Has televised/streaming tournament poker broken the recreational game?
I'm going to start by stating that no matter how biased my opinion, this is still an open question and I would love your inputs and feelings on the current state of play.
I love televised, youtube, streamed big event poker, main events, WSOP, after dark you name it I've probably watched it, but I watch them from the knowledge that these are highlights of mostly the biggest pots, the freakiest hands and the biggest calls. The plays are made by people who generally have had a decent amount of table time with each other and not just at the one televised event. To this end you will see some more unusual plays and efforts to randomise plays using whatever you can (like only playing ace rag if the second hand on you watch between 10 and 12, 12 to 10 don't play, tossing a coin or rolling a dice to determine input if playing offline ;) ).
Anyone at a professional level is probably spending 20 hours a week studying literature/books, consulting engines, running simulations and creating new ways to randomise their play while still trying to keep things GTO. So when they are shoving AK off pre-flop it's usually based on a combination of reads, position and how the action has played out. Still they are doing this knowing that their opponents could also be playing a mix-up and knowing that they are behind to any pair pre-flop.
When they make that hero call drawing to a hand, it's usually based on the knowledge that with a double gutter or a flush draw they have a minimum 33% chance to hit, and the pot odds are too good to resist. They aren't lumping it all in every hand hoping the river will save them. They are making calculated calls based on the math. Now where I think this is causing problems is so many recreational players are oblivious to these nuances, such as position, stack size, pot odds, EV and because they don't see the 10 times Mr Pokerstar sits down the same hand they play it just like their hero every time.
I mean don't get me wrong I love me some Mr Negreanu calling down a Helmuth bluff and sending the brat on tilt, but if I see another player whose name is some variant on D_Negs, Dee_Negs, DnegU I might.just cry.
What do you think, are too many recreational players defining their playbook based on highlight reels, blindly playing hands unaware of players ranges etc? Now I have to admit this isn't helped by the software constantly re-balancing tables and range being impossible to define for the fish who ship all in with 2 3 off UTG. Any thought on how to negate the fish with no range (I was hoping for a man with no name vibe to that, not sure I pulled it off!)
On a final note if site recommendations (poker related) are allowed let me know your favourite sources of knowledge. Given the spare time on my hand I might just memorise the range tables for each position for 6 and 8 person tables, seems simple enough 😇
Keep on grindin'
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