Buying a card.. low stakes ($2NL)

[Hal]

Something I've been experimenting with recently when on a draw and in EP is "buying" a card.. putting in a min bid - 2-4cents ..

Most players when they have a strong hand seem to be happy to let others do the betting for them and slow play to the river where they then try to make their money etc.. The small bets are often enough to keep people interested enough and to *not* bother reraising you and putting you on bad pot odds (and often keeps the draws much cheaper in general - while building a modest pot).

Has anyone else experimented with this - especially at these stakes (I know it's *highly* unlikely to work @ higher levels)

[swiggidy]

If this works that's fine, but it could develop a bad habit. Because by "higher stakes" you mean 10NL which you should be able to reach fairly quickly.

From my experience people suck terrible at value betting so I would just check call. Especially if you can bet the pot on the river with the nuts and get called. What I do like doing is raising from late position, then they auto-check to you on the turn and you can check behind, thus your raise on the flop buys you a free card on the turn (which is a play that's been around since poker was first played)

[bjsaust]

I tend to think people slowplay WAY too much at micro-limits.

That aside, I generally think 2 options when I see a min-bet (or 2x min bet) from EP. Thats either 'I have nothing, but the pots small so if you dont either how about letting me have it', or 'I'm on a draw, so lets put a little money in so I get more if I hit'. Perhaps the thinking on the 2nd one is like yours and to avoid running into a proper raise, but I suspect you've thought it through more than most.

Now if I actually have something, you're not getting away with a mini-bet on flop or turn. If I have say TPTK, then you're getting hit with a pot size raise. If you call that, then perhaps you have something, or you really value your draw so I watch the next card(s) closely (most people at micro limits have no concept of drawing odds).

Yes sometimes they are slowplaying an overpair or set, but balanced out more often or not its a sign of a weak hand.

As to your plan, it will probably work most times. The question is does it work enough to be better than a check/call approach? As mentioned above, people LOVE to slowplay at these levels, so even if someone has a hand, a lot of time they're not betting if you check anyway. They 'dont want to scare away bettors'. If anything I'd have expected people with made hands to raise you, where they might otherwise have checked.

I guess keep a track of it, and see how often you get callers and hit your flush, and how often you get hit with a raise, then compare that to a c/c approach.

Out of interest, by 2NL, you mean the 0.01/0.02 NL games on Stars? I refer to them as 5NL, because $5 is the max buy in. Do I have the terminology wrong?

[swiggidy]

Out of interest, by 2NL, you mean the 0.01/0.02 NL games on Stars? I refer to them as 5NL, because $5 is the max buy in. Do I have the terminology wrong?

While the buy-in is $5, the standard terminology would refer to this at 2NL because that's 100 times the big blind.

At Absolute poker you can buy in for 200bb at any table. It would be confusing to consider 0.5/1 blinds as 200NL.

[bjsaust]

Cool, thankyou.

[Chopper]

my .02?

at the micros under 10 NL, OVERBET THE POT when you are NOT drawing. these idiots that play down here dont respect the nickels they are throwing away by chasing their draws.

imo, check-call with any 3rd nut draw, and overbet the hands you want to protect against the chasers.

you will win at a huge rate down low!!

ps, if you want to get crazy (and can handle a bit more variance), just barely take away the odds to the OE str8s and flush draws...they will call willingly, and DONT PAYOFF WHEN THEY HIT! when they miss, value bet the river about 1/3 - 1/2 the pot, and watch them call with their junk.

[swiggidy]

ps, if you want to get crazy (and can handle a bit more variance), just barely take away the odds to the OE str8s and flush draws...they will call willingly, and DONT PAYOFF WHEN THEY HIT! when they miss, value bet the river about 1/3 - 1/2 the pot, and watch them call with their junk.

Why barely offer odds when they will call a much higher bet? In an optimal sense it works, but why not offer them 2:1 instead of 3.9:1 profit that much more? Additionally, if they make a stupid weak "value bet" when they complete you can call and you're still winning sklansky bucks.

[Chopper]

tru, swiggs, but i find that when you pot the drawish boards, you dont get the chasers you do when you bet lighter. meaning, if you bet lighter different players will "become chasers." and you bring the fish out of the tables you're on.

i'm not articulating this very well, but i only bet psb's into very passive/callstation tables anymore. most of my betting, at these stakes, is of the value-type 1/2-2/3 pot bets. still busts off odds to draw (most times), but tends to bring along different people instead of the obvious donkeys.

hopefully, not in the same hand, though, because then you are actually giving odds to the 2nd and 3rd callers.