How to improve your NLHE game by not playing it.
Hello again all!
I hinted in my last article that I was going to discuss this topic, namely how you can improve your No Limit Hold’em game (NLHE) by playing some of the other poker formats that are accessible. NLHE has often been called the “Cadillac of poker”, and considered one of the most difficult to play well, let alone master. I think that the reason for the game’s difficulty, allure, and popularity is the fact that it takes the best aspects of several otehr formats of poker, and blends them together in perfect harmony.
Let’s look at some of the most popular alternatives; Omaha, Stud, Draw, and Razz. Each of these games are popular enough in their own right, but none have really taken off like NLHE. I think the reason is that each game has a major selling point to the players – Omaha you see big pots with big hands, Stud (much like Razz) is a game of draws and value betting, knowing when you’re ahead or what your opponent will pay you with, Draw is a game where you get almost no information about the person’s hand other than their tells and how they played their hand. Each of these are a mystery that people like to solve, and each of them can be challenging on their own, but none of these games really put them together like NLHE.
To explain the title, then, since NLHE takes aspects from each of these games, if you were to play these other games, and approach your understanding of these aspects in a different manner, you would better apply it to Hold ‘em! Think of it from a physical point of view. When you want to be a good hockey player, you need to skate, stick handle, and shoot well. A good coach or trainer will take each of these aspects, study them independantly, break them down, and learn how to do each better. Well, that’s what I think you’re doing by playing various games. Find your reads aren’t good? Play draw and try to really understand what they’re doing. Not getting enough value out of your hands? Play a stud game where you can get a better gauge as to what people will pay off (careful there about what you may be paying people off with too!). Are you new and not great at discerning what the nut hand would be? Get yourself on an Omaha table (LOW LIMITS though). Once you’ve taken all these things, and revamped your understanding of them, go back to NLHE and take what you’ve learned to improve your game!
Mark
