Adaptation

As we all know, poker, specifically hold'em poker, has exploded. I can attribute a lot of my success to this simply because the games that I started out playing in were so soft due to the boom. Sure, now I can beat tougher games, but I try to avoid the tough ones when I can.

Game selection is an important part of playing poker seriously. Therein lies the conflict. I love limit hold'em and, while I'm far from an expert, it's certainly my best game. But the biggest ring-game action isn't in limit hold'em. The biggest action is in, surprise, no-limit hold'em. That's what's on TV and that's where the biggest donks are, though most limit games are still pretty good. Another big problem for me is that a lot of the loose live games in the area are $5-$5, $5-$10, and $10-$20 no-limit. Limit hold'em is dying here. So after much contemplation, I finally decided to take the plunge and break away from my limit roots. I'm going to learn the game of no-limit hold'em, the Cadillac of poker, the cardiac of poker.

How hard could it be? I can play limit. No-limit can't be all that different. Boy was I ever wrong! Sometimes I think I'm playing two completely different games.

I started out the best way I knew, books. I picked up a few notable books on the subject and read through them pretty thoroughly. Soon I'll be picking up a new no-limit ring game book from my favorite publisher. I'm pretty excited about that. Yes, I'm a poker geek, but I digress. After that, I popped open a $50 no-limit table or two online and started messing around. Between hands I'd open up my favorite forum to the small-stakes no-limit section and try to get a firm grasp on the fundamentals and basic situations: baby steps. It's been about 5,000 hands of online play since I started this process, which is a relatively small number, and I've been running and playing well.

My biggest concern was that learning how to play a new game was going to cut into my profits. I play to pay the bills and dropping way down to low-limit no-limit just to learn would take a big chunk of change out of my wallet. I'm not going to play bigger, tougher no-limit online to learn, because I need the money. That would be stupid. Like I said, I've been running well in general, so I decided that with my newfound financial cushion, I'll take a temporary pay cut in the interest of an increased salary in the future. It's kind of like paying for night school while working so that you can get a better job.

Now I'm on to the next phase, playing in the local live no-limit games. I've played live no-limit in Pittsburgh before and fared pretty well on very basic knowledge of poker and what I know from playing limit: be tight, be aggressive, and, when in doubt and the pot is small, muck it. I'll be a little more prepared now. I'm pretty confident now going into my first no-limit game with some clue of what I'm doing.

I'm never going to stop playing limit poker. It was my first love and always will be, and I someday hope to get my limit skills in tip-top shape over any other game that I know. I really don't consider my new interest in no-limit hold'em a switch, per se. I see it as adding another game to my repertoire. If I'm in this for the long haul, I'm going to have to learn most games and become adept at each. To play poker for a living you have to adapt to where the action is.

Years before the hold'em boom, I'm sure there were plenty of stud and draw professionals. I wouldn't be surprised to see a great many of these same professionals playing hold'em today. Why? It's where the action is. I don't know for sure, but I think it's safe to assume that most seven-card stud and draw games are significantly drier than hold'em games at the same stakes. It's all about adapting to where the money is. I'd be willing to bet the pros that switched are much better off than the pros who stuck with their lowball draw. And I can guarantee you that if the newest rage in poker was pot-limit crazy pineapple eight-or-better, I'd be the first one to lock up a seat.