BooK

[JayUk]

Basically i play on pokerstars on the 0.01/0.02 games and just been breaking even,just want to know what book could help improve my game,or if someone wants to give me advice

[JeffreyGB]

We'll be more than happy to give you advice on specific questions. For more than that you're probably best served to just pour through other threads and see what everyone else asks and is told.

As far as books go, two that I'd recommend are Small Stakes Hold'em by David Sklansky (it's about limit but many of the concepts carry over) and Harrington on Hold'em by Dan Harrington.

- Jeffrey

[JayUk]

cheers mate

Because it micro limits i've found out people will play with anything with a face card so its hard to put them on certain and also i notice people will chase cards too.So because of this is it worth betting big on the flop when i've hit something too see whose got cards and maybe take the pot.And also what kind of cards shold i play, when ever i have good cards like AQ,AJ etc. they neva hit and and some else hits.Any advice will be welcome

[bigred]

I think you have the right idea by only playing good cards with these wild microlimit players. I would however advise you to play even tighter and rarely bluff. You can't bluff an idiot and a lot of people at these limits are idiots. Wait for good starting hands and bet them when you land good hands. I think your best weapon will be pocket pair sets as some guy will call your bets with a Q4o which landed a queen to the river. Wait for the hands on these tables and you will be a winning player. It may not be as exciting trying to bliff/be aggressive even when you miss but it will be the most profitable with LAGG players.

[hankr]

Lessons I've learned (am learning) at these tables after 1 month...

1. You must bet your strong hands even MORE aggresively than suggested here (for higher-stakes games). DO NOT SLOW-PLAY STRONG HANDS! Opponents have no concept of Pot Odds, they will chase you and sometimes draw out.... you gotta make it extra expensive for them to do so. You'll get "rivered" regularly... learn to deal with it. Take comfort in making the right bets, even if you end up losing any one hand.

2. Alternatively, those 2-cent bets after the flop and turn let you see more cards for cheap. Don't quickly dismiss that Inside Straight draw after the flop if there is 20 cents in the pot and they let you look at another card for 2 cents. Especially if you have an overcard or two.

3. Most players at this level are pretty mechanical... they play to a (tight/loose) pattern and can usually be counted to follow that pattern. Study prior hand histories if you've folded early, especially to get a read on the more aggressive / wealthy opponents.

4. Following the starting-hand advice here pretty closely, I have been winning consistently, but not not huge amounts. I have found slightly more success playing a little looser, but at the flop:
LOOK FOR REASONS TO FOLD, not reasons to stay in... looser pre-flop play requires even more fold-discipline after the flop.

5. Where I have loosened to see more flops (for cheap) is mid-range suited connectors (5 thru 9). If the flop doesn't help them, it is an obvious fold. If you get help, you may have a big hand. And note that if you pull 2 pair, you're a big favorite.... many who have come in are playing cards larger than Tens and are still unpaired. I still fold the Ax and Kx hands... poor kickers are KILLERS cuz you fall in love with your second-best hand after pairing the big card.

6. People FALL IN LOVE with pocket pairs. They'll bet their un-improved Pocket 8s right to the river with 2 or even 3 overcards. Watch players who do this... they're your meal ticket. Low pocket pairs are fun, but if you don't get a set at the flop, fold 'em unless you can get to the turn VERY cheap or the pot is large.

7. READ THE BOARD... early-on I fixated on my own hand instead of analyzing what others might have with that board. If an opponent has been limping to the river, which now provides a straight-possibility, and then he bets big... he likely caught (factor his tight/loose behavior from prior hands). If he's been making bets all along, he's probably not playing the straight.

I'm just learning myself, so others may have contrary thoughts, and their views are almost certainly more informed than mine. But this is where I am with my 1-2 cent NL game.

[JayUk]

Thanks for the helps, i'm up $3 now wooo not alot but its a start, thank you again

[aokrongly]

...

[hankr]

aokrongly...
Your points about my suggested (looser) deviations from accepted strategies are cautionary... When/if I move up in stakes I must guard against having "trained" myself to be too loose.

But at the micro-limit games, I just see so many unbelievably terrible calls (pot-sized and all-ins) that I want a bigger piece of 'em.

In a month of playing maybe 2 hous a day, I've tripled my stake (turned $15 into $45) at 1-2 cent. I probably win 2 sessions for each one I lose, and my winning sessions are bigger than my losing.

My target is $75 (quintupling my stake); when / if I reach it, I'll move up to nickel-dime. More success, I'll go to quarter-half, etc.

I certainly don't do this for the money... it is the challenge of "the game". I would take great pride in a year or two taking a $15 buy-in to where I'm comfortably and competently playing in the dollar games. But even Hall-of-Famers started out in the Florida Rookie League.

[hankr]

I would also note I have purposely avoided reading any books or looking at any Hand Charts up to now. Only in the past couple days did I find this site and read the essays; my first reading about the game. But now, I've just ordered 2 Sklansky books I should receive them this weekend.

I did this purposely in order to establish something of a personal "baseline" approach to the game simply on "gut" (what I think I know).

I don't believe for a minute that my gut is better than Sklansky's brain. But I felt that "proper" instruction would make MUCH more sense to me if I had my own existing baseline approach to compare "proper play" to. Moving from "what I think I know" to "the way it is" should come more-easily.

Maybe an odd approach, but it worked for me quite well 25 years ago in BlackJack.

[Waggho]

My target is $75 (quintupling my stake); when / if I reach it, I'll move up to nickel-dime. More success, I'll go to quarter-half, etc.

I certainly don't do this for the money... it is the challenge of "the game". I would take great pride in a year or two taking a $15 buy-in to where I'm comfortably and competently playing in the dollar games. But even Hall-of-Famers started out in the Florida Rookie League.

You will be there sooner than you know.