Set Mining

I just finished reading one of the books by my friend, Dr. Bart Gratt, How to Become a Successful Professional Poker Player.  In it he describes a simple form of approaching no limit cash games.  He suggests only playing pocket pairs and AK.  You can call a pre flop raise if getting better than 8:1 implied odds (you need to pay attention to stack sizes) but no calling pre flop shoves.  If you don't make your hand on the flop, pitch it.  Even with hands as strong as AA.  If making a set on the flop you just call down, no big bets, no all-in shoves.

Bart suggests that to keep a table on it's toes you can switch gears on the button every 3 or 4 orbits.  Here pre flop raises and aggressive continuation bets are OK with hands as trashy as suited A's or off suit paint cards.  If you get a caller all the way to the river and you are unimproved, you can check-fold.

After looking around on line a bit, I discovered this style of play is called "Set Mining."  The math is very sound.  Each time you have a pocket pair you are an 8:1 underdog but when you hit your set you have better than 80% equity.  You also have excellent redraw ability against made flushes and straights with the possibility of the board pairing to give you a full boat.  It's also very stealthy.  On a dry board such as K-8-2 rainbow, you will almost always get your opponents entire stack when he makes top pair.  The only two drawbacks I can think of is this style of play is incredibly boring and it would not be effective in some games.

The boring aspect is no small hurdle.  I can imagine sitting for hours waiting to hit a set and when I finally do, some turkey bets into me with a gut shot that hits on the river.  The tilt factor would be enormous for me in a spot like that.  I might be able to play another hour or so with this style, silently steaming, but eventually I'd start to break down and start doing dumb things.  I just know myself too well.  To help, I would probably listen to music, watch a video on my iPhone or even read a book to pass the time.  Not exactly my idea of a fun day of cards...

Where and when I would try this Set Mining would make a difference too.  At my local casino, I probably wouldn't play like this because all the leather ass regulars would pick up on what I was doing very quickly.  Opponents would check to me or check behind and they would lay into me BIG whenever I was on the button.  However, on a packed Friday or Saturday night, I just might try it.  A constant circulation of unobservant fish might be the exact formula to make Set Mining work.  I would also need long sessions.  The two or three times an hour I would pick up pocket pairs or AK in my usual 2 hour playing sessions would probably not make it worth it.

So, in my upcoming trip to Las Vegas, I just might try Set Mining for a session or two.  At any rate, it's nice to add another tool to my kit.  I'm going to need a lot of them to become the winning player I aspire to be.