Over the past week or so I have been posting on the poker forums. Poker forums and forums in general are a relatively great experience for me and I must confess to having fun posting and replying to posts just like I do playing at sites like 888poker . I started a discussion this week on Limit Texas Hold’em which just happens to be one of my specialist games which caused a bit of a stir from a few people on there but you can’t agree with everybody can you and everybody is not going to agree with you either.
It has always niggled me to a certain extent what views certain players have towards that form of poker. Many view it as a game for beginners and that it is No Limit poker that is the real test. You cannot just be critical of a player just because he is playing limit poker, I mean just what limit are they playing, $1-$2, $20-$40, $100-$200 or what? Besides, there are literally millions of players playing No Limit Hold’em who simply do not have a clue about the game. Any game that requires players to see flops more often is a difficult game to master and a minefield for novice players because it is from the flop onwards where all if the different permutations spring up.
The Purest Form of Poker?
No Limit hold’em in its purest form in the way that someone like Daniel Negreanu or Phil Hellmuth play it is still the ultimate form of poker but the point is that the lower skill levels of the new crop of players mean that the game of No Limit Hold’em is gradually getting less skilful and is being over taken by the Pot Limit version where players cannot get all in as easily and have to play flops. But Limit Hold’em is a form of poker where players see a much larger percentage of flops and this is the unskilled players undoing. This is coming from a player who now earns a large part of his living playing No Limit Hold’em cash games so this is not biased comment.
There are thousands of ways in which an experienced player could be a losing poker player or do their bankroll in, it is an absolute minefield out there. I was looking through one of the main online poker forums a few nights ago and was staggered at the naivety and ignorance of some of the players on it, and some of these people were even claiming to be players!!
It is the same old story, no wonder I have earned so much from the game with delusion like what they were displaying. Let me tell you something right here and now and I don’t care who it upsets, if the primary reason for you buying into a poker site is because of the initial sign up bonus then there is a very high probability that you are not a net plus player.
The sign up bonus or any other financial incentive that may be offered by the poker site in question should be close to last on your list of things to look for regarding which poker site to choose. I mean depending on your skill level then the best course of action might be to not play at all….unless you have had coaching from me that is!
Chasing Fools Gold
But the desire to start their poker careers in the positive by chasing sign up bonuses is greatly contributing to many players not advancing properly up the poker ladder. I have never used a sign up bonus as a reason to buy in to any site, it is a small bonus if they have one that is all. I have seen the argument that these bonuses will boost your bankroll when you first start out. An absolute load of rubbish spoken by people that have never tried to do it. If you do not have the skills or the knowledge then you will lose….period!
It will just take a bit longer to happen with the sign up bonus behind you that is all. Skill and knowledge in poker does not come out of thin air because after all, we all need someone to tell us that we are playing like a moron from time to time…..better make sure that there is someone there to tell you! Anyone that signs up for my coaching will quickly realise that sign up bonuses do not enter into the equation….ever!
