Brendan,
I too wasn"t going to go on in this particular thread because I think it"s quite obvious that me and you will have to agree to disagree on certain points throughout this thread and I didn"t want to go on about it. However, you do make some perfectly valid points that I can disagree with. That game at Dusk Till Dawn is a great game to learn basic principles from but you do keep referring to a phrase I used earlier in the thread:
"I don"t ever think you"ll hone your skills well at those games."
Perhaps I better build on that statement because I think it"s being misinterpreted.
Your very right, this game is good for "your first year in poker college" so to speak. You will learn all of the basic fundamentals that you and other posters commented on. Bank roll management, tilt control, basic cash game strategy. I"m sure you could sit, play ABC poker and take advantage of certain players and situations whilst doing so, also learning basic fundamentals as you go along.
If that is all you interested in, I.E. playing £0.50/£1.00 and playing to a profit comfortably then yes I agree, this is quite achievable at this level. However, take this style of game into a good £1.00/£2.00 or £2.00/£5.00 game and you will lose your money because you will have become accustomed to playing in a way that is easily exploitable by more experienced players.
In my previous posts, I was referring to the OP"s question whether it was right to call in the given situation and I was pointing out that because the game plays a certain way, there is no way I would ever fold. In a more competitive game at a higher level with deeper stack sizes to consider, then I think his question would be quite valid as different decisions would have to be taken into consideration. I don"t think these decisions can even start to be learnt until you are playing a better game than this £0.50/£1.00 as the majority of time, small stack sizes and the softness of the game will always dictate a simple way to play.
Simply put... You are not faced by some of the more complex decisions at this level as the majority of the time, most players are 40-80BB"s deep and getting it all in with top pair and the hands simply play themselves out.
Being as we"ll both be in Bolton, I"m more than happy to "thrash" this out over a pint or two Friday night if you fancy it!
Paul.
Note: Changed can"t to can in first paragraph!
