Nuggets of Information - Part 3

And here is the final installment of my chat with a fellow frustrated low limit poker player. I've definitely taken a lot from this chat and will try and play a little more cautiously, but I can't help thinking that there is no definite strategy to combat the shovers:

behindontheflop: i think at this level, knowing when you're beaten is really important....folding a good pre-flop hand when it doesn't connect is a powerful weapon.

pokerplayer: The problem is, I've seen people shove with middle pair so many times.

behindontheflop: exactly.... it turns in a lotto.

pokerplayer: You can't trust people to play intelligently. I generally call short stackers more often than not. Short stackers play worse than players who don't short stack. In fact, I've never known one short-stacker to be profitable at these limits. Because they play it like craps

behindontheflop: not enough gamble?

pokerplayer: They've got too much gamble.

behindontheflop: oh I see...

pokerplayer: There's this one guy, he plays the 1/2 cent game and he buys in for 40 cents, the minimum, and he will multitable like 10 tables at once. And basically he just looks for pocket pairs: AA KK JJ QQ TT 99 88. And if he gets any of those hands, he shoves

behindontheflop: wow

pokerplayer: Here's the problem with this strategy his VPIP is like 2%, but anyone who's paying attention will see what he's doing and once they've spotted his strategy they're only going to call him if they've got aces or kings.

behindontheflop: but that’s the thing, not everyone is a student of the game.

pokerplayer: Sure, but in the long run he's still bound to lose out.