At what stakes do you find most of the amateurs to be eliminated. By this I mean what stakes do you play to avoid people making bad plays and getting lucky.

Great question. I have always played at stakes that my bankroll and skill level allowed, but you make a good point: What stakes serve as the "donkey filter"? I find that for Limit, the $10/$20 game filters out all but the rich donkeys, and they are - of course - ALWAYS welcome .

No Limit: There is no real filter here and I have seen absolutely attrocious plays at low and high stakes, due to the popularity of poker.

Pot Limit Omaha Hi: Live games generally have high limits, but as the popularity of this game increases, expect casinos to drop the blinds. Online there seems to be a very sharp line at the PL Omaha Hi $1/$2 level, above which donkeys dare not tread.

Pot Limit Omaha HiLo for some reason rarely gets a lot of total crazies in.

When I am playing to improve my game, I make sure I play as high as I can, to ensure a minimum number of luckboxes, but then again, I tend to be loose in my approach to the game, and one man's maniac is another's loose play.

Something, I've learned in my time as a Pro in Las Vegas is that there are bad players at all limits.

I know it sounds hard to believe, but yes there are even bad players playing 4000-8000 with Doyle, Phil Ivey and all the other famous top pros. Why do you think they play?

Rich people, CEO's of big companies, and business owners want to play against the best players (mostly for ego) and want to play for stakes that mean something to them. Money and Limits is all relative to your bankroll and income level.

I think what you will find is that the higher limits you play, the better players do play a lot better, but the bad players play just as bad as the donkeys playing 3-6 Hold'em.

I personally don't see much difference between online and live play regarding the donkey factor, other than what I mentioned above about the good players playing extremely well.

just my two pesos, curious as to others experiences as well.

Jason

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I'm Not Lucky, I Have Good Karma !

That is my experience. I can't tell you how many times I have heard a player say "I want to play higher so I don't get run down as much." Good luck to them! Sure there may be more awful players at lower stakes but there are awful players all the way right up to the top!

This is a good thing!

Good points everyone. I just get pissed from time to time when someone makes a play so ridiculously bad that I wanna .
Higher stakes still has bad players (which we do want) but is their less of them? It would make sense that players take fewer gambles in pots where a lot of money is on the line... but then again if that player has a lot of money it is all relative... ahhhh I digress

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Heads Up Poker

Always remember that the bad players make the games profitable. It requires some adjustment to play with them, but it's much easier to play with bad players than good. Sometimes people focus on bad beats because they tend to stick in your mind so prominently. You quickly forget the five hands where you stacked some donkey putting his money in way behind, but you remember the 22 that hit a set against your AA all-in preflop for days. Over time, the fish and the donkeys are your best buddies at the table and moving up levels to "avoid" them is a big mistake.

There are bad players in high stakes especially in money games where some people money is not a problem to them. But for me you cannot be a bad player in high stakes game, you must be at your best.

Tell me again why you want to play with "good players" the whole purpose to playing is to make money. I want to playw ith all the donkeys I can. If they occasionally get lucky, good that means they will stay at the table longer.

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Kickboyswoop

Yeah this is the proper mentality to have. It goes along wih berating bad palyers. Honestly, you don't want them to get lucky. Bad players are a good thing to have at your table.

I have never berated a bad player (outside of my close personal friends) due to the fact that i want them to comeback and I want them to catch the occasional miracle card. They will keep chasing if they hit it once in blue moon

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Kickboyswoop