Learning No-Limit From Scratch ­- The Path to Greatness

ABC poker works well against opponents who can’t read hands or are too undisciplined to act on their reads. But, once your opponents’ skill level rises above that point, you’ll need to design lines of play that take advantage of your opponents’ weaknesses.

Most beginners play too many hands and can’t read their opponents effectively. Then they start to recognize winning strategies, and they learn basic tactics. They start playing tighter, with better discipline, and they learn to read ABC opponents. Perhaps they even read some poker material. Now, they make standard laydowns; start bluffing more effectively. Their game has improved to ABC. Maybe they even start beating the game.

But, with dollar signs in their eyes, they move up to bigger and tougher limits. Now, their ABC style doesn’t do well. Amongst other things, fewer opponents pay them off, they face more aggression, and they’re being read better than they read their opponents. They can’t understand why they are now losing. Most blame luck, the dealer, anything but themselves. Those players are going broke or have gone broke! The smart ones realize they’ve bitten off more than they could chew and need to step their game up.

But how do you do that? Experience can be a good teacher, but in highly technical endeavors such as poker, you need to make sure your basic knowledge is accurate. If not, your brain will be flowcharting incorrect concepts. And like the old computer saying goes, “garbage in, garbage out.” There is a lot of good poker information out there, and it’s much easier to study the conclusions of other people than to figure it out yourself.

However, a lot of good poker literature is written by great players and contains excellent material, but the material requires advanced math or poker skills to understand it. Additionally, it’s frequently geared to the games those pros play in, high limit games against tough opponents. A player who plays small to medium limits and is just looking for a little economic upside to his hobby is facing a very different set of circumstances than a pro playing high limits who is playing opponents who have intensely studied the game.

The books I find that are the best fit for low-medium ability players are by Ed Miller. They are structured toward low to mid-sized games, and Ed writes in a manner that is easy for a non-technical reader to understand and doesn’t require the complex thought processes of some other authors.

Beyond the technical basics, Ed’s books utilize the “bucket concept.” It’s a relatively easy to learn strategy for reading hands and adjusting to opponents. Basically, you place opponents into which Ed calls “buckets” and adjust your play based on which “bucket” they are in.

It’s a reasonably simple strategy that requires limited hand-reading skills and not a massive amount of play knowledge. You just place your opponent into a bucket and select plays that work against that style of opponent. It takes some work to memorize those strategies, and you must possess the intuitive sense to place people in the right “bucket,” but once you’ve learned how to do it, you’ll usually make the right situational play. Playing this strategy will put you significantly ahead of those playing ABC poker. That said, it’s not going to make you a world-class player.

World-class players take independent lines against specific opponents. They read opponents’ plays and design counter-plays based on their specific ranges. They don’t throw them into “buckets;” they break each player down, search for a specific weakness, and then design plays that exploit those weaknesses. It’s MUCH harder to do this and most of the time you’ll come to the same conclusion as if you “bucketed” them.

But when the decision is different, you gain an extra edge that’s a large part of what makes them world-class. Those edges add up over time and can greatly increase profits. Both small edges that occur with frequency and big edges that transpire occasionally can create huge differences in expectation at years’ end. And if you’re playing against tough competition, your ability to locate and counter your opponents’ weaknesses might be your only edge.

That said, it’s very complicated and difficult. You must be able to assign hand ranges with a reasonable degree of accuracy. And you must know the right play to make against those specific hand ranges. Furthermore, the hand ranges are numerous, and the play choices exponentially greater. In short, there is so much to learn that not even a modern computer can do it perfectly. It’s just one of those things that you do the best you can.

Yes, there are other components to poker and I understand this column is limited to an overview of knowledge and strategy. But to have an understanding of the road you must take can make the learning process a smoother ride. Learning is a growth process; a marathon, not a sprint. Taking it in stride, step-by-step, will get you to the finish line earlier and more efficiently.

Currently, I’m in the process of transitioning my game from limit hold’em to no-limit. And while the games have many similarities conceptually, they read and play very differently. The competitive skills I‘ve learned in 70,000 hours of playing limit poker can easily transition to no-limit. But the reading of hands, the differences in plays, and the knowledge of the game, I’m learning from scratch.

It’s been an interesting transaction. I’m doing some things well, but the experience of reading hands and the correct counter-strategy is something that will take time. I’m confident I will effectively make this transition and want to share my learning experience with you in this column.

Then, over time, we can kick some ass together. ♠

Roy Cooke played poker professionally for 16 years prior to becoming a successful Las Vegas Real Estate Broker/Salesman. Should you wish any information about Real Estate matters-including purchase, sale or mortgage his office number is 702-376-1515 or Roy’s e-mail is [email protected]. His website is www.roycooke.com. You can also find him on Facebook or Twitter @RealRoyCooke