Is micro-limit the best level to play at?

From a new Holdem Indicator user: How many of you think that micro-limit is the pits? That it’s the worst place to play at because the tables are littered with overaggressive donks who don’t know that they’re doing half the time? I do, or at least I did.Then I started using Holdem Indicator and simply tightened up and watched the profiles of my opponents more closely. I started picking out predictable, costly errors.

Out of sheer boredom, or just for a change, I decided to go back to micro-limits .1/.2, .5/.10, and .10/.25 for a spin. And guess what? I think I did pretty well. For the first hundred hands, I was like, where are all the Hail Mary plays, the gambling, and illogical impulsive players? Could it be that players have evolved so much that even in micro-limits, people are more aware of play? But then I looked back, and I realized, they didn’t change. These are still the pack of impulsive players that I went tilt on some years back. They didn’t change, I did when I started using holdem indicator. I was more aware of them subconsciously, their play, their tendencies, but I found I could adjust with the help of HI. I wasn’t surprised anymore at anything.

I’ve learned through hard grinding, lots of down swings, and a few good runs that poker is a game of mistakes. Make less, you win. Make more, you lose. Micro-limits is a place where there are more mistakes than an SAT test taken by a drunk. Now it's so easy to profile the losers, 4 tables at a time. Half the time I am watching a movie while Holdem Indicator is collecting the raw data and telling me what kind of fools are at my table and what they are likely to do.

Granted a lot of people will disagree as there are a lot of lifers who are losers in microlimits but are very successful at mid stakes. But you have to realize, and I do now, that poker really is a game where you make your money when opponents make mistakes. And micros are the easiest by far because many players just make more mistakes.

I admit now, that I used to be in the group that thinks I could beat higher limits but not the micros. Looking back, I see now that during that phase, I lost more than I won, although I’ve won more on the mid stakes. Does that make sense? Ok, lets put it another way, at that stage, I lost more than 70% in the micros, but lost about 55% of the time in the mid stakes. That makes my winning percentage in the higher limits better than the micros. But I was still losing more than winning. Now I win around 70 or 75% of the time in the mid stakes, and for the last 1000 hands on micros, I think my win percentage has bumped up to 75-80%.

Experience, skill and the tools you use really dictate your success in poker. So bottom line, if you can adapt and use poker software to it's advantage to the level of the game at any limit you play at, you will have a better win rate – micro or otherwise.