Part I stated that when making the transition from limit to no-limit hold'em (NLH), "
The critical task is changing your mindset, the way you think about poker." It recommended several steps: Don't expect too much, play only no-lmit cash games, and play in small games. This column suggests some additional steps.
Avoid Wild Games
They are seductive, but dangerous. You can't play poker well unless you're calm and controlled, and wild games are extremely stressful, especially when you're new to NLH. Even if you play perfectly, you will experience occasional large losses. These losses may bother you so much that you quit NLH without giving it a fair chance.
Don't play in wild games until you are very comfortable and confident about NLH. However, after you get comfortable, wild games can be both easy and profitable. Just wait for a monster, and overplay it.
Play Only as a Short Stack
Many games have a minimum and maximum buy-in, such as $50-$100 or $100-$300. Buy in for the minimum, and if you build your stack to more than 150 big blinds, cash in, move to another table, or do whatever else will let you continue to play a short stack.
You may dislike that advice for several reasons:
• Big stacks are intimidating, and you naturally want to be the intimidator, not the victim.
• It's so boring to play the ultratight, small-stack strategy that you may "cheat" by playing too many hands.
• If you build up your stack, you won't want to quit or change tables, especially if you have to go onto a waiting list. You came to play, and you seem to be "hot."
• You may want to play "real no-limit," not some watered down, simplified game. You may yearn to make daring bluffs, brilliant folds, and heroic calls of huge bluffs.
Someday, you may be able to play that way, but you're not ready yet. Short-stack NLH is not as exciting, but there are several reasons for playing it:
• You certainly will make mistakes, and the smaller your stack, the less they will cost or discourage you.
• You need to book some wins - even small ones - to build your confidence and comfort with NLH's stresses. The short-stack strategy is so simple and effective that "a robot playing a short stack can beat even relatively tough no-limit games." (Sklansky and Miller,
No Limit Hold'em: Theory and Practice, Page 204)
• In short-stack NLH, starting hands are very important. This priority is consistent with limit's emphasis. In deep-stack NLH, your first two cards are much less important, and you may need considerable time to change your thinking about starting hands.
• When your stack is small, the deep stacks will focus on each other and make negative expected value (EV) plays against you. Let's say that you have only 15 big blinds. After a standard raise and two calls, you push all in with pocket aces. If two players have huge stacks, they may call with pocket eights or suited connectors. If they make a big hand, they may bust the other guy. They are getting terrible odds against you, but they don't care much about you.
• "After you are all in, your opponents will keep betting, sometimes forcing people to fold. Whenever someone folds … you gain, and in this case you gain without having to risk anything further." (
ibid., Page 200f)
• Fear of losing your stack can be a major problem for new no-limit players, but you will be less afraid of losing a small one than a big one. The first time you lose your stack, it's devastating. The second time doesn't hurt quite as much as the first. The 10th hurts much less than the second. The 50th should be just another, "Oh well."
Set a Schedule for Moving Up
Despite starting with short stacks in small games, you don't want to remain at that level. If you have to stay there, why bother to learn NLH? But move up in a slow, controlled way.
Some players don't wait to prove they can win, and they move up for silly reasons. They just may be bored. Or, they may insist that they play too well to beat the weak players in small games. Of course, countless people - including some terrible players - have said the same thing about small limit games, and this rationalization is as absurd for small no-limit games. If you can't beat small games, you probably will lose even more in larger ones.
Even if you can beat small games, don't move up too quickly. Many people have beaten small games and prematurely decided, "I'm too good to play here. I'm ready for bigger games." Sometimes their assumption is correct, and they win big, but they can easily take huge losses.
Discuss NLH Regularly
As a writer, I naaturally believe that you should study the literature, but passive study will not help you nearly as much as frequent discussions. You will develop your skills and mindset much more quickly by discussing the books and articles you read, the hands you play, the games you choose, and so on. You particularly need to discuss psychological issues, such as your strengths, weaknesses, fears, confusion, boredom, and other feelings. For these discussions, you should consider four good options: poker discussion groups, Internet forums, a coach, and a poker buddy.
In addition to all of their other benefits, they will give you a detached, objective look at the way you think and play. Since you are naturally biased about yourself, you need that objectivity.
Constantly Monitor Yourself
Most poker players don't monitor themselves as frequently and thoroughly as they should. Careful self-monitoring is always important, but it is critical when you start playing NLH. Because you are unsure of how to play your cards, you will focus primarily on making the technically correct play, not on your own psychological state.
Self-monitoring is more important in no-limit than in limit because it is more demanding, and your mistakes can be so costly. If you don't recognize that you are thinking and playing poorly, you can easily lose a lot of money, perhaps your entire bankroll.
Self-monitoring is also more difficult when you first start playing NLH. In addition to the usual questions about your play and state of mind, you should repeatedly ask yourself:
Am I thinking like a limit or no-limit player?
Be specific. Try to understand exactly
how you are thinking or acting like a limit or no-limit player. For each of the following questions, the correct answer is different in a limit or no-limit game. Ask yourself: Am I giving the proper weight to:
• stack sizes?
• position?
• pot odds versus implied odds?
• manipulating the pot size?
• preflop hand selection versus my chances of winning a huge pot?
• protecting my investment in the pot versus taking a risk to bust someone?
• playing cards versus playing people?
Final Remarks
Today's no-limit games are very "juicy," but some successful limit players have been disappointed and discouraged by their early results. They expected too much and did not consider the huge obstacles of switching to NLH.
They continued to think and act like limit players, and then wondered why they did so poorly. Some of them complained bitterly about the "idiots" who busted their big pairs with trash. Others were just baffled: How can good players like themselves do so poorly? What's wrong with NLH?
Of course, there is nothing wrong with it. They just didn't understand that it requires a fundamentally different mindset, and they had not changed their own quickly enough.
Learn from their frustration. If you have the necessary talents and personal traits, and you can change your mindset, NLH can be ideal for you. It's the hottest game, the one that can give you the largest edge, most glamour, and biggest opportunities. Many weak players are eager to give away their money at the game they see on TV, but don't begin to understand.
To exploit this opportunity, you will have to rethink your entire approach to poker, break out of your comfort zone, and take a hard look at yourself. It may be uncomfortable, but it can be
very profitable.
Dr. Schoonmaker ([email protected]) coaches only on psychology issues, such as controlling impulses, coping with losing streaks, going on tilt, and planning your self-development.
