The changing state of microstakes.
There are several, nay.. well hell lets just go around one of my tables. We have a 35/0, a 50/10, 31/10, and another 50/0.
They're making tons of mistakes preflop, but they really nit it up post flop and its incredibly difficult to extract. Basically they dont reraise without the nuts, and they certainly don't stack off lightly. They c/fold lots of flops, and their take on exploitation is to donk bet A LOT (i'd estimate around 65% of pots get donkbetted) to force you to fold overcards.
Conventional wisdom says the key to beating the microstakes is to play really tight, ABCish, flop sets get paid, fold everything else kinda poker because the microstakes players take their top pairish hands way too far.
But that is no longer the state of microstakes games as far as I can see. There are of course the truly terrible players, but they rarely last more than a few orbits, and they tend to buy in short anyway.
And I'm more or less failing to adjust to the weaktighties. Clearly when they raise we need to have a good hand to continue. But I want to say we should be playing more 25/20 and less 15/10 poker simply because thats the way to combat nutcampers -- make them fold when tehy miss, and when they hit our range is too wide to stack off.
Thoughts?
Re: The changing state of microstakes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by euphoricism
They c/fold lots of flops, and their take on exploitation is to donk bet A LOT (i'd estimate around 65% of pots get donkbetted) to force you to fold overcards.
start re-raising them when you have outs you can count on, even if its like a gutshot or just 2 overs. most of the time they fold, and if they dont you can beat them on the turn and hit big, or get to check the turn to see a free river. Try stoving some scenarios where you are reraising their cbets/leads... and be surprised how often you can suckout on them for a big pot. great for the image too! Also, check your HUD stats for "folded to reraise" or %cbets.
e.g.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (6 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)
Hero ($136.60)
UTG ($43.40)
MP ($100)
CO ($33.90)
Button ($107.60)
SB ($188.80)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Qhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif, Khttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...miles/club.gif.
4 folds, SB completes, Hero raises to $4, SB calls $3.
Flop: ($8) 8http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif, 3http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...es/diamond.gif, 5http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...miles/club.gif (2 players)
SB bets $4, Hero raises to $12, SB folds.
Final Pot: $16
villain is smart enough to know we only pair 1/3 of the time and if we raised, that flop missed us. But villain has also learned that when the flop is raised and he has nothing or a weak holding, its time to fold.
Quote:
Conventional wisdom says the key to beating the microstakes is to play really tight, ABCish, flop sets get paid, fold everything else kinda poker because the microstakes players take their top pairish hands way too far.
I missed the moneymaker boom era, only been playing for like a 18 months or something but the above strategy sounds bad for 50 and 100nl (I don't know about 25 and under, which is called micro on PS). There's just so much dead money in hands where people WANT to fold. They throw out what amount to blocking bets on flops. As long as you have some outs you consider solid, consider a reraise
you probably go through swings where u run hot and hit sets and such, then slowly the rake takes your winnings, or you miss a bunch of pps and c/f flops and you wonder how your set double up is gone, what happened you might not have even been in a big hand once
Quote:
But that is no longer the state of microstakes games as far as I can see. There are of course the truly terrible players, but they rarely last more than a few orbits, and they tend to buy in short anyway.
And I'm more or less failing to adjust to the weaktighties. Clearly when they raise we need to have a good hand to continue. But I want to say we should be playing more 25/20 and less 15/10 poker simply because thats the way to combat nutcampers -- make them fold when tehy miss, and when they hit our range is too wide to stack off.
Thoughts?
i dont mean to sound rude but you sound a *bit* weak tight and afraid to make a raise without the goods. I certainly could be mistaken.
you know whats going on, your smart, just take the initiative to follow through with your analysis and take a line that will make him fold
sometimes u call the donkbet and when he checks the turn, bet and take it, sometimes raise the flop, etc. This makes you very tricky and they will start betting more when they have the goods and less without them, so keep their adjustment to you in mind
Re: The changing state of microstakes.
First, I agree. I'm a microstakes grinder, and I'm having this problem trying to jump from NL10 to NL25, where basic ABC nutcamping no longer works as well. I really liked this post and all the responses. It helped me a bunch.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mixchange
start re-raising them when you have outs you can count on, even if its like a gutshot or just 2 overs. most of the time they fold, and if they dont you can beat them on the turn and hit big, or get to check the turn to see a free river. Try stoving some scenarios where you are reraising their cbets/leads... and be surprised how often you can suckout on them for a big pot. great for the image too! Also, check your HUD stats for "folded to reraise" or %cbets.
Great advice. At NL10 on UB, I can get the fish to fold with a c-bet. At NL25, they are SUCH stations that c-betting and 2 barreling like I do at NL10 gets me stacking off too much. If I'm ahead on the flop, even with overs, I need to try some different lines. If I can get a read on medium/weak holdings, and check raise, I should be able to take the pot down. If not, we'll have all the chips in the middle and I'll have some equity/outs. Good advice on PT/HUD stats. I've been adding those types of reads this week, and I'll work on them some more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mixchange
i dont mean to sound rude but you sound a *bit* weak tight and afraid to make a raise without the goods. I certainly could be mistaken.
I don't know about dino, but this is me - 100% weak tight at NL25. When I notice it, I overcorrect, donking off on complete air. I need to play harder, add in rr's (I almost NEVER rr at NL10, except to get it all-in with someone I think will stack off to my nut hand), etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mixchange
you know whats going on, your smart, just take the initiative to follow through with your analysis and take a line that will make him fold
sometimes u call the donkbet and when he checks the turn, bet and take it, sometimes raise the flop, etc. This makes you very tricky and they will start betting more when they have the goods and less without them, so keep their adjustment to you in mind
I hope I can do this. I see why br management is so important. I have to quit worrying about spewing a few BI's and get to playing poker. I think this is a great post and some fine advice. I need to expand past ABC poker, and I think now is the perfect time to do it.