Does Meta exist in 6-max below 600NL?

[RikaKazak]

Originally Posted by Probability

"Metagame" ruined my game imo. For me, it no longer exists and I am better off for it. People just play to many tables, auto pilot to much, and don't adjust enough for it to matter.

I would agree with this statement 97% of the time/villains. There are a few that I think metagame happens with at as low as NL400.

[Maximus13]

If there was no meta game why apply pressure?

I think there is two schools of thought and styles, one is to apply lots of pressure causing our villain to over adjust (street poker basically) and the next which I think is the one that most players live by and is easier to master, Is to simply apply enough pressure to exploit, but not enough to cause them to notice. If you can successfully play the first style and handle the variance I think one has mastered metagame and should have a higher winrate because of it.

I believe part of meta game is being aware of who is making adjustments and who isn't, Understanding what level they are on and what there tendencies are. Obv a Loose passive player will most likely never spazz out and shove sixes, but a semi loose fish that has an ego might. A reg 9 tabling might not even notice and surely will be slower to adjust then ourselves that are only playing 4. I think where a lot of guys get into trouble,myself included. Is when the villain is on a heater and to realize ok, I need to back off and just play some abc poker for the next half hour, and wait for the cards to turn in my favor. So I guess one could even argue that part of applying pressure and creating dynamics at the table to favor our style of play, is knowing when to sit and back and just wait.

I think most players are aware of metagame, its just when they put to much focus on it, they begin to over analyze things, like in many aspects of poker, to focus on one factor to much and not enough on an other, quite simply leads to unbalanced poker.

[Isura]

This is an interesting topic. When 1/2 players refer to meta it's usually something like " I 3bet him recently so he might think I'm aggro" or "I won a few non SD pots, he's more likely to make a calldown" " I was caught 3 barreling last week by villain!" etc.

This is not metagame by my definition. It is just flimsy logic and vague exploitive arguments. At this level you're better off just focusing on villain's hand range, and how to exploit that. Just focus on how to play your hand best given assumptions, and maintain pressure.

I think of metagame as build up history, or actions you take now that effect villain's perception of my ranges and my thinking process in the future. It's all the history that shapes his perception of our range and our way of thinking about poker, and how that effects our approach to the next hand. At 3/6 and lower it's basically irrelevant because the player pool is big, and it takes a really long time to build up this kind of history with regulars. Metagame becomes way more releveant in HU IMO, or games with smaller player pools.

[BigCheesy]

You can see if it exist if you switch from 9tabling to 4tabling and look at your winrate over decent sample.

I generally agree with maximus' post.

For me, meta is all the factors that make villain X play his next hand differently than had he played it without the previous hands in consideration, but I'm not good at being a dictionary man.

[LanceRockford]

I think there is two schools of thought and styles, one is to apply lots of pressure causing our villain to over adjust (street poker basically) and the next which I think is the one that most players live by and is easier to master, Is to simply apply enough pressure to exploit, but not enough to cause them to notice. If you can successfully play the first style and handle the variance I think one has mastered metagame and should have a higher winrate because of it.

I do understand why the higher limit players don't like the idea of metagame, and how it can negatively affect your decisions, at the lower limits, the fact is, it do exist on every level, depending on your style and definition.

My style leads me to some pretty interessting meta game vs regs @ 200NL it's just about being savvy enough to know when metagame is present.

[Donkadocus]

Every time you make a decision using information other than from the specific hand you are currently playing, that is defined as metagame.

If you play a total unknown heads up and first hand they fold the button, that is metagame.

If a total unknown sits and posts UTG rather than waiting that is metagame.

Whether it is all that important at various stakes can be debated but that's what it means.

[JamesMa]

Yeah I think just being aware of how your opponents are going to react is the main thing to be conscious about. And that is really the only importance of "meta game"... the better you are able to predict how your opponent will react, the better you will be able to read meta game and exploit your opponents