Master Micro Stakes Poker
Every cash game poker player strives to move up from micro-stakes to small stakes beyond. I have been playing for over 12 years and can shed some on the various stake levels as well as what it takes to beat them.
- Become a Master of Micro Stakes Online Poker In this book you'll learn everything you need to know to crush online micro stakes poker. I’ll teach you time-tested strategies for beating the micro stakes through a tight-aggressive approach to beating these games.
- Micro Stakes Poker Definition: The 'micro stakes' by the way typically refers to NL2 to NL50 cash games online. These are the 1c/2c blind cash games on through to the 25c/50c blind cash games. If you play tournaments, micro stakes poker tournaments typically refers to the $1 through $20 buy-in games online.
What is considered small, mid, and high stakes poker?
There are actually five different stake levels in online cash game poker:
- Micro-stakes – 2NL, 5NL, 10NL, 25NL
- Small-Stakes – 50NL, 100NL
- Mid-Stakes – 200NL, 400NL, 600NL
- High-Stakes – 1000NL, 2000NL, 5000NL, 10000NL
- Nosebleeds – 20000NL and up
Now that you know what the stakes are, let’s discuss each level in turn and find out what it takes to move up.
The Key Differences Between Cash Game Poker Stakes
The nature of each cash game stake will vary from poker room to poker room. However, in my experience, there are some fundamental commonalities of what can be expected at each level as you move up through the stakes.
This is a discussion on Five stars book: Master Micro Stakes Poker within the online poker forums, in the Learning Poker section; Hello, I've added to my Kindle Unlimited the book Master Micro. Micro Stakes Poker Definition: The 'micro stakes' by the way typically refers to NL2 to NL50 cash games online. These are the 1c/2c blind cash games on through to the 25c/50c blind cash games. If you play tournaments, micro stakes poker tournaments typically refers to the $1 through $20 buy-in games online.
1. Micro-Stakes Cash Game Poker
Micro-stakes poker ranges from lowly $0.01/$0.02 up to $0.10/$.25. This is usually either a place for recreational players to splash around or a proving ground for ambitious players who want to move up as soon as possible.
The games are typically characterized by looseness pre-flop with lots of limping and passive post-flop play. It is not unusual for there to be multiple players still in the pot when the river is reached.
Tips on Beating the Micros
It does not take a ton of skill to win at the micro-stakes. In fact, the winners are usually just the ones who are making the least mistakes. Here are a few tips:
- Play a lot of hands in position and very few out of position in order to capitalize on the fit-or-fold nature of many micro-stakes players. Acting last also gives you the ability to realize equity with a lot of your marginal hands
- Include holdings that can make the nuts or dominate your opponent when you build your pre-flop hand ranges. Making flush over flush or out-kicking your opponents is where a lot of the big pots are won at the micros.
- Throw out the call button and instead focus more on value betting and bet-folding your medium strength hands. Continuing with marginal top pairs by check-calling is a recipe for disaster against loose-passive opponents.
How much can a good micro-stakes player expect to win per month?
How much can be made at the micros is really irrelevant. You should not be looking to play at penny stakes more than just a few weeks or months while you learn the game.
Even so, there are quite a lot of players who are full-time regs at either 10NL or 25NL. Even with mass-tabling and uber rewards, it’s hard to make more than $8 an hour doing this.
My advice is that if you don’t have aspirations to be a poker “star” and are okay just making a few hundred every month playing poker, then work hard on your game and learn to beat at least 50NL.
50NL players are not that much tougher to beat than 25NL regs, so you owe it to yourself to study hard enough to at least break into the lowest level of small stakes.
2. Small-Stakes Cash Game Poker
Small stakes games include just two stakes, $0.25/$0.50 and $0.50/$1.00. This is where you first start seeing a large number of full-time or part-time pros eeking out a marginal living in poker. It’s not uncommon to find players who have been 50NL or 100NL players for several years.
The quality of small-stakes games can vary widely from poker site to poker site. For example, on America’s Cardroom small stakes are very difficult to beat except for even the most dedicated players. The level of play that was once only common at 200NL or 400NL is now seen on numerous tables daily on ACR.
On the other hand, softer sites like Ignition poker have soft enough small stakes games that even newer players have a chance of winning. I would say that 100NL on Ignition is comparable to 25NL on ACR. There are more rewards on the latter, which does narrow the gap a bit. Even so, it’s always much better to play the higher stake then rely on being a “
Tips on Beating Small Stakes
To beat small stakes, you need to have more than just a basic “tight is right” strategy. You have to also have at least a rudimentary understanding of some advanced topics that include:
- Equity and SPR and how those concepts are implemented in order to maximize profit versus a wide variety of opponents.
- Game selection and profiling opponents.
- The ability to use a HUD effectively, if applicable, in order to glean the information necessary to interpret the tendencies of opponents.
Beyond these factors, you will need to be able to think on level two and have an elementary understanding of
How much can a good small-stakes player expect to win per month?
High volume small-stakes player with a reasonably high win-rate of 4bb/100 or high can expect to make anywhere from $15 to $25 an hour. It would not be unheard of to make between $2,500 and $5,000 a month, once rewards are figured in. Even part-time winners at 50NL can expect to make around $1,000 per month.
There actually are well-documented cases of 100NL professionals making over $10,000 a month after
3. Mid-Stakes Cash Game Poker
Mid-Stakes includes $1/$2, $2/$4, and $3/$6 blinds. Online, these are the stakes where most of the best players on the site congregate. In fact, the only time most really good player will play higher than mid-stakes, is when there is a known bad player on the table.
For laymen, it’s impossible to tell the difference when watching a small-stake or mid-stake game side-by-side. For long-time poker professionals, the difference is usually profound.
The most striking difference that you start seeing at mid-stakes lies in the more nuanced bet sizings. People are a lot more of aware of potentially getting exploited, so they try to optimize their bet size accordingly.
For example, it’s not uncommon to still see 3x raises with a steal on the button at 100NL and below. You will almost never see this from a reg at 200NL or higher. They know they can accomplish the same thing by raising to 2.5x or even a min-raise, so why waste the extra money when they fold to a 3-bet?
Tips on Beating the Mid-Stakes
If you want to join the top 2% of poker players and learn to win at mid-stakes be ready to dedicate your life to poker, at least partially, for some time
In fact, it actually seems like a pointless exercise for me to give a list of tips in beating this level. This is because it’s like trying to explain the universe in one sentence and with 4 examples.
Nevertheless, here are just a few things you must master before even attempting to beat 200NL or higher (on most poker sites):
- Level 3 thinking is the minimum thinking level necessary to compete,
- How to build hand ranges in your head during play and evolve them to fit the changing dynamic as the session progresses.
- Being aware of how opponents might be adjusting their strategy based on you.
- A moderate understanding of balancing and how to avoid being exploited over time if you have out of line frequencies
The point of this article isn’t try and give you a guidebook to winning at poker. I understand that many people reading this won’t have a clue what I am talking about. That’s okay, but you need to be aware of just how big of a chasm there is between the poker mind maturity of a winner at micro-stakes and mid-stakes. A good analogy is for an average chess player to try playing a grandmaster.
How much can a good mid-stakes player expect to win per month?
For most online poker sites, mid-stakes is where you start to see highly skilled players emerging who can make a decent living playing professionally. For example, my win-rate at 200NL was around 8bbs/100 which gave me an approximate hourly rate just under 40/hr while 4-tabling.
4. High Stakes Cash Game Poker
Save for a few wealthy “whales”, most players will never experience what it’s like to play for average pots that exceed in excess $1,000 on a regular basis. Enter the high-stakes cash game poker professional.
High stakes poker games online include $5/$10, $10/$20, $25/$50, and $50/$100. While there are quite a few regs that play these stakes, a good number of them also still play mid-stakes as well. It’s not uncommon to see a skilled reg playing 400NL, 600NL, 1000NL, and 2000NL in the same session.
Basically, what typical high stakes players do is game select heavily and work hard to ensure that they have an edge in every game they play. In fact, often the skill difference between mid-stakes and high-stakes players mainly lies in their ability to manage their bankrolls and careers a bit better.
Tips on Beating High Stakes
To win long term at high stakes takes a dedication to the game and an ongoing commitment to keeping up to date with the latest strategy. Career management must be strong.
I am not going to give you a list of tips on beating high stakes. It’s actually pretty ridiculous to do so since only 1 in 100,000 players will likely even ever play a session of 1000NL or higher. Personally, I have never played a hand higher than 600NL and am not even qualified anyway.
What I will say, is that once you are beating mid-stakes you will already understand what it takes to at least some degree. Whether you decide to take a shot at high stakes will depend mostly on financial security in taking a shot.
How much can a good high stakes player expect to win per month?
For the few that do make it as a successful high stakes poker player, the amount of money you can win is pretty limitless. Even for part time guys that beat high stakes, 100,000 a year likely feels like the floor for them. Think about it, 100,000 is only 100 buy-ins of $5/$10.
5. The “Nosebleeds”
Stakes with a buy-in of $20,000 or higher are known as the nosebleeds. One of the most popular stakes for nosebleed players is $200/$400.
Let’s get one thing out of the way. Variance is insane at these stakes. Almost no one is actually correctly bankrolled to play the nosebleeds. Conservatively, you really need at least 50 buy-ins to be a regular at any stake. Even for the “smallest” nosebleed stakes, this is $1,000,000.
If you start talking about $500/$1000 stakes, $5,000,000 feels like a small bankroll when you consider $1,000,000 swings seem to happen almost daily for these players.
Beating the Nosebleeds
The nosebleeds are an interesting phenomenon that reached their height right before the fall of Full Tilt Poker. The volume of hands played at those ridiculously high stakes has never been matched since.
The truth is, it takes a special type of person to play at this level. You have to be a billionaire, a big risk taker, or have a huge ego to even think about taking on the nosebleeds.
Even so, the level of play at the highest levels is actually probably not as good as it is at even mid-stakes. The reason is that most strong poker players will not risk their hard-earned money without having a gigantic edge in the game. That’s why you’ll often seen players enjoying a higher win-rate at 2000NL or above than they have at 1000NL.
How much can a good nosebleeds player expect to win per month?
Since very very few many people solely play the nosebleeds, it’s more of an opportunistic or ego exercise for the majority of the player pool at any given time. Therefore, it’s not even worth commenting beyond just saying that fortunes are won and lost weekly and even daily in these games
Besides, it’s really hard to be a regular in those nosebleeds and get enough volume in. Like high stakes, the nosebleeds are more about taking shots for the vast majority of the players.
What Minimum Bankroll Is Needed to Play Each Stake Based on a 100 Big Blind Buy-In?
Assuming that each stake is your regular game and you are not taking shots, you typically want at least 50 buy-ins at a stake. Based on that, here are the bankroll requirements of each stake:
The Stake Levels in Live Poker
This article has mostly been about online poker. So, let’s briefly discuss the stakes in live games. Below is a list of the live equivalents in skill level.
Here are the live equivalents to online stakes:
- Micro-Stakes – No such thing since the lowest stake you typically find is 200NL.
- Small Stakes – 200NL, 500NL
- Mid-Stakes – 1000NL, 2000NL, 5000NL
- High Stakes – 10000NL and up
- Nosebleeds – This is more of an online term. A 10k buy-in or higher is called high stakes. 100,000 buy-in is generally the biggest “regular” game you see. This is the common buy-in we saw in the show “High Stakes Poker”, with $200/$400 blinds.
Keep in mind that you can only 1-table in live poker. This means everyone is presumably able to play their A Game. Also, live recreational players tend to be much worse live. This means 200NL
Final Thoughts
Now you know the differences between all of the stakes, both live and online. You also have some idea of what it takes to become a winner at every level.
If you are interested in taking a step toward building a poker game with a strong foundation, you might be interested in my full poker tutorial.
Micro Stakes Online Poker
Thanks for reading!
Related Questions
Who are the most famous high stakes poker players? There are too many to name them all but the most famous high-stakes players of all time include Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Victor Blum (Isuldur1), Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Phil Galfond, John Juanda, Tom Dwan (Durrr), Doug Polk, and Ben Sulsky (sauce123).
Who is the best online poker player? Based on long-term monetary results the best online player of all time is Phil Ivey. Doug Polk is well-regarded as the best current online poker player.
What are the poker buy-in levels? There are three categories of buy-in levels in poker. Anything above 150 big blinds is generally considered deep-stacked. Anything below 40 big blinds is considered short-stacked. Everything in between is known to be a mid-stack.
A complete guide to beating the low stakes no limit hold'em games
'Although poker is not an easy game to fully master, beating the low stakes poker games from 2nl up to 25nl is not hard at all.'
Now, the above statement is by no means meant to be disparaging to those micro stakes no limit players who are struggling to make a profit in online poker. It is actually supposed to be an encouragement to read this lengthy poker strategy guide instead.
Because playing winning poker is all about making fewer mistakes than your opponents and because the majority of players at the low limits make an awful lot of mistakes, you don't have to be a very talented player to beat the micro stakes consistently. All it takes is some knowledge of the basic poker strategy fundamentals and a recipe that makes the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. A lot of the poker strategy fundamentals have been explained in other articles on First Time Poker Player, which will be linked to throughout this article, and this micro stakes poker strategy guide is meant to be that recipe for beating the low limit poker games.
Master Micro Stakes Poker Tips
Ingredients of this micro stakes poker strategy guide:
The basic poker strategy fundamentals
If you are unfamiliar with the basic poker strategy fundamentals and the basics of proper starting hand selection, betting and folding, then I would like to recommend you to read the poker strategy guides on First Time Poker Player listed below. Otherwise, by all means feel free to skip them. I know it is a lot of reading, but I wouldn't recommend them if I didn't honestly think they could be very helpful in grasping this guide and eventually could lead to some serious micro stakes ownage (although I understand I'm slightly biased here :-)).
The dynamics of micro stakes online poker games
The poker strategy guides above provide you with the knowledge needed to understand why a certain play would be better or worse than another. This should help you to not only make fewer mistakes yourself, but also to recognise mistakes of other micro stakes players at the table. And it's these mistakes of your opponents to which you have to adapt your poker strategy in order to beat the low stakes games.
The majority of your opponents at the micro stakes have a pretty poor understanding of the basic poker strategy fundamentals. They don't pay attention to their and your position; most low stakes poker players are way too passive and love to slow play; they often don't read the board very well and they don't pay attention to pot odds. And if these players try to pay attention to anything of the above, then there's a great chance they're doing it wrong.
As a consequence many of your opponents at the micro stakes:
are too loose:
they limp/call with easily dominated hands in early position; they call raises and reraises with hands that are too weak; they call too much with their draws and low stakes poker players tend to overvaluetop pairs with a weak kickerany pair.don't get enough value for their strong hands:
they don't have a betting plan during the hand and by being too passive and slow playing too much with their strong hands you can often get away very cheap where you could have actually been stacked.give great (implied) odds:
you can see cheap flops (in position) with drawing hands like suited connectors, because your opponents raise too little and too small; you can often draw very cheap post-flop and when you hit your draw, you will often get paid more than enough to justify your call on an earlier street.don't pay attention to what you are doing...
...when they are not in a hand with you: they don't notice the mistakes of others and therefore your 'table-image' is not something you will have to worry about and adjust your play for. And if they do happen to notice some mistakes in your play, then they probably don't know how to exploit that and punish you for it anyway.are weak:
they don't bluff very often at all when they are facing a bet. Therefore a raise often means what it looks like: a strong hand. However, this does not necessarily mean that micro stakes players don't bluff much at all. There are also plenty who like to bluff in the worst possible spots when they are given the chance to do so (for example when you 'show weakness' yourself by checking to them).often have a very unpredictable range of hands:
there is no logic in the hands they play from whichever position nor with what hands they continue after the flop. Note that having an unpredictable range of hands does not mean that your opponents at the micro stakes are therefore unpredictable themselves. When they start raising then it is still very likely that you are up against a strong holding. Whether that is a slow played set or a flopped bottom pair rivering trips does not matter!
Of course, this list of characteristics of the majority of the micro stakes players is quite a generalisation. You will encounter players who are very (too) tight, but play their good hands aggressively. You will also encounter players who actually know what they are doing and have a nice win rate, but don't feel the need to move up. The point is though, that you will encounter many more bad players than good ones, and the list above should immediately give you an idea of how to win enough from those bad players (which, by the way, also includes the too tight/aggressive ones) that you don't have to worry about the other micro stakes players.
Beating the micro stakes
Now you know how a lot of the bad low stakes players play poker we can take a look at how to take advantage of their mistakes. Because micro stakes players play too many hands and often call too much with them it should not come as a surprise that a successful micro stakes strategy can completely revolve around the following two key aspects:
- Getting the most value from hands in which you know you have a great edge
- Avoiding marginal and unprofitable situations
Although this is really what beating the micro stakes is all about, I suspect that the above two lines did not cause you to have that 'aha moment' we're after yet. Therefore we will take a closer look at the following aspects and tactics:
- Starting hand selection
- Value betting
- Slow playing
- Folding
- Bluffing
Starting hand selection at the micro stakes
Proper starting hand selection is a crucial aspect of the micro stakes poker strategy mentioned above, especially when you still need to improve your post flop play. You can create a big edge on your opponents and avoid a lot of marginal situations just by playing tight. Certainly with all the loose opponents at the micro stakes it isn't difficult to consistently see the flop with better hands and create situations in which you are generally way ahead of the range of hands of your opponents. This highly reduces the risk of you making a costly mistake. If you are unsure about what starting hands to play in which positions and/or situations and you haven't read the starting hands guide yet (especially the parts about factors to consider for proper starting hand selection and groups of playable Texas hold´em starting hands), then I really recommend you to do so.
Some important take home messages regarding starting hand selection at the micro stakes:
- Play extremely tight in the blinds and in early position.
- If there's a raise in front of you, be very reluctant to call with easily dominated hands like QJ, AT, KJ etc.. This is especially true when it's an early position raise, because hands like AK, AQ and high pocket pairs will be a great part of the range you're up against and those hands all have you dominated. When in doubt with these kinds of starting hands: just fold.
- Make sure you know how to set mine correctly and don't spew away your chips by just going to the flop every time you hold a pocket pair.
- If you want to play more speculative hands like suited connectors, suited ace-low or so called 'one-gappers' (like J9) than do so in late position either by raising when you are first to act (mainly to steal the blinds) or by calling with multiple players in the pot already to see a cheap flop. Know what you should be looking for when playing these hands: be able to easily let go of your one pair hands and play your big (combo) draws and pair + draw type of hands very strong.
- Going all-in pre-flop with AK is generally not a good idea at the micro stakes.
- Proper starting hand selection is only the beginning of a winning micro stakes poker strategy. You can be great at selecting your starting hands, but if you don't play them right you're probably not going to get very far. If you regularly find yourself in situations post-flop where you don't know what to do, try to play a little tighter and only start opening up your starting hand range when you feel your post flop play is getting better.
- Try not to rely on starting hand charts too much.
Value betting at the micro stakes
So, with a tight starting hand selection you can manoeuvre yourself in situations where you know you have a great edge on the range of hands of your opponents. Step two in your poker strategy should be to get as much value in these situations as possible and for that, you have to value bet. You are value betting when you think that you are ahead of the range of hands of your opponent. As long as that is the case then you are value betting, even if your opponent happens to have a hand that beats yours. You should especially be looking to value bet in situations where you expect to be way ahead of your opponent's range of hands. If you think you might be ahead, but only slightly so, then you don't have to value bet thin. Just check and see what happens.
Example 1:| Hole cards | Board |
You have raised in late position with AJ, the big blind calls and you flop top pair-top kicker (TPTK). This is an excellent situation in which a bet is clearly a value bet. Your opponent could very well be calling your flop bet with weaker top pairs like TJ, JQ and JK, with a 7 or medium pocket pairs. If the turn brings a Q or K, then a bet can still be a value bet, but it would be a lot thinner. Your opponent is now unlikely to call with the medium pocket pairs or a 7 and his top pair could very well have turned into two pair. So unless you know you are dealing with a typical calling station, a check with the plan to call a reasonable bet on the river (or make a value bet yourself when a low card comes and you are checked to again) is probably a better option. Example 2:
| Hole cards | Board |
You opened the pot in middle position and get three callers. You're way ahead with your set and when you bet you are very likely to get called by someone holding an ace, some sort of a straight draw or a flush draw. So you should bet and you shouldn't be shy in doing so either (just bet close to the size of the pot). If you get raised you should not just call and let any draw see another card, just try to get it all-in right there on the flop. Example 3:
| Hole cards | Board |
The value of a great starting hand like AA or KK drops dramatically when a flop like TJQ comes, especially in a reraised (3-bet) pot. Now the majority of the hands in your opponent's range (TT-QQ, AA, AK) have you beat and a bet would not be a value bet anymore. Be able to slow down in these kinds of situations and try to go to showdown without investing your whole stack.
By the way, you can also value bet pre-flop. Every time you raise or reraise your opponents with a great starting hand, then you are essentially value betting.
Remember that the majority of your opponents at the micro stakes are too loose. They'll call too much and too often, so don't be afraid to value bet three streets after the flop with a hand like TPTK. As long as you start slowing/shutting down when you actually get raised, then you'll get a tremendous amount of value from some of the most bizarre holdings. Also, make sure you always buy-in for at least 100 big blinds and re-load when you fall below that to be able to take full advantage of your good hands.
Slow playing at the micro stakes
Because you'll often get called when betting for value, there's very little need for slow playing at the micro stakes. Often slow playing a strong hand will only result in missing out on a lot of value from draws or strong second best hands which became worthless when scary cards (or scare cards so you will) hit the board. Therefore you should not slow play a big hand when:
- Your opponent is likely to have hit a pair
- The board is wet and potential draws are out there
Example 2 from the previous section about value betting would be illustrative for both these conditions.
This doesn't mean that slow playing should not be part of your micro stakes poker strategy at all, however. Sometimes you flop a hand that is just so big that it will be the nuts on the river regardless of the cards that come and your opponent is unlikely to have hit anything at all. In such a situation slow playing could let your opponent 'catch up' to a second best hand with which he (or she) will donate some money, or it can induce a bluff from your opponent. This is also a reason to be more inclined to slow play versus very aggressive opponents who like to bluff you off of your QQ or KK on an A-high flop, when in fact you're calling with top set and a big smile on your face instead.
Example 4:| Hole cards | Board |
Great… You flopped quad aces. Unless your opponent has a decent pocket pair or a very rare 5th ace a bet will probably only get your opponent to fold. Slow playing here is fine. Note that with only one ace on the flop (top set) the situation would already be a little bit different, since your opponent could hold the last ace for a top pair and value betting might be better than slow playing. If you would hold AK on the flop from this example, then you should clearly not slow play and just value bet instead. Pocket pairs will only give you a lot of action when they improve to a full house and thus have you beat and you would get a lot of value from any ace by just value betting in that situation anyway.
Don't think that, when you flop a monster like in the example above, slowplaying will be too suspicious, because you would have made a continuation bet otherwise (in other words: that you need to 'balance your play' so that you're not only slow playing monsters and c-betting all other non-monster hands). Most of your opponents at the micro stakes just don't pay attention to your playing style enough for that to be an issue.
Folding at the micro stakes
Contrary to slow playing, folding is an essential part of a successful micro stakes poker strategy (or of any poker strategy for that matter). You can only avoid marginal and unprofitable situations by folding enough. We have already seen this when discussing starting hand selection and post flop it's essentially the same.
A lot of players at the micro stakes don't play back at you and don't bluff when they raise you, they simply have it. Do you have 77 on a 6-high flop and your c-bet/value bet gets check-raised? Just fold. There's just too little value in continuing with the hand unless you know you're up against a total clown. The same goes for top pairs with a medium kicker, top pair on a paired board etc.. Those are all marginal situations at best when you have to start making decisions for a big part of your stack. Sure, you'll sometimes be folding the best hand, and this weak approach is probably not the optimal strategy. But it'll save you money more often than not, and the real profit should come from the hands where you know you have a big advantage anyway.
Bluffing at the micro stakes
If you have already read some other poker strategy guides or tips for beating the micro stakes, then you have undoubtedly read that you should not bluff at the lower limits at all. But not bluffing at all at low stakes = not good. In fact, you should be bluffing at the micro stakes all the time. However, before you start shoving those chips in the pot with all your no-pairs and missed draws, it might be advisable to first keep on reading.
Firstly, continuation betting sensibly is an important part of playing winning poker, also at the micro stakes. And since c-betting with your missed hands to take advantage of your initiative will often enough be a bluff, you should be bluffing a lot. Continuation betting sensibly does not mean that you should be firing away on the flop by default when you were the pre-flop raiser, however. You have to look at the board, the number of opponents you're up against and the playing style of your opponent. Be less inclined to c-bet when you completely missed against more than 2 opponents, very loose opponents or on very wet boards (9hJcTh, for example) which have very likely hit your opponent's range. Also, when your c-bet gets called, just shut down. Don't keep on firing in the hopes of getting a fold, that's just a waste of chips. Very rarely you could try a second barrel when an ace or king hits on the turn, but your default play should be to shut down.
Secondly, there will be plenty occasions at the micro stakes where you can semi-bluff with draws, especially on the flop where you have the most equity to win the hand. It is important to realise that most draws, even big combo draws, lose a lot of their value when the turn card is a blank (does not complete the draw). Therefore it is advisable to try to see the river as cheap as possible once the turn did not help your hand, either by check/calling a reasonable bet or by checking behind.
Thirdly, there will be a lot of situations where you are up against an obviously weak hand, but you are unlikely to win when going to showdown. Then a little 'stab at the pot' might be effective.
Example 5:| Hole cards | Board |
You are in the big blind (bb) with a trashy hand and the small blind (sb) just calls and checks the flop. Obviously the sb is very weak here and you are unlikely to win when going to showdown. Here you can try to take a small stab and pick up the pot. It might not be a big pot, but if you do this often enough, all those small pots will add up and could significantly increase your win rate. If you do get called however, just shut down unless you improve to a great hand. Example 6:
| Hole cards | Board |
You called a tight early position raiser pre-flop with suited connectors and called his flop c-bet with a straight draw. He checks the turn and the river, which indicates he has a very weak hand like missed high cards. Now you can take a little stab at the pot on the river to either represent a pair or the flush draw that hit. You don't have to bet that much at all: around half the pot will be more than enough. Note that some players at the micro stakes are so loose, that they would even call with any ace high in this spot. If you happen to have such a read, just let it go (you probably should not have called with the suited connectors pre-flop then either).
You might have noticed that most of the bluffs are not 'big and ballsy bluffs'. Those are really unnecessary at the micro stakes and will probably get called too often to be really profitable.
Example 7:| Hole cards | Board |
Master Micro Stakes Poker For A Living
Find yourself on the river with a missed draw after calling two decent bets on the flop and the turn and now you get checked to? Just let it go. Don't get fancy and start pushing your stack in the middle, your opponent has something decent and probably won't let it go. Besides, your push on the river after just calling two streets has a sign 'missed draw' in neon letters to go with it anyway and maybe your opponent was just giving you the opportunity to bluff in the first place. Don't do it, it's a total spew! Example 8:
| Hole cards | Board |
Your reraise pre-flop with QQ got reraised (which is bad news), but this 4-bet was small, so you decided to call. J-high flop, you call his c-bet in case he has AK. Another J on the turn, he checks, you bet the turn and go all-in on the river because you figure you might either be ahead (right…) or you can bluff your opponent off of KK or AA otherwise. Sigh… Of course your opponent calls and shows you the KK for the winner.
There are plenty of occasions where bluffing at the micro stakes is okay. You can take advantage of your initiative when c-betting a missed hand, you can semi-bluff and have your draw as a back-up for when you do get called, or you can take small stabs at the pot when it is very likely your opponent is weak and willing to give up anyway. Don't ever try to take away bigger pots by bluffing your opponent off of a real hand. This is what is pointless and unprofitable at the micro stakes. Sure, sometimes it'll work when you are dealing with a weak/tight opponent, but more often than not you'll get called and have to smack yourself against the head again for doing such a stupid thing.
Beating the micro stakes consistently: discipline and self-control
Hopefully all of the above will already help you to beat the micro stakes cash games. However, playing winning poker consistently for a lot of players will not only be about knowing what decisions are best in certain situations, but also about having the discipline and self control to actually make those decisions and about not putting too much of their bankroll on the line for a single decision. We're talking about controlling tilt and bankroll management here.
Low stakes poker and tilt
Tilt, in poker, has the unpleasant side effect that it can make an otherwise nice win rate completely evaporate. And if you're not careful, it can even do the same with your whole bankroll. Especially at the micro stakes the unexpected hand ranges and 'unorthodox' plays of your opponents can make for some unpleasant surprises, which can be the last straw after some coolers to make you go on monkey tilt. And for many poker players this could very well be the most difficult aspect in poker to deal with. Of coarse I could now preach that you simply should not tilt, ever, but that isn't going to work. Therefore we'll take a look at some general tips, which may or may not help if you have tilt issues:
- Be honest about tilt issues to yourself.
If you regularly have to replace some of your computer accessories (especially mouse, keyboard or monitor) or anything else you can break or disrupt during or after a poker session, then you know you have tilt issues and your win rate is most likely suffering from it too. - Read 'The Poker Mindset' written by Matthew Hilger and Ian Taylor.
- Never start berating or educating the fish in chat.
First of all because you don't want to be pathetic and second of all because you should not scare off the fish and with that lose the opportunity to win your money back easily. If you really can't help yourself, just disable the chat function (this also helps if you are easily tilted by chitchat of your opponents). - Stop looking at your bankroll during sessions.
- Always remember that poker is all about making correct decisions.
If you made the right decisions than THAT is what should please you, regardless of the outcome of the hand. Don't be result oriented. There will always be an element of chance in poker you simply can't control but that can completely determine your results in the short term. Don't let it determine your state of mind as well. - Prevent falling into bad habits due to boredom.
Try to play another poker format like Omaha hi for a change or try switching from full ring to shorthanded or heads-up games to prevent boredom. Maybe multi-tabling will be a good cure against boredom for you, but don't start multi-tabling until you feel you can comfortably beat your limit at one table. - Try to play a lower variance game when times are tough.
If low stakes shorthanded games are your main game and things are going rough for awhile, try to play some full ring where the variance tends to be lower. Similarly you could adjust your playing style to a tighter, lower variance strategy. - When you are tilting: stop playing.
Take a deep breath; go do something completely different to empty your mind, whatever. But don't start shoving your stack in the middle like a donkey. - Don't seriously consider 'moving up where they respect your raises'.
If you read this guide completely up until this point, then it should be evident why moving up from the micro stakes to where they respect your raises is not very smart (kind of an understatement there). Where your raises will be respected, your opponents will also pay close attention to what you are doing and punish you for every mistake you make. Your opponents won't pay you that easily when you finally hold a strong hand and when you know you have a big edge and therefore, your profit has to come more and more from marginal situations. This means that you will experience more variance and, likely, more tilt issues. Your opponents will still have unpredictable ranges, but now because they are trying to be deceptive themselves and not because they play bad. Your opponents won't be so weak and passive, they will raise your standard c-bet, bluff you off your hand in tough spots and make sure they will get the most value from your second best hands. So, if you prefer all that above fish who happily donate you some of their stack with the most bizarre hands and suck out on you once in awhile, then by all means, move up to where they respect your raises. But at least follow proper bankroll management guidelines when doing so :-).
Bankroll management
Proper bankroll management should prevent you from losing your entire bankroll when results don't match up to how well you are playing due to variance. Bankroll management is therefore a very important aspect of any long term poker strategy. A couple of coolers followed by some bad beats can easily set you back a couple of buy-ins. Therefore, in no limit hold'em, you should have at least 20 buy-ins before you start playing at a certain level and you should especially move down in time when things aren't going so well (when you have around 14 buy-ins left). Also take a look at the article specifically about bankroll management for more detailed information about bankroll management and a helpful nano and micro stakes bankroll management scheme.
Other helpful tools for beating the micro stakes
Poker tracking software
Tracking software like Holdem Manager (HEM) will be very important, mainly for tracking your own play and improving your own game. Such software will be quite an investment for a nano or micro stakes player, but you can take a 15 day free trial period.
At the micro stakes you don't really need to track your opponents and make all your decisions at the table based on their calling and raising statistics in order to be a winner. It is important however, that you know your own statistics to be able to assess correctly whether you are playing too loose or too tight and what might be some other leaks to plug. Also playing back and reviewing hands that gave you trouble (or better: posting them on poker forums) will tremendously help you to improve your game.
If you decide to get Holdem Manager for free by playing and accumulating player points at a certain poker room (see the site of HEM for info on that), make sure you don't spoil your chances of getting rakeback at a poker room you might want to continue playing at for a long time!
An alternative for Holdem Manager would be PokerTracker3 (PT3).
Micro stakes rakeback
If you don't know what rake is or don't know what the impact of not having a rakeback deal at the micro stakes is when you could have when playing at a certain online poker room, then you can find more information by following the links.
In short: the rake you pay at an online poker room can add up to about 25-30 big blinds per 100 hands (bb/100), which is about twice that of a healthy win rate. If you would break even without rakeback at, for example, Full Tilt Poker, then with a 27% rakeback deal you would all of a sudden have a reasonable win rate. Not all poker rooms offer rakeback though, but that does not mean that you should not play at such a room. PokerStars for example does not offer rakeback. However, they take a lower amount of rake from the pot in the first place and that, in combination with their rewards program, makes PokerStars still cheaper to play at for 2nl, 5nl and 10nl players than Full Tilt Poker. (In other words: go play at PokerStars or make sure you get rakeback at mostly any other room).
Micro stakes poker strategy guide - conclusion
Beating the micro stakes, or preferably beating the majority of the micro stakes players, will be a matter of following a somewhat weak/tight poker strategy which revolves around getting great value from your biggest hands and slowing down in or even avoiding marginal situations. Such a micro stakes strategy leaves little room for slow playing and fancy plays. A tight starting hand selection, value betting and respecting raises are the key aspects, where your starting hand selection can become wider as you develop your post flop play. Bluffing also plays a role significant enough that the advice to not bluff at all would be misplaced. It has to be done well thought out, however, and will be mainly backed up by your momentum from an earlier street, a draw or the read that your opponent is ready to muck his hand at the slightest reach for chips (or the bet button for that matter) and should never have the intention to let your opponent fold a substantial hand.
If you are able to apply all the above consistently by preventing tilt from having a great negative influence on your game then you will eventually beat the micro stakes. If you keep improving your game with the help of tracking software and by reading a lot, if you protect your bankroll wisely and make sure you're paying as little rake as possible at your poker room of choice, then you might even be crushing the lower stakes before you know it.
Oh, and don't forget to let me know how it is at the nosebleed stakes if when you happen to eventually get to play there.
Further reading at First Time Poker Player:
Further reading across the internet:
- TwoPlusTwo - A complete guide to beating the micros
- TwoPlusTwo - How to beat the micros (2nl - 50nl)