ITH Poker Forum

[fep]

How do you find the level of play there? I only have about 1200 hands but so far I'm finding them to be pretty LAG.

I find a mixed bag but at my limits. I don't think these tables are tougher than other sites. I do find the LAGs you are referring to.

Lately I've been joining a shorthanded 2/4 table (2, 3, 4, or 5 players - whatevers available). Most often the table fills up withing 15 minutes and I stick around if there are a few live ones that have also stuck around . I generally end up at a table with 2-3 loose and/or loose/aggressive players and the rest are tight. Given that I'm at a good seat this is a good situation. And since I sit one seat to the left of 1 or more loose ones when I join the short-handed table, I generally have a good seat when it fills up.

Then, I'll start it over and get two tables going. I end up playing short-handed and FR at WPEX this way. I prefer short-handed but I'm enjoying this mix also.

[RiverCascade]

I find a boatload of maniacs. Minimum of 2 to a table. I've lost a lot of money there, but not nearly what I receive in rb. I'm pretty disgusted with my play as of late. After close to 2 years, I feel I should be doing so much better. Yet, my br grows. I'm going through a long time of bad cards, but in no way deceiving myself that my losing is due to the cards. Frustrating.

Been working in How Good Is Your Limit Holdem. After scoring really well in the beginning, the last 10-15 hands have been horrid. This is a big reason that makes me question my level of skill, also. If my br wasn't growing, I'd strongly consider whether to continue.

[fep]

River,

I find that I have to constantly work on improving my game by setting time aside for books, hand review and the hand examples and strategy posts of this forum. I have to work at this, but at least I like doing so. I figure that's the only way I'll get good enough to move up and if I don't improve I'll be left behind.

Keep working on it River,

ps - Congrats, I see you've joined the 53o club.

[RiverCascade]

Very true words, fep. It's not given to you on a silver platter. Thanks for the encouragement, and reminder about what it takes.

53o-- rah!

[pokerfan1]

Ok my impression from the site that due to the rake back some WH ( winholdem users use their bots on the site to exploit this rakeback to the max), A word of caution, some of the bots have AI and are not so bad but i use this strategy and it seems to work so far against them.

- the bots will generally raise or re-raise with any one high card (suited or unsuited) or any two suited cards. I don't remember if they raise with unsuited neighbors or not. with this in mind, play extremely tight. only stay in hands which you intend to re-raise, or outdraw them. play starting cards which can yield only nut hands (think omaha high) and value bet your edges.

- once the flop hits, the bots will aggressively bet or raise any pair or flush/straight draw, regardless of odds. however, they are LESS likely to bet just unpaired overcards. so go ahead and 3-bet or cap any good TPTK or strong draw on your end and you should win enough of the coinflips where the bot is holding a middle or bottom pair, or even a busted gutshot. yes, you will get sucked out on some big ones, but as long as you keep to your premium starting hands it should be no worse than breakeven.

- if you're in a multiway pot and it's getting checked around, then the bots have not hit anything which matches their hands (even if they raised preflop). you'll see this most often on a flop of all low cards rainbow. this is an excellent opportunity to semi-bluff anything you want, and don't be surprised if they all fold, even 4-5 of them who paid 2-3 bets to see 3rd street. the bots sometimes will check-raise on the flop, but rarely at the end of the hand. regardless, any bets or calls after the flop indicate that they at least have "something". don't be afraid to drop anything which is not rock-solid, because you can make it back later when they mindlessly call you down when you are on top.

I will write later more about strategy to identify the bots in the table and exploit them tou your own profit
( Bot killer)