Advanced Poker Strategy Articles
"If I know something you don't
know-I take your money."-Sklansky
Building
Your Bankroll in Micro-Limit Play
With
the lowering of minimum deposits and the addition of tables at
stakes lower
than 1/2 on most online poker sites, micro
play has really come into its own.
A lot of
smart, decent players have recognized that micro-games can
actually be
very lucrative. The competition is
softer, the risks are lower, and multi-tabling offers
the
flexibility to play for more if that is what is desired.
However, anywhere in poker
where this kind of
recognition has taken place, good players will move in to take
their
share of the profits. In fact, down to about .25/.50
Limit, you will find regulars
who multi-table for
profits. Nevertheless, micro-limit play remains one of the
potentially
most lucrative spots in poker, and especially appealing to those
who are
looking to build their bankroll to support
larger stakes down the line.
In poker there are
certain things you can't get around-numbers don't lie.
Anywhere
that you see call/flop percentages at 55% on a
full six player table, you know that
there are profits
to be made. That number at a fully seated six player table
should
be at about 30%. That means that at a
table showing 55%, players are calling almost
twice as
many flops as they should. A table like that hardly
requires any advanced
thinking at all to beat, profits
can be made with your basic tight-aggressive skills. But
throw
some advanced analysis and strategy into the mix, and you have a
recipe for
doing very well indeed. So here I am
going to sketch out some basic scenarios which
you are
likely to encounter at a loose six player micro-limit table
which should completely
enhance your ability to make
money, and build the bankroll of your dreams.
Although
as I mentioned earlier you are going to find some decent ringers
at micro-limit
games, they are still the exception
rather than the rule. Maybe 1 in 4 is a regular
player
with a real sense of what they are doing. After a time you will
get to recognize
these players and adjust your strategy
accordingly. The rest are going to break down
into a
few different types, which are exploitable due to their inferior
styles of play.
1)Mousey: Mousey players are more
common at stakes of .10/.20 than they are at
stakes of
.25/.50 or higher. These are for the most part newer
players. For my
money mousey players are the
easiest to beat, because they are so easily intimidated
by
aggression. A pre-flop raise scares them to death, and if
they have to nerve to
call, they need to hit a flop
really well in order to hang in with your continuation bets.
Statistically
it is improbable to hit a flop at any time, of course, and so
this yields profits
with an aggressive strategy.
You can exert a ton of control over a table full of mousey
players,
and make quick profits. Raises can be made from any
position with hands like
K9 suited and become
profitable. The big caveat that I'm going to mention here,
is that
before you employ a strategy aimed at mousey
players, you had better be certain
that a table full of
mousey players is what you are up against. There are other
types
of poor styles that can look like mousey play,
but actually aren't, and would be ruinous
for you to
try an overly aggressive pre-flop strategy against. Like,
you guessed it,
call stations.
2)Call
Stations: Station play can seem Mousey due to the lack of
aggression, but its not.
Its actually more troublesome
than Mousey play, and often a lot more frustrating,
especially
if you are not capable of spotting it for what it is and
adjusting your style
of play to counter it. First
of all call stations will neutralize an overly aggressive
pre-flop
strategy. There are a few reasons for
this.
At any table, but especially smaller six
player tables, once a player has shown that he
can beat
your pre-flop raise by just calling you down, and then calling
down your c-bets
to the river, the other players at the
table will follow suit. Before you know it you have
three
or four players willing to call your raises, and your starting
to feel like the big stinky
fish at the table. So
it is the willingness to stand up to aggression and call to the
river
with almost nothing, maybe bottom pair, along
with the community recognition which is
going to ruin
you here.
In this situation it is important to
recognize that even though this strategy is beating you,
there
is no stroke of genius going on in the mind of your opponent.
Call Stations
aren't clever or flexible, its just what
they do. They don't want to give up any chance
that
they have of making a winner, even if the numbers ultimately
tell them that folding
is the sound move to make.
This means that even after you change your strategy to
counter
their station tendencies, they will be unable to again change
their own to counter
the changes that you have made.
So what changes do you need to make?
You are going
to want to stop raising pre-flop except with big pairs.
This has really
become a numbers game, rather than a
psychological game of intimidation. Secondly
you
are going to want to take advantage of the fact that call
stations rarely raise
pre-flop themselves. This
means that you can call a lot yourself pre-flop for the cost
of
a single big blind. Any time you hit the flop decently,
you now have an opportunity
to take them to the river
for four bets plus what is already in the pot. Lastly, if
they
come out betting, and you haven't hit the flop
really well, get off your hand right away-
don't give
them anything. That's really all you have to do to beat
them: Call often
pre-flop but don't raise, bet when you
have a good hand, and get off hands when
they bet
unless you have something really good. Otherwise check.
The last player types I'm going to deal with are
aggressive, and overly aggressive.
However this type is
complex enough to deserve its own article-so please see Part II
of
this article to get those strategies.
(Part II)
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