Micro Stakes Poker Strategy Guide
When you start out with poker, you will soon learn that it is a difficult game to master completely. However, it is not difficult to start dominating the low stakes games (2NL to 25NL). If you’re in that micro stakes market and having a hard time making money, don’t take this the wrong way. Instead, put some of these tips to work for you so that you can start winning.
Winning poker isn’t about drawing the right cards. It’s about managing your mistakes so that you make fewer than your opponents do. In the low limit poker tables, players make a ton of mistakes, which means if you know how to avoid them, you can win consistently. Let’s take a look at some ways for you to benefit from the incompetence of others.
Let’s start by talking about starting hand selection. This is a key element in your micro stakes poker strategy, particularly if your post flop play still has some weaknesses. There are a lot of loose opponents at this level, so you can take advantage just with some smart bets.
In the area of starting hand selection, here are some important tips:
- Don’t go all-in pre-flop with A-K. Just don’t.
- In the blinds and in early position, make sure you play tight.
- When a raise happens in front of you, and you’re holding a hand that is easy to beat (K-J, Q-J, A-T and so on), think twice before calling. Poker hands such as A-Q, A-K and high pocket pairs will be well positioned, and you’ll be behind the 8-ball. If you have that sort of opening hand, just fold.
- Do you want to play suited connectors, one-gappers (such as Q-T) or suited ace-low? Then do it in late position, by raising when you are the first one to act (primarily to swipe the blinds) or call with a lot of players in the pot to take a look at a cheap flop.
A lot of the time, you will get called when you are betting for value. This means that you don’t get any benefit from slow playing. If you do that with a strong hand, you’ll likely miss out on a lot of the value from strong second best hands or draws, which fall away when scary cards come out. So don’t slow play with a big hand when your opponent has the likelihood of a pair, or there is a wet board with a lot of potential draws on the table.
This doesn’t mean that you should never play slow play. Sometimes you come out of the flop with a hand so great that you’ll carry on the river no matter what comes out. Slow playing could allow your opponent get a second best hand that will allow him to kick in some real money to make the pot sweeter, or your opponent might bluff. If you have aggressive opponents, slow playing to draw in the bluff can be very smart indeed.
These are just some ideas to have in mind as you put together your micro stakes strategy. There are other points to consider, but this gives you a starting point, so try to put in them in practice the next time you spend some time at the free online poker tables.
Ready to put your skills on the line? You can practice as much as you need on the free online poker tables at Cafrino and get all the practice you need while winning real cash. Good luck!
