- Online Poker Micro Stakes Strategy Tactics
- Online Poker Micro Stakes Strategy Game
- Micro Stakes Online Poker Strategy
- Online Poker Micro Stakes Strategy Play
- Online Poker Micro Stakes Strategy For Beginners
- Online Poker Micro Stakes Strategy Against
- Online Poker Micro Stakes Strategy Games
Online Poker » Poker Strategy » Cash Games » Things to Avoid in Micro Stakes Cash Games
This strategy might make sense if you won a satellite into the WSOP Main Event for instance, but the best micro stakes poker strategy is to make as many final tables as possible. Because that is where the real money is. If you have a big or medium stack on the bubble though, then you can play a lot more aggressively and increase your stack. Play Micro MTTs at Full Tilt Poker – Get a $600 Bonus Now. Micro Stakes MTT Strategy. Firstly, you must be aware that most the players in micro MTTs are fishy/weak. The effect this has on your overall game is perhaps the most important. In $1 – $10 micro MTTs you'll be looking at about 80% of players not knowing what they're doing.
Many players just simply over complicate what it takes to beat the micro stakes cash games. They try to outplay their opponents with huge bluffs, play a wide range of hands when they lack the post flop experience to justify it and just lose focus of the basic poker fundamentals that could alone make them money.
As you can see here the theme are things that players do, but are done in excess or is just plain unnecessary at the micro stake games. You'll find that by following the list below of things not to do in the micro cash games that you'll experience less of a headache, profit more and hopefully move up through the levels faster.
Don't Slow Play Hands.
The whole idea behind slow playing your hand is to disguise it in hopes to be paid off on the turn or river when you make a bluff-y looking value bet or induce a bluff from your opponent.
However, most opponents at the micro stakes want to call, call, call and call some more. So why not bet your made hands and get the most value out of them that you possibly can?
Aside from not getting value, if you were to slow play your hands you open yourself up to being outdrawn on later streets. This is definitely a mistake and worse yet, extremely frustrating when it happens.
Don't Bluff Frequently
I really feel as if this point is harped on too much, but it's for good reason. Too many players feel as if they need to bluff in order to be successful at poker when that is simply not the case. You do need to bluff, but not all that often and it needs to be timed well. In other words, it needs to make sense and not done for the sole purpose of not being able to win the hand any other way. Furthermore, you need to be sure that your opponent is not a calling station and capable of folding his or her hand.
Don't Berate Players
This is another tip that is over used in poker. Often times it's followed by the fact that you don't want to 'tap the glass' and educate the fish. That's all fine and good and I can agree with that.
However, something else to consider when you're thinking about berating someone else's play is how it might affect future situations.
One example of a consequence of berating someone is being played back at out of spite. If you berate someone, they might try to go out of their way to make playing difficult for you by calling you down light or shoving all in over your preflop raise (regardless of how little sense it will make) just to try and get under your skin.
The point is, is that berating players will not only educate them, but can also make them hostile towards you which makes future situations more difficult to maneuver.
Don't Mimic High Stakes Poker
I wish I had a quarter for every time I have read in the chat box that someone played 6-4 suited because they watched Phil Ivey or Tom Dwan do it on high stakes poker. It should go without saying that I'd be a wealthy individual.
Although hands like suited connectors and one/two gapers can be profitable to play, there is some experience needed in order to play them post flop. The biggest problem with these types of hands is that players become too attached to bottom pair or the wrong end of a straight draw and spend too much finding out their hand is no good.
In short, the money you make at the micro stakes will not come from putting yourself in situations with marginal hands. It will come from playing solid starting hands and betting them for value when you connect with the flop and folding when you don't.
Don't Use Fancy Plays
This tip ties in somewhat with not wanting to bluff often. Despite how disappointed you are to hear this, you don't need to 8-bet bluff, float or check raise your opponents at the micro stakes to make money from them. As mentioned above, just make a hand and bet for value - simple.
Furthermore, many players hear of these plays or special moves and try them with little to no idea as to how or where to apply them. So, this combined with the fact that these plays have little affect at these levels and it would be safe to say that your time is better spent lighting your money on fire.
Don't Short Stack
It can definitely be argued that short stacking is annoyingly difficult to play against and a great strategy to exploit deeper stacks.
The biggest problem with short stacking, however, is the lack of value earned from monster hands. Buying in with 20 big blinds and getting pocket aces or kings suck because all you can earn is another 20 big blinds. If you buy in full, you then have the potential to earn 100 big blinds or more.
Additionally, using the short stack strategy prevents you from playing much postflop which only stunts your growth as a poker player. In the long run, you'll be much better off buying for the maximum and topping off as needed.
Don't Play Too Many Tables
It's not uncommon nowadays for players to have upwards of 20 or more tables running at the same time.
While this is great for increasing your hourly rate (assuming you're a winning player), it's not great if you are trying to improve and move up in stakes. The problem with playing so many tables is that often times quality is sacrificed for quantity. You'll have to avoid potentially marginal situations because you can't focus 100% on what is going on. In other words, your play will become more straightforward and robotic - very easy to exploit.
If your goal is to improve and move up to the small stakes or higher, I would suggest playing no more than 4 tables at once. This isn't so many tables that you can't keep track of the action but not so few that you can't still make enough to increase your bankroll. It's really win-win. I also suggest to try playing every once in a while without a hud - it's a great way to force yourself to focus, label your opponents and play accordingly.
Don't Open Limp
Online Poker Micro Stakes Strategy Tactics
Open limping is one of the worst habits you can pick up. It makes you look weak which makes it difficult to play postflop and/or to get value for your better hands. It leaves you open to being raised out of the pot preflop as well.
Raising preflop when you are first to enter a pot has plenty more benefits than limping. You can take down the pot preflop, buy position and build a pot for your stronger hands.
There isn't a ton else to say about this other than open limping is and looks weak - just don't do it unless you have a very good reason.
Don't Play Out of Position
Something that improved my game and earnings tremendously is when I became more aware of my position at the table and the hands I played in relation.
For example, one mistake I see too many players make is flatting a raise from the button when they're in the blinds. What ends up happening is that the player in the blinds ends up check/folding a large portion of the time costing them a little bit of money (each time they flat) that adds up to a lot over time.
Just some food for thought - but it actually has been said that if you were to fold your blinds 100% of the time, you would actually not be making a huge mistake. This is just simply due to the difficult nature of playing from out of position.
Summary of What NOT to Do in Micro Stakes Cash Games
Quite simply, to be successful at the micro stakes cash games all you need to do is work hard, learn from your mistakes and avoid going out of your way to complicate things. Just focus on playing ABC poker and you'll find that you'll move through the ranks rather quickly.
Online Poker » Poker Strategy » Tournament /Sit N Go » Micro Stakes SNG Mistakes
An important concept to understand in poker is that often times it's not what you do, but it's what you don't do that you benefit from the most. A good example is making mistakes. The fewer mistakes you make while playing, the more money you will save. And as we all know, saving money in poker is no different than making it.
Although this specific example can apply to just about any poker game or situation, I really feel as if it plays a defining role in the success of sit n go players. The reasoning being, is that sit n go's have very little room for error given how they're structured. So, it's crucial that players look for and eliminate the mistakes they commonly make so that they find themselves in the money more often than not.
What the focus of this article will be is on the common mistakes that sit n go players make but can easily avoid. The following mistakes will apply mostly to the lower stakes games although you are sure to find that some of them can be adapted to the higher stakes as well.
Mistakes to Avoid in Micro Stakes Sit n Go's
Play Too Many Hands Early On
One of the biggest mistakes I see that micro stakes sit n go players make is playing far too many hands, often times with no regards to their position at the table. The mindset is that the blinds are low, so why not try to gamble and double up.
The biggest problem with this type of mindset is that many players lack the postflop skills needed to make solid decisions. What ends up happening is someone deciding to play K-10 suited and stacking off on a king high board and losing to a better king. I've been in tons of games where players decide to splash around with suited connectors, connector with top pair and then decide that they must have the best hand when in fact they are far behind their opponents.
The fix for this kind of mistake is simple; play fewer hands. Only start to open up your range when you are more comfortable with your postflop game. To start with, I would suggest only playing hands like AQ+, limp pocket pairs like 22 through 10-10 and raise JJ plus. This will help you to avoid awkward post-flop situations as well as avoid being dominated as much when involved in all in situations.
Continuation Betting
Online Poker Micro Stakes Strategy Game
From experience, I have found that continuation betting is almost a complete waste of time and chips at the micro stakes sit n go's. It just seems as if opponents don't give you any credit for a hand at all, despite how tight you might be playing. They also like to float a ton with all kinds of hands, even hands that make no sense at all. It's just creates more sticky situations than it's worth.
However, if you feel the absolute need to c-bet in a micro stakes sit n go, then you should do so using the following criteria:
• You are not in a multi way pot. Continuation betting will be much more effective heads up as you are more likely to succeed in taking down the pot uncontested.
• The board is dry. C-betting a board like A-8-3 rainbow is going to be much more likely to be successful then c-betting boards like A-T-J of two suits or A-8-9 of the same suit. The difference between what is ok to c-bet and what is not is how connected the cards are. An A-8-3 rainbow flop has no immediate flush draws and hits very little of your opponent's likely range. The other example (A-T-J or A-8-9) hits your opponent's range hard, as there are tons of flush draws, straight draws and aces in it. It would be almost impossible to push him or her off their hand if they had this kind of draw.
• Your opponent is a thinking player that is able to fold.
Isolating
I avoid isolating limpers with my bigger hands for the same reasons outlined above for why I don't c-bet that often. You just aren't given credit for what you're doing and/or recreational players don't realize what you are trying to do (isolate the fish). Because of this, I avoid isolating for the most part.
Again, there are exceptions to every rule. Here are mine for isolating at the micro stakes sit n go's.
• I'm almost guaranteed to have position on all betting rounds. Nothing sucks more than trying to isolate only to be flatted by the button and having to play your hand multi way and out of position. If I'm not on the button, I generally won't iso an opponent unless I'm positive the player on the button will fold. If I am on the button, I really prefer the blinds to be tight and almost sure to fold or they're fishy enough that I know I can get value from them if I hit the flop well.
Micro Stakes Online Poker Strategy
Overplay Aces
Aces are definitely great cards to hold, even more so when they are accompanied by a second ace or a jack, queen or king. However, keep in mind that no ace is invincible.
Online Poker Micro Stakes Strategy Play
What I mean by this is that you should try to avoid overplaying your aces. This means not getting your stack in preflop when the blinds are only 10/20 and you have AK. Also, you should avoid playing your mid to lower aces early on even if they are suited to avoid being dominated later on in the hand.
As a rule of thumb, don't even consider getting your stack in with an AK or AQ until the blinds are at 50/100 or so and don't bother playing your raggedy aces at all unless you are in the small blinds, can complete and see a flop for cheap or if you have less than 10 big blinds and need to open shove. Long story short, it is ok to fold an ace - even AK. You will find that there are plenty of times where it is in fact the best play.
Bluffing
Online Poker Micro Stakes Strategy For Beginners
Bluffing, like c-bets and iso-raises, are going to be less effective at the micro stakes sit n go's simply because a majority of your opponents were given defective software aka they have no fold button. Or, they simply look at their own two cards and cannot seem to realize they're beaten. Either way, most of your opponents will call you down super light which makes bluffing rather ineffective. So, in most cases don't even bother.
However, there are a few cases where bluffing may work. Here are my suggestions:
• On a paired flop. Flops that are paired are great to bluff on because it's so unlikely that your opponent has connected with it at all. Additionally, it scares them to death when you bet because of the fact that they think they are so far behind. So, whenever you see a board of Q-Q-x, 8-8-x, A-A-x or whatever pair-x combo, be sure to bet it. You'll get folds more often than not and when you are called, you can easily slow down and go into pot control mode.
Online Poker Micro Stakes Strategy Against
• On the river when all likely draws missed. This would still depend on how many cards are out there that likely hit your opponents range and if they will fold or not. But if you had a board of A-2-7-T-6 of one or two suits, I would definitely try to bluff this against a halfway competent opponent if they played the hand passively (check/calling or small blocker bets).
• If my opponent puts out a blocker bet. Blocker bets are basically small bets with the intention of trying to see another street for cheap. Most times, you can put in a re-raise and induce a fold. If that doesn't work, you might have to fire another barrel on the turn if the turn card didn't improve those draws. Sadly, some opponents will still call here and commit themselves on the river with x-high. Don't bother trying to bluff these guys as it won't be worth it in the long run.
Summary of What Not to Do in Micro Stakes Sit n Go's
Online Poker Micro Stakes Strategy Games
You'll find that if you can eliminate these mistakes from your game in the micro stakes sit n go's that your results will improve dramatically. To make this an easier task, just remind yourself that your opponents will make all of these mistakes outlined above. As a result, they will bust out more frequently which gives you a much better chance of making the money.
