The Course" and go crush local midwest NL games. Worked for me.

Due to the additional information available live, you wouldn't need as large a sample size as playing online of course, but I would question the amount of experience that could be gained from playing so very few hands at those stakes.

How many hands do you think he needs, and what would he learn in those extra hands?

The guy has been involved in poker for decades, I’m sure he’s seen it all. Seems like enough hours spent as long as it was a nice mix of casinos and times to get a good idea on how the population is generally playing.

It’s not like in the 342nd hour he would observe someone four betting all in A5s and not understand what he was looking at

The live $1-$2 games in Las Vegas are highly beatable.

Mason

This might be true if I was someone who was fairly new to poker. But that's not the case with David or myself.

Mason

The ~10k hands would yield a minimal amount of information.

There are an intricate number of complex patterns and habits exhibited by a fish-heavy player pool. Instincts are built over hundreds of thousands of hands (multiple millions of hands when online) based on the knowledge and experience gained over that sample. How a fish acts with his timing and sizing when he's third to act following a continuation bet into four players on various textured flops with various stack sizes combined with various histories from the session is not something that you can interpret confidently after 10k hands.

Do you play online poker?

I've played a few hands online (if your question is directed to me.)

I know limon started a thread about being a literal legend but Mason and Sklansky are true legends themselves in their own right. It has been an honor and a privilege to post among them on here and to read their insights/contributions over the years.

agreed.

If I was in the bookstore and opened a book on 1/3 nlhe only to find them talking about timing tells of a fish third to act followed by a continuation bet into four different players on various flop textures with various stack sizes it would go right back onto the shelf

But it probably wouldn’t fit on the shelf to begin with

Sklansky, about a year ago I stopped by an 8/16 limit Omaha game at Boulder Station and there was a gentleman in game that looked like you. Could it have been you?

Btw I’m not making any judgement here, after all I’m sort of a legend in my own right and I was playing in it. It’s definitely a great time every once in awhile.

if you are 60% against one opponent and you and he bet $25, you have an EV of $5 if the pot is not raked.

If you are 25% against four opponents and each of you bets $20, you also have an EV of $5 if the pot is not raked.

If a pot is raked $2 plus 10% of the pot up to $50, then there is a $7 rake in both scenarios.

The rake brings the 60% player's EV down to eighty cents (subtracting 60% of $7)

The rake brings the 25% player's EV down to $3.25 (subtracting 25% of $7)

Thats a very big difference. And it doesn't take into account that the two-dollar portion of the rake will be returned, and then some, to players who lean towards playing hands multiway but will not be fully returned to those who gravitate to heads up hands (eg most higher stakes pros and coaches).

Just one of many things we take into account in the book.

What about a book that brings in 300 hours of observations about what tourists tend to need to 3 bet preflop. Or call a pot size bet on the river?

I’ll be checking it out, I like something that gets to the heart of the matter focusing on the key concepts that come up often

Do you cover low stakes MTTs? The live games I intend to play. What's more, these particular ones are without antes! So remind of cash games, then again not, with all the rake paid in advance. And of course the regular dynamics with stack sizes and ICM.