Hello again. I decided to write about 7 cache leaks. It seems to me that it is very important to know and analyze, because this is a fairly large part of the profit.
The article (well, or fictionalism :)) will be written partly from the words of the same Verneer with cardrunners, partly from my personal experience.
7 major cache leaks ... Microlimits.
Leakage number 1. Playing too many hands.
- Accept the fact that you are not a PRO
- Most micro-stakes are not that good postflop, so by playing a narrower range of cards we limit the number of marginal situations we can find ourselves in and make our decisions easier postflop.
- You don't have to think too much about layered thinking and balance your starting hands.
Leakage number 2. Too frequent C-Betas.
- You've always been taught that C-betting is good, so you often bet regardless of flop texture, player type, and table conditions.
- Points to consider:
- How often does a person fall for C-bets?
- Are you in position or not?
- How straightforward or vice versa is your Opponent? Are they focusing on their hand or thinking about yours?
Leakage number 3. Passive play on the tour.
- C-betting the flop and then checking the turn is very weak / tight poker. Perhaps you play a lot of medium strength hands out of position, or you are afraid of monsters at the op.
- In most cases, you shouldn't strive to control your sweat. You should focus on drawing money (value) from your opponent's general range of cards.
- Try blocking bets, blocking raises and various other features from the poker arsenal.
- But there is no need to invent anything on the tour on purpose so as not to play passively. Play as standard on the card.
Leakage number 4. Calling 3-bets without a definite game plan in case the flop doesn't hit.
- Learn to fold some medium pocket pairs, suited connectors, dominated broadway cards (like JQ, J10, Q10, and possibly QK) to a normal 3-bet with 100bb stacks.
- When faced with min-3-bets from bad players with good stacks, colte with a much wider range, but play carefully.
- In general, you don't need to play a lot of 3-bet pots with most of the players at these limits.
Leakage number 5. Too loose out of position
- You don't have to play just because it's cheap.
- It is very difficult to play profitably out of position:
- It's hard to get the most out of your ready hands
- It's hard to hit with a good draw
- You will quite often react to your opponent's play instead of forcing your opponent to react to your play if you call a preflop raise.
- Even top pair or second strong pair will be hard to play out of position. Since the rally will be passive in most cases, this will give an aggressive op to squeeze vaz out of the hand or force you to make difficult decisions / guess.
Leak number 6. Poor understanding of positional play.
- In general, your VPIP, PFR and CCPF should gradually rise from UTG to Button.
- You have to play very tight in the blinds.
- Starting hands that should be played in a particular position can be found on the Internet or in one of my previous posts.
Leak number 7. Poor selection of tables.
- There are many tables on the Internet and it makes no sense to sit on tables that have an average pot lower than 20BB.
- Observe opponents as they play at the table
For example the whole table of nits. It is clear that we have nowhere to take money from. Or nits on the right, adequate tags on the left. Inconvenient table.
The selection of tables is so huge that you can always find a suitable one with some kind of fish on the right and a couple of nits on the left. Don't play hard tables.
Well ... perhaps like this. I won't edit it strongly, it would be better to give examples of course. Maybe someday I'll edit it and make a good full-fledged article.
The beginning of any year is a reason for most people to make new plans and come up with ways to implement them. When it comes to poker players, a lot of people want to finally break the micro-stakes and start winning some real money.
However, not everyone will be able to realize these plans. And the main thing that hinders most players is the lack of a consistent strategy for climbing the limits and the necessary willpower to clearly see the goal, despite all the difficulties that will inevitably be encountered on the way.
A clear plan for 2017
The most important condition for success in any area, including conquering micro-stakes, is having a well-thought-out plan. If you have it, in a year you can even rise from Nl2 to Nl100, given the likelihood of failure when trying to gain a foothold at the new limit.
By now, you've probably figured out that the foundation of a good plan here is sound bankroll management. You must determine for yourself when you are eligible to make a sortie to the limit above, and when you must descend back.
The standard “rule” for all micro-stakes players has been 30 buy-ins per limit for several years now. Thus, when you get to Nl100, you should have $ 3000. But keep in mind that this is the recommended minimum, and over-caution will always come in handy.
Most micro-stakes players will be much better off with at least 40 or even 50 buy-ins for the working limit. This way, you can easily tolerate the standard 10 buy-in downswings, and if the downswings hit 20 or more buy-ins, you won't have to go down the limit and spend much more time to restore your bankroll.
But no matter how many buy-ins you set aside for a working limit, when you go out to a higher limit, try not to risk more than 5 to 10 buy-ins of that limit. And remember, never jump the limits, even if you think you know poker. Such a rush will never be justified. Therefore, if you really crack these limits like nuts, do not hesitate to spend a week or two on the limit to gain even more confidence in your skill.
Discipline is our everything
One of the most costly mistakes of micro-stakes players, which, in fact, does not allow them to go higher, is the tendency to complicate things, for example, make ridiculous bluff check-raises for no reason, 4-bet nits that only 3-bet with the nuts. , tri-barreling a fish in hopes of squeezing out his middle pair, and so on. In the vast majority of cases, you will receive installer calls and get even more upset.
Hence, the most important condition for success in poker is iron discipline. All you need is a clear understanding that every hand in poker is a completely new event. Just because everyone is check-raising you during the session does not mean that they have conspired and are bluffing at you. It just means that these players do well against you, when, on the contrary, it goes very badly for you.
At the end of the day, you might break down and make a stupid bluff, but you yourself know where this leads to most of the time. In 9 out of 10 cases, they will call back without thinking, and you will be disappointed to look at the chips moving away to your opponent. Of course, 1 in 10 times you might get lucky and they fold, but you know that most of the time you will lose in the long run.
When most of the stack is at stake, most micro-stakes players are extremely passive and rarely decide to bluff. And even if they seem overly aggressive with a loose preflop and frequent continuation bets postflop, when a player of these limits pushes most of his stack into the middle of the table, it almost always suggests that he has a strong hand.
And this is where discipline saves, namely the ability to fold strong hands, even if it's an overpair. And the inexplicable desire to push it is not clear for what purpose it only leads to a complete regression, and not to the achievement of the goal. So in 2017, make it a rule and stop doing stupid bluffs.
Sometimes it can be unlucky for days or even weeks, and it can seem as if you are being exploited. Believe me, this is not the case. You must learn to stay calm in these situations and keep making good folds. Just stay disciplined at the limits, where most players will never be, and you will have a profit.
Tight-aggressive strategy still rules
Especially at micro stakes. In fact, it is the TAG strategy that is almost the main condition for success at these limits. So what is it? According to the TAG strategy, you:
- Play 15% of hands (full ring), 20% (6-max);
- Play 3x as many hands while in position;
- Against middle and late positions, 3bet 5% -8% of hands for value;
- Continue flop 60% -70% of the time, less often in multiways;
- Cbet the turn about 50% of the time, mostly for value and bluffing on scary cards;
- Occasionally play draws on the flop with a semi-bluff raise against particularly aggressive regulars
- Value bet the river a lot, especially against answering machines and recreational players;
- Don't bluff at answering machines and recreational players.
Most likely, all of the above will not be a discovery for you. Therefore, the only thing that remains for you is to try not to deviate from this strategy, no matter how bad things go. By following these simple tips, you will be tearing micro stakes to smithereens.
Just forget about all the "experimenting" of widening early opening ranges, even when you're on tilt or bored. Suppress the urge to bluff the reg-answering machine to please your ego. The key to being successful at micro stakes is the TAG strategy, and you must follow it consistently, no matter what the circumstances may be.
Do not lose heart
Even if you have counted all the ranges, this still does not guarantee you success in poker, since the main thing (as in all other areas of life) is self-confidence and patience when everything does not go the way you would like.
Most of the time, poker is terribly boring and you are slowly pouring in money. These protracted periods are replaced by very short upstreaks, when you are paid for literally every strong hand, the game becomes unrealistically dynamic, and you are rowing money with a shovel. Most people get so used to such small lucky periods that during periods of "average luck" they flood all their profits.
Remember that the game will not change for you. It is up to you to always adapt if you want to continue winning and making money with poker. This requires discipline, endurance and iron willpower. And if we consider poker as a job, then this is far from fun, which is why the game of poker is called grind.
It just so happens that this year sometimes you will lose for several weeks in a row, and this is absolutely normal. Perhaps you will even have a minus month or two or even three. No, there is no need to blame the twisted RNG, this is normal, and all professional poker players understand that at some point this will definitely happen. This is why smart bankroll management is so important, and when the inevitable 10-20 buy-in downstream hits you, you have no reason to worry or get all your winnings overwhelmed.
The only question is when this happens, will you complain to your friends about unfair poker like most players do, buy-in after buy-in on a hard tilt, or do what professional poker players do - stay disciplined or take a break if you feel like you're about to start tilting? And that's exactly what separates the pros from the rest of the players - they try to never let their emotions influence their decisions at the poker tables.
Conclusion
Poker is getting tougher every year, and micro stakes keep up with this trend. Therefore, in 2017, even here, one should not expect easy money. But there are people who continue to win, or at least play zero every year. And there are also 0.1% of players who simply break their limit. Therefore, if you have a clear plan for the year, you stick to a tight-aggressive strategy and work on discipline, you simply have no chance of failure.
Don't forget about working on the game. The best helper in this is Holdem Manager 2 which you can get for free via
In the poker community, ABC Poker refers to a standardized style of play that uses only basic strategy elements. A player who practices the ABC style does not understand Texas Hold'em well enough. Due to the lack of ABC experience, the poker player cannot make game decisions on his own, instead he uses speculation and advice from educational materials on the Internet.
At first glance, it may seem that the ABC poker strategy is very primitive and is not capable of generating long-term income, so it should be abandoned as soon as possible. The real picture looks different: the basic strategy is profitable at micro stakes, and there is no point in jumping a few steps higher until you have managed to confidently gain a foothold in the first. Every successful professional at the dawn of his career actively practiced ABC poker, without passing this stage, all further progress becomes impossible.
Why is it so important to learn ABC poker early on in the game? The fact is that this strategy allows you to minimize the number of expensive mistakes, which greatly reduce the win rate for novice players. A professional player strives to enter as many hands as possible and extract a positive EV from each, which entails frequent marginal spots with high variance. ABC poker player acts in a completely different way: he plays only those situations in which he has a significant advantage in equity. This strategy will not allow you to extract maximum value by exploiting weak players, but it will perfectly protect you from unnecessary “hacking” with regulars.
If you are interested in ABC poker strategy and want to start learning it, first of all you need to master the charts of starting hands. These tables will tell you which lines and with which hands to play preflop. Depending on where you are, the range of hands you can play can vary greatly. If from an early position at a 6-max table you can open about 20% of the range, then on the button this figure doubles, or even triples. Preflop is the foundation of Texas Hold'em, and the starting hand charts will help you lay it. It is worth sticking to ABC ranges until your experience allows you to independently choose spots for the execution of non-standard and difficult moves.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the ABC strategy?
The strategy for playing poker can be different, and at a very early stage, the player should strive to find the optimal game model. Before you start playing poker using ABC strategy, you should carefully read the strengths and weaknesses of this style. To give you the opportunity to get a big picture and make a decision, we have compiled the main advantages and disadvantages of playing ABC poker.
Advantages
Relatively easy to learn ... Depending on the discipline you choose, learning to play poker can be either difficult or very difficult. This rule does not apply to talented players and mathematicians, but even they will have to spend a lot of free time.
This is not to say that ABC poker is easy to learn, but in comparison with other strategies, this option is really easy. While for BSS you need to master the technique of triple barrel bluffing, and for MTT you need to study the features of the meta-game at the final table, ABC poker strategy will require you only to memorize the tables of starting hands and learn the algorithms for playing against the main types of players. And although this approach will take you n-th number of hours, you do not need to delve deeply into the mechanics of the game.
Protects from tilt ... Professional gamblers often fall out of their optimal emotional state due to the fact that they are not confident in their actions. A complex expensive distribution consists of a branched decision tree, and it is not always possible to get from point A to point B without errors. Players who practice ABC poker do not have such problems: the correctness of each decision can be checked on the Internet. Hands in which you have to give up the stack to your opponent are less negative because you know exactly what you played in the basic strategy.
Instills discipline ... Playing poker for money is associated with constant mood swings. Even an hour and a half ago, you could have been in the black by five buy-ins of your limit, but now you have not only lost all the profit, but also poured a couple of stacks from above. Such coincidences of events take place at the tables all the time, and because of this, many players consciously or unconsciously change their behavior patterns. ABC poker does not leave such a chance: the game algorithm is straightforward and clearly defined, disciplined adherence to it is the main guarantee of a successful career. The discipline that you acquire while playing ABC poker will save you tons of money by not allowing you to make impulsive rash "moves."
Great for micro stakes ... Many poker players start playing Texas Hold'em at NL2-NL5 limits and never get higher. Sometimes this is due to variance, sometimes it is due to the wrong bankroll management, but more often the reason lies in the wrong choice of strategy.
Some players play haphazardly, their actions are guided by speculation and emotional impulses. Other would-be poker players like to watch video games at high limits, and then mindlessly replay the actions from there at the tables. Let's state this moment as clearly as possible: micro-stakes are fought not with sophisticated bluffs, but with disciplined value play. ABC poker contains all the necessary tools and techniques that will reliably overcome the initial limits. There is no need to reinvent the wheel; instead, it is enough to listen to the voice of reason and the collective experience of the poker community.
Simple "retraining" ... ABC poker strategy is the starting point that every beginner player strives to achieve. Once this bar is reached, every poker player is free to look for his own path of development. The foundation that an ABC game lays will be useful in BSS, MTT, and SnG strategy. Switching to a different game model will not cause any significant controversy; instead, you will need to expand the decision tree and learn how to organically adapt to the faces of your opponents.
Flaws
Teaches you to play "on the machine" ... You don't need to think a lot to play on the ABC strategy, because you can follow the algorithm without too much thought. Considering that most poker players prefer active multi-tabling, after a few days your game turns into a continuous stream of identical actions.
At micro stakes, this tendency is more useful than harmful, since it allows you to save internal resources and roll back longer distances. Problems will start at higher stakes, when the habit of making automatic decisions prevents you from thinking deeply about the hand. Whatever one may say, it will be necessary to reconfigure your brains: at medium stakes, thoughtless distributions do not bring money.
The exploitation of opponents is very limited ... ABC Poker offers a universal strategy that applies to almost all players. Of course, there is still a certain segmentation: playing against a regular is not at all the same as playing against a maniac or a telephone. However, this is not enough to maximize EV: in a situation where a professional will peer into statistical calculations for a long time in order to find the opponent's weaknesses, the ABC player will simply press one of three buttons depending on the hand and cards on the board. The same applies to bet sizing: if a pro can overbet against a fish all-in and collect maximum value, then for a poker player with a basic strategy, the overbet will be ¾ of the pot.
Easy to adjust ... ABC poker strategy is very vulnerable because it focuses on "fair" play with strong hands. The player's ABC ranges are strongly biased towards value, as there are very few bluffs in his range. The same applies to bluff-catcher hands and call-down lines, all of which are almost never used in the basic strategy.
It is almost easier for an experienced regular to play against an ABC player than against a “fish”: his range is visible through and through, and in most hands it can be squeezed out safely and painlessly. Fortunately, there are practically no such players at micro stakes, so at NL2-NL5 ABC poker can bring a stable win rate.
Playing without creativity is boring ... A regular player spends a significant part of his free time at the tables, and spending it on robotic pressing of three buttons is quite annoying. Texas Hold'em is interesting because it leaves room for creativity. Of course, the correct execution of moves requires a lot of experience behind your back, but playing without them may seem pretty boring to many.
What are the most effective ABC poker techniques at the tables?
ABC Poker does not offer many tools that you can use to make a difference. In order not to miss such an opportunity, you should carefully study the game techniques described below. Mastering these tools will allow you not only to master ABC poker, but also to prepare your mind for more complex game models.
- Stealing the blinds - A huge part of poker winrate is done in late position. It is necessary to play through the steal on the BTN and SB positions on a wide range, because often the distribution can be finished already preflop. If any of your opponents 3-bet, only resist with strong hands - ABC poker doesn't require you to be able to 4-bet bluff.
- Continuation rate - When playing ABC poker, the strategy does not require a large number of bluffs in the range. The Continuation Bet, which you can bet on the flop as a preflop aggressor, is just about the only bluff available. At micro stakes, people often hit the pot preflop with a marginal hand and then fold, failing to catch the board. If you see a 6-3-J flop with AK, don't be discouraged: in most cases, betting ⅔ of the pot will win the hand.
- Collect value - the ability to collect value from the players is the basis of the whole ABC poker strategy. This should be done with large bets with strong made hands. Most often, top pair and higher can be considered as such, but it all depends on the dynamics of the board. The greatest value is done in the hand with weak players who are nicknamed "telephones" or "answering machines": they pull the most garbage hands to showdown, so bets against them should be made larger and on a wider range.
- Push / fold play - this aspect of ABC poker will come in handy when playing in multi-table and single-table tournaments. Once you have less than 13 big blinds in your stack, you can no longer play the raise-fold line. The only way to regain the stack size is to go all-in and take the blinds and antes through fold equity. Learning to play push-fold is pretty easy, you just need to learn the ranges for different stacks and positions.
Poker is a game where any player can win money. However, one-time success is only a favorable combination of circumstances, and a completely different thing is positive results in the long term. You can't just sit down at any table and start lifting. Any professional will tell you that only by starting from the very bottom, you can count on a profit in the future. Micro-limits are the first, necessary step on the way to victories and stable income.
I don’t want to be unfounded. Why should you start with small stakes games? Firstly, this way you do not risk big money. You can consider yourself a talented player who can fight both at medium and even at high limits, but as soon as you drain a decent bankroll, poker immediately turns into a hated game, and your favorite game client will irrevocably fly away into the basket. And even if this does not take away your confidence in your own abilities, you will hardly dare to re-invest in an activity that once brought you disappointment. It is easier to part with little money, but you can play it more boldly, without limiting your potential with constant excitement and fear of losing a lot.
The second reason is that the level of playing at micro-stakes is much lower than in more expensive poker, and it is easier to master it. The knowledge that you acquire in such a game will be a great help for you on the way to new heights. However, here you will have to sing a lot to start winning, because thousands of other players are hungry for victories with you. What rules should be followed to beat the micro stakes?
The main thing for any beginner is not to rush into the abyss of excitement, but to follow a careful strategy, which implies playing only when the collected hand looks the strongest at the table. In poker, this is called playing tight. Imagine the situation: your pocket top pair on the flop is beaten by your opponent's worst pocket. If you managed to "read" it, do not hesitate for a second - fold your cards and save money, and in the future your foresight will pay off handsomely. Remember - good cards come with the same frequency to all players, and your task is to guess the moment when exactly you will receive the strongest combination at the table and will be able to raise it.
Care should be taken when choosing starting hands. Do not be surprised, but often you will have to fold one card after another. Try to get into the game at micro stakes when it won't cost you a lot of money and when your hand is really promising - aces, kings, queens, high suited connectors. This will avoid tough decisions on the flop. If it seems to you not scary to once again make a small bet in the pot, counting on the fact that your weak hand will improve to a winning one by the river - you should know that such actions lead to big losses. Before you know it, there are only a few blinds in your stack.
Sometimes it makes sense to hit the flop or showdown with a weaker hand — for example, middle and low pairs, middle and low suited connectors, and even a top card with a weak kicker. However, the strength of these hands will largely depend on the cards on the table and your position. The extreme left positions from the button and the button itself are considered the strongest positions, because in them you will be the last to move. The bets of the opponents in front of you will give you useful information about the strength of their hands.
Before getting involved in a fight, assess the capabilities of your bankroll and how justified the size of your bet will be in a particular situation. Sometimes it will be correct to fold a set of aces if you are not sure of their victory, and the opponent is asking for too high a fee. Perhaps, however, the risk in this case often leads to disasters. Remember - micro-stakes players do not like to bluff, and moreover, they themselves tend to suspect each and every one of cunning. That is why, in most cases, a bet from an opponent means that he does have a strong hand. Learn to part with the dream of the bank on time, because otherwise you will lose more than you win.
Poker is an intellectual game, never forget about it. In it, you cannot blindly rely on luck, and your every decision should arise as a result of deep mental reflection. Only the one who thinks with his head wins money!
Once you've mastered micro-stakes, you can get higher and start playing more expensive games, expand your range of hands and learn how to open up opponents' bluffs.
Micro-limits are a type of online poker with a betting range from 1/2 cents to 10/20. Due to the small size of the stack, the game at this limit is looser than, for example, at the $ 1 / $ 2 level.
On the Internet, you can often see a statement that it is impossible to win at micro stakes. They are based on the fact that many micro-stakes players too often rely on luck and constantly enter the game in the hope of drawing their draws. This calculation is not luck, allegedly, does not give the opportunity to win good players at this limit.
Just like the first statement is true, the second is false. If there are a lot of players on micro stakes who are betting on their draws with bad pot odds and an incomplete hand, why can't you beat them at this level? Below are some important notes that you should definitely read before you next sit down at the table.
1. Don't try to outplay your opponents
When you sit down at a table, you may be in the happy delusion that you are the best player at the table. However, overconfidence at micro stakes quickly leads to disastrous results. If you try to portray a set and lose to an opponent with top pair, then you will have no one to blame but yourself. Remember that you are not playing to win every particular draw, but to earn money by playing poker.
2. Micro-stakes players love to hunt
You can expect micro-stakes players to have little understanding of poker. For example, if you are betting on the size of the pot and your opponent calls, you might assume that he is "hunting" flush and straight draws and is unfamiliar with the concept of pot odds. Remember, if your opponent calls you with bad pot odds in hopes of catching a draw, then this is very good for you, because mistakes like this will be profitable for you in the long run. It should also be remembered that when playing with multiple opponents, the bet must be so high as to make the pot odds bad for each opponent.
3. Sit down at the table with the maximum buy-in and don't be afraid to lose it
Due to the looser behavior of the players at micro stakes, you can count on opponents at the table calling all-in with any made hand and any draw. If you sit down at the table with the maximum pot, then you significantly increase your chances of a good profit. Remember that situations in which you have the 100% best hand on the flop are not that common, and if this happens, then don't be afraid to put your entire stack into the pot.
4. Don't teach your opponents to play.
After a terrible bet beat from a very weak player, the first thing you want to do is speak up about how bad he played. Do not hurry. You want him to answer the set you assembled next time with only a gutshot in his hands? You don't have to worry about losing this particular hand. Leave the player in the dark and let him play just as bad the next hand.
5. Bet with good hands and fold bad.
This is one of the simplest poker strategies and works great at micro stakes. You don't have to be too clever to win, if you have a good hand, bet, and a bad hand, fold. Do not be afraid to scare away other players with your bet, in most cases they will call you with any hand.
6. Beware of Raises
At micro stakes, players rarely raise preflop without having a good hand. Most players have a plan where they want to see almost every flop, build a strong hand, and bet big to make a lot of money at once. Your opponents will not think about what is in your hands, they play the game relying only on the strength of their own hand. This is why they call a small raise with a small pocket pair on the flop. If a player raises preflop and then bets on every street, then take this with due attention, it is quite possible that he has a really good hand.
7. Don't bluff
This point is very similar to the first one, because bluffing is one of the ways to outplay an opponent. Remember that most players will want to see the flop and therefore bluffing will not be effective. Opponents will call with any sawed hand and are unlikely to be able to take the pot.
8. Don't worry about your image.
If you're only playing premium hands and only betting the best of them, then don't worry about your opponents adjusting to your play. Micro-stakes players tartly pay attention to the play of their opponents. Therefore, you don't have to worry about diversifying your game.
As you can see, playing at micro stakes is not much different from others. If you learn the basics of poker, you can easily beat this limit, of course, if you play with concentration and calmness. You can make this game at micro-stakes profitable by playing at several tables at the same time, especially since you don't need to pay much attention to observing your opponents. Play simple poker, follow the tips above and you will conquer the micro-stakes!
