Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmay
Also i'm tired of hearing don't bluff at the micros. It doesn't apply to 50NL in todays game.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmay
Well there is a correction further down the first thread that at 25NL you have to start bluffing a reasonable amount, but above it says NEVER BLUFF AT THE MICROS. Contradictory overall though.
OK, when people give advice such as "do x and y at the micros" and "don't do z at the micros", they are using "at the micros" as a shorthanded way of saying "in games wherein there are a lot of poor players who go too far with their marginal hands, and do not use aggression appropriately." The games for which this qualifier applies varies somewhat and has changed over the years. In 2004, when I started playing, the games for which this advice applies could be found as high as nl100 on Party and the Cryptologic network. Nowadays, it is tough to find such games above nl10 on the Merge network. So when people are giving advice about what to do at nl10 or nl25, be aware that this advice is specific to those stakes AT THE TIME THAT POST WAS MADE AND FOR THOSE SITES THAT THE POSTER WAS TALKING ABOUT.
Certainly, if you somehow found an nl25 table containing Durr, Patrick Antonious, Doyle, Phil Ivey, and nanonoko, you could not beat it using the strategies which have been recommended for beating the micros. In fact, it is doubtful whether anyone, even the above named players, could beat such a table. Conversely, there are many soft live 200nl and 500nl tables for which those "micros" strategies are totally appropriate. So, you have to kind of realize the caliber of the opponents that you are playing against and decide if they are the types of opponents for which the advice you have read is applicable. When someone says "Don't bluff at the micros" and someone else says "Start bluffing at 25nl", they are not necessarily contradicting each other - they are talking about different game conditions and different types of opponents.
What you should learn from strat posts is not only what strategies to employ, but against what types of players those strategies are effective. Once you internalize this information, you will be able to adjust effectively, no matter what types of opponents you face. Unless you face opponents who are appropriately aggressive, difficult to read, and positionally aware, in which case you are better off leaving that table, as you would if you found yourself at the table with Durr, PA, Ivey, et al.