Is Your NL Game Getting Tougher?

Is the No Limit Game you play in getting tougher? Well, of course it is. Its happening all over the country and there are several good reasons for it.

First off, the flood of new fish into the NL games is mostly over. The brand new totally clueless dupes who saw poker on TV have mostly found the game by now. They would look and say; "I wanna play that "1-2 all-in" game. It was fun while it lasted.

Secondly, the players who were truly terrible at the game have all been beat up pretty good by now and have either lost all their money or gotten a lot better.

Thirdly, the games are much tougher now that the worst and new players are gone and the remaining players are much better. This makes the previously marginal winners into the new fish in the game.

The next step is when its no longer fun for the recreational players to play in a game where they usually lose. Then the games get even tougher. Look who is remaining in the games then. Add to this the impact of suspected and actual cheating. All the angle shooting, taking the shots, collusion, and all the little "cheater moves".

The last reason is that there is finally (this year) some really good printed material on playing NL cash games. Limit holdem has a large library of excellent books, etc. Tournaments have had some good books too. NL has lagged behind until this year. The two new books are;
Professional NL Holdem, by Ed Miller, et al
Harrington on Cash Games, by Dan Harrington
Both are two volume books. PNL volume 2 is about to be released and HoCG is a two volume set. Both provide excellent information to the NL cash game player. If you are not reading these books, you are falling way behind your opponents. Many of them are reading these.

NL games will eventually fizzle and self destruct. This has all been written about and predicted for years. The usual NL game just takes the bad players money way too quickly. The money quickly finds its way into a few strong hands, and does not really circulate in the poker economy. Repetitive (and rapid) losers will find something else to spend their money on. The nature of NL players and games is to accelerate this trend. Look at the interest in "uncapped games" etc.

So, if you want to play NL, be sure to study up to remain competitive. Enjoy the rest of the ride. And be alert for the point when you have turned from a winner into a loser in the game.