[scrawnybob]

hi GT

this sounds a bit like the simplest advice for player / game selection - which alot of ok players seem to really hate ... still not sure why though

poker is a player against player game ... you win by out playing or by being better than other players

so I would always rather play against worse players than myself - the worst the better and even with the "bad beats" you will always win more against bad players ... or ATM's as you very aptly call them ... than players of a similar or better standard

I know alot of members and players feel they must move up to find "better players" they can outwit with "superior" play because they always "get beaten by donks in the lower games" ... but my feeling has always been ... why make things harder for yourself ?

freerolls, play money and the 1 cent games might be too low for anyone to take seriously but even so - we should be able to beat them

ATM's, chasers & loose passive players are your friend IMHO ...

they pay you off on your big hands

they happily build the pot - when you want them to

they put enough in the pot to make it worth seeing alot of marginal speculative hands (the problem here is NOT them NOT folding it "YOU" not knowing when to fold ... this is when truly good players show themselves IMHO where you can play close to the margins but come out ahead and not behind and make those folds

I enjoy playing against better or equal players (I count myself as moderately competent) but at no time doing this do I play with the sole aim of making maximum profit

playing winning poker is about taking the easy money and not losing when trying to win tough money

I think I posted somewhere else in a "your dream poker table" ... for enjoyment and expericence I would pack it with names and great pros ... but would rightfully expect to get totally broke

for a real "dream poker table" I would play against complete novice players, gamblers who also try poker and anyone with more money than effort to learn the game

so those ATM's are where everyone's profit is

the online poker tank can be a pretty brutal one ... survival of the fittest

the fish come and play and loose in the low stakes to low stakes min sharks ... who then go up and having done the hard grind ... get mugged by the mid sharks ... who then in turn have done the hard grind to then loose to the higher stakes sharks etc etc

the common denominator here is that over the longer term the "better players" at all the stakes always win ... eventually and or over the longer term

simple lesson (if you want profit and stay away from chasing the glory) ... always play players worse than you ... even if that means staying down in the cheap seats ... better to be consistently up a bit ... than consistently down alot

cheers scrawnybob