How to Be Successful at Micro and Low Stakes NLHE: A Guide

[spoonitnow]

The basic rules governing what I think is a sure-fire way to be successful at micro stakes and low stakes are as follows.

First, you need to just get to the point that if you're feeling well and playing well that you can beat some game whether it's 2nl or 25nl. It doesn't have to be crushing it, but just some +EV.

Second, split your poker time between playing when you're feeling well and studying when you're not. This way, you're making the most money during the time set aside for playing, and you're not losing money during the times you don't feel well or are tilting. Also, you should be studying at the very least 25% of the time you have set aside for poker.

Third, if you're not playing to pay the bills, you should move up when you have done both of the following: A) 30 buy-ins for the next level, and B) Have at least 50k hands at a decent win-rate at your current level. I define a decent win-rate as 3 ptbb/100 up until 25nl, and 2 ptbb/100 at 50nl and above. The corollary to which is that you move back down when you have 40 buy-ins for the level below. Example: You're at 50nl and get down to $1000, you should move back down to 25nl.

Fourth, I would suggest that people avoid playing more than 6 tables of full ring or 4 tables of 6-max until they have 20k hands at a decent win-rate at the level they want to multi-table, and even then be careful to notice how adding more tables affects their win-rate, play and focus over the next 10-15k hands.

[Stacks]

Spoon you are the shit!!!


+1???

[aka_red]

How to Be Sucessful at Micro and Low Stakes NLHE: Get Dealt in.

[spoonitnow]

How to Be Sucessful at Micro and Low Stakes NLHE: Get Dealt in.

This isn't far from the truth, but that's because people like you have the right make-up to be successful at anything you do because you follow a pattern of approach to new things that allows you to cultivate skill. The above is a layout for people to follow who don't have this skill set.

How to Be Sucessful at Micro and Low Stakes NLHE: Get Dealt in.

Hammer, meet nail. But seriously, I don't know why so many people have trouble with micro-stakes games. It's imperative to play as tight as a Jewish banker, unless you want high variance, which I assume most players at these levels can't handle.

Any decent poker player should be CRUSHING the micro-stakes. The main reasons why people aren't is that they (a) play too many hands, and therefore don't know how to play them post-flop; and (b) they don't open-raise nearly enough, hence too much limping or min-raising.

Play super-tight pre-flop. When you get a hand - raise, raise, raise. If you can't raise, fold (unless implied odds warrants a call). If you're ahead on the flop, BET, don't slow-play. If you missed the flop, C-BET if the situation calls for it. Don't be the passive player at the table - be the aggressor!

Nothin' but ABC poker here...

And everything in the OP I wholeheartedly agree with.

[GatorJH]

How to Be Sucessful at Micro and Low Stakes NLHE: Get Dealt in.

Hammer, meet nail. But seriously, I don't know why so many people have trouble with micro-stakes games. It's imperative to play as tight as a Jewish banker, unless you want high variance, which I assume most players at these levels can't handle.

Any decent poker player should be CRUSHING the micro-stakes. The main reasons why people aren't is that they (a) play too many hands, and therefore don't know how to play them post-flop; and (b) they don't open-raise nearly enough, hence too much limping or min-raising.

Play super-tight pre-flop. When you get a hand - raise, raise, raise. If you can't raise, fold (unless implied odds warrants a call). If you're ahead on the flop, BET, don't slow-play. If you missed the flop, C-BET if the situation calls for it. Don't be the passive player at the table - be the aggressor!

Nothin' but ABC poker here...

And everything in the OP I wholeheartedly agree with.

There's a LOT to be said about this as well as Spoon's advice.

Good stuff guys.

[spoonitnow]

People who would [should] take this to heart and follow it 100% are the people who aren't crushing anything but their free time.

[Str8Beastin]

good advice, thankyou

[oskar]

The two most common mistakes I see at microstakes are:
Not betting, or not betting enough when you have a hand.
Thinking that everyone is bluffing, and not realizing that you can't even beat a bluff.

But it's not that easy. There's so much you can do wrong, and all the little mistakes add up.

[spoonitnow]

The two most common mistakes I see at microstakes are:
Not betting, or not betting enough when you have a hand.
Thinking that everyone is bluffing, and not realizing that you can't even beat a bluff.

But it's not that easy. There's so much you can do wrong, and all the little mistakes add up.

Take your spammer bullshit out of my thread.

[oskar]

A little bit cranky today, are we?

[daven]

Fourth, I would suggest that people avoid playing more than 6 tables of full ring or 4 tables of 6-max until they have 20k hands at a decent win-rate at the level they want to multi-table, and even then be careful to notice how adding more tables affects their win-rate, play and focus over the next 10-15k hands.

trying to figure this out. I recently moved up a level, and boosted up to 12-tabling during the first few hands. Trying to figure out whether this made/makes sense. Further comments welcome!

Do you think that dropping below the number of tables that you played beating the previous level is essential? I think that it isn't essential
(vs rakeback/bonuses), but is likely ++++EV in the long term.

[ZwiFT]

Add aggression factor to your hud, if its 1. fold your fucking top pair top kicker to a reraise

[oskar]

Am I the last person on earth who doesn't use any additional software? Isn't part of the game remembering what the action was... Is this even legal?

[keepitstrict]

Am I the last person on earth who doesn't use any additional software? Isn't part of the game remembering what the action was... Is this even legal?

LOL

[aka_red]

Am I the last person on earth who doesn't use any additional software? Isn't part of the game remembering what the action was... Is this even legal?

TROLL.

[oskar]

I am not trolling, I am genuinely surprised with all the helper software talk going on on this forum. I kind of doubt that the user agreement of the most popular poker sites allows software that shows you a statistic of each and every player at the table, or suggests to you when to fold and when to bet. This should give a huge edge - especially to bad players or when multi-tabling.

Now I'm a spammer for adding to the thread, and a troll for disagreeing with "make $$$ online" - software?

[aka_red]

...................................OMFG
..........................DO YOUR FUCKIN
...............................HOMEWORK
...........................YOU POKER TROLL.
http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/room/prohibited/

[oskar]

What is a poker troll?
You have caps-lock enabled by the way.

[keepitstrict]

What is a poker troll?
You have caps-lock enabled by the way.

Are you trying to be annoying....or?

[ZwiFT]

ofcourse its allowed oskar.. it doesnt give you any other information than what you already have.. just makes it easier to read. And its essential for online multitablers

[Stacks]

It's allowed, and we aren't talking about a program that says "Bet $5 now. Check/Raise here!". We are refering to a program that tracks the hand histories you are involved in. It then turns that HH into alot of useful information.

[mrhappy333]

HEY,HEY,HEY, lets be nice to the noobs untill they prove they are a troller.

[MuckEm]

The two most common mistakes I see at microstakes are:
Not betting, or not betting enough when you have a hand.
Thinking that everyone is bluffing, and not realizing that you can't even beat a bluff.

But it's not that easy. There's so much you can do wrong, and all the little mistakes add up.

Take your spammer bullshit out of my thread.

Hey guys whats going on.... I don't mean to offend anyone by asking this.... but what do you mean by "spammer"... it appears to me as an outsider looking in to this thread that he is making a valid statement that people aren't betting enough when they have a hand? Maybe I am misinterpreting what he is saying though?

[oskar]

If it's legal, well go ahead. I did not know that it was common practice to use stuff like that. I would certainly feel like cheating if I used them. It's hard to keep track of how every player on a full ring table plays, and I think it's part of the game to figure that out yourself.

[ZwiFT]

If it's legal, well go ahead. I did not know that it was common practice to use stuff like that. I would certainly feel like cheating if I used them. It's hard to keep track of how every player on a full ring table plays, and I think it's part of the game to figure that out yourself.

your wrong, online game is all about beeing able to smoke weed, use msn, internet explorer, phone and all the other crazy shit and still be able to pwn trollz and take their moneys whilst using a software to help you. Itz all about stealing the moneys and buy more weed

pease out

[oskar]

Oh, the glamorous world of the proz!
You learn something new every day.

[Stacks]

Honestly oskar, using software such as PT3 or PAHUD is legal for most sites (not sure if it's illegal for any). And the reason people use it is because online you are lacking some information that is otherwise available in a live game. All the information is available if you were to go back through your HH and write the stuff down and do the math yourself. The program just does it for you then presents it on screen in the form of numbers. That still doesn't mean you will pwn poker online if you use it. You still have to learn how to interpret the information, and still combine them with any other reads/information you have on the villian.

[spoonitnow]

The two most common mistakes I see at microstakes are:
Not betting, or not betting enough when you have a hand.
Thinking that everyone is bluffing, and not realizing that you can't even beat a bluff.

But it's not that easy. There's so much you can do wrong, and all the little mistakes add up.

Take your spammer bullshit out of my thread.

Hey guys whats going on.... I don't mean to offend anyone by asking this.... but what do you mean by "spammer"... it appears to me as an outsider looking in to this thread that he is making a valid statement that people aren't betting enough when they have a hand? Maybe I am misinterpreting what he is saying though?

9/10 times someone who posts something seemingly off topic in a thread with just a few posts is a spammer getting their first X number of posts in before they can post links.

He was the 1/10.

[Monty3038]

Honestly oskar, using software such as PT3 or PAHUD is illegal for most sites (not sure if it's illegal for any). And the reason people use it is because online you are lacking some information that is otherwise available in a live game. All the information is available if you were to go back through your HH and write the stuff down and do the math yourself. The program just does it for you then presents it on screen in the form of numbers. That still doesn't mean you will pwn poker online if you use it. You still have to learn how to interpret the information, and still combine them with any other reads/information you have on the villian.

Stacks has an incredibly valid point here.

My recommendation is to avoid HUDs at all until you are very comfortable in your game, then add them in as another tool. I played for nearly 6 months before adding the HUD, and even now I only look at it on borderline decisions, mainly to establish what I think they are playing as (noob, tight, loose, maniac, etc.) and only let that make maybe a slight difference in my decision on a hand.

Of course, I'm not a pro or a big winner at this point, so take that as you will.

[sarbox68]

If it's legal, well go ahead. I did not know that it was common practice to use stuff like that. I would certainly feel like cheating if I used them. It's hard to keep track of how every player on a full ring table plays, and I think it's part of the game to figure that out yourself.

As soon as I finish my bot, I plan on getting rid of all that tracking hud software too.....

[NovusImage]

Awesome post. It is valuable information like this that makes FTR a pleasure to be a part of!

[jyms]

But it's not that easy. There's so much you can do wrong, and all the little mistakes add up.

The problem started with This quote. Spoonitnow spends a lot of time trying to show Noobs/beginners that it is very easy to beat the Micro stakes, and it is. Bringing in the negative talk about so much that can be done wrong is the wrong message we try to convey to someone when trying to teach them to beat bad players.

And yes everyone that plays at $25NL and under are bad players, and if they are not, they won't be there for more than about 5K hands, so they don't matter.

As for Huds, they are absolutely necessary. Only the gifted could 6+ table, and remember who the nits/laggs and bad players are and play well against them. Huds are an online poker tool, as is multitabling, AHK scripts and things like hand history posting sites. Real life poker has one table, 9 other players and a ton of time to watch and see. IF you play poker to win or just get better, you need PT or HM, and the Hud doesn't hurt. Huds don't hamper your growth, how you use them and how you go about growing will hamper your growth if done improperly.

[kfaess]

Hammer, meet nail. But seriously, I don't know why so many people have trouble with micro-stakes games. It's imperative to play as tight as a Jewish banker ...

lol

[wellrounded08]

Great thread, aside from the disturbance...
The replies are what helped me the most, Reminding me to play tight, I have been wondering lately cuz I wasn't sure If I was too easy'a read. When I get dealt rags for 30 minutes then all of the sudden AA, I bet and no callers, it can get annoying and make me want to change my style, but I'm staying profitable staying tight, so thanks.

[spoonitnow]

Great thread, aside from the disturbance...
The replies are what helped me the most, Reminding me to play tight, I have been wondering lately cuz I wasn't sure If I was too easy'a read. When I get dealt rags for 30 minutes then all of the sudden AA, I bet and no callers, it can get annoying and make me want to change my style, but I'm staying profitable staying tight, so thanks.

Wat.

[wellrounded08]

Wat.

I don't know how to respond to that really, I was just say'n thanks, I'm new and when I get a tight table image, it's easy to try to loosen up. But as said:

It's imperative to play as tight as a Jewish banker

[spoonitnow]

Wat.

I don't know how to respond to that really, I was just say'n thanks, I'm new and when I get a tight table image, it's easy to try to loosen up. But as said:

It's imperative to play as tight as a Jewish banker

Gotcha.

Good luck.