The Micro Mindset

I'd like to take a break from math, and numbers, to talk about some common flaws i see in new micro players. There are a number of glaring problems with the thought process of new poker players, I'd like to address a few I see often, and invite discussion about others, as well as those I cover. As usual this post is a spark for discussion. Please feel free to elaborate, and add any other common flaws you may see in your peers.

I. I need to play 18/16, or 16/14, or x/y to win at this level

A lot of weight is placed on VPIP/PFR numbers, and while I think there is an acceptable and unacceptable range of values (i.e. you can win playing 12/10, but playing 95/2 is going to be difficult to win), too often people confine themselves to these numbers. I was this way when I started, i really wanted to be a LAG, and played 20/18, not because it was necessarily profitable, but because i heard it was the best way to make money. Instead of playing x/y for the sake of playing x/y, your time is better spent understanding the situations you will create by playing x/y and learning from them. If you raise 22 UTG because you can't find another way to get to 20/18, not because you feel it's profitable...then you have a big problem.

What, to me, is more important than playing a certain x/y PF, is knowing how to adjust to situations from the flop and onward. A 10/8 who watches some videos and decides he wants to be a 20/18 instead is going to have some serious postflop problems at first. He will simply not have the knowledge/experience to make the plays necessary to make a looser style work.

II. All I ever do is bet when i have a good hand, this isn't poker, when do i get to bluff!

The Playmasters Creed: No matter what level you're on, being on the next will always be better! The vast majority of your money will be made from making value bets, big fat value bets at the micro stakes. The biggest, most common problem of micro players is calling too much. Making people fold definitely gets the chicks, but not always the money.

The only measure you should care about is extraction of money from your opponents accounts. The idea that poker is all about bluffing and winning with air is silly, poker is about making good decisions, in whatever fashion is most effective at the time. The micro stakes are a learning environment, do not start making big mistakes like trying to make calling stations fold their 4th pair now, these mistakes will only cost you more money as you move up.

III. If 16 tables is good, 24 is better!

There is something to be said for playing more tables. If you are capable of playing twice as many tables, at 90% of the winrate, then you will be making more money by adding tables. If you are playing NL2...you still won't be making anything. Your goal at micro stakes should be to become as fundamentally sound as possible, much love to Chipstar, he's a good guy, but grinding out hundreds of thousands of hands at nano/micro stakes is not the best use of your time. You should play as many tables as you can while still being allowed time to think through difficult decisions, and not time-out on other tables. A common problem with massive multi-tablers is autopilot, when the player makes decisions without giving thought to them. If you are an expert player, with solid fundamentals and instinct, this doesn't have to be a problem. If you are the average micro stakes player...you are not talented enough to be able to make all of your decisions robotically.

In general, you will learn more by playing fewer tables, and making detailed notes about hands/players and then reviewing afterwards. Remember, the goal of nano and micro stakes is to learn, you will not make fortunes playing NL10 so concern yourself more with becoming a good player, than winning a few extra cheeseburgers by playing 24 tables.

IV. I'm going to quit school/job/kill my family and go pro

A lot of us start playing poker with the dream of one day being a pro, playing on high stakes poker or the WSOP. Goals/dreams are great, they motivate you towards success. What most players don't realize is what a grind playing can be. Not only is poker a very active mental environment compared to most jobs (fast paced, action constantly, limited breaks during sessions, etc...), it can be very stressful to have your rent payment for next month riding on a coinflip or two. The decision to go pro requires a lot of thought, preparation, and definitely a level of skill that the novice player simply doesn't have.

For myself, the decision evolved over the course of a year. June 2009 i made more playing poker than at my entry level finance job, it felt great, i wanted to quit and go pro so badly, think of the fortunes I'd make playing full-time! I recently ended (knock on wood) a 250k hand BE stretch, something I couldn't even conceive during my June heater. I still sometimes think i made a premature decision to play professionally, but I have contingencies in place for if poker doesn't work out. Don't put all of your eggs in one basket, especially one as volatile as playing poker. It's definitely nice to be able to work your own hours, not have a boss, and have time off...but it's also stressful to have breakeven stretches, or to fail to hit your monthly goals. If you're considering going pro, feel free to ask anyone in the micro forum, take your time with the decision, and think rationally.

V. WTF was he thinking, he should have done X...bastard

To beat the fish, you must think like the fish. Do not expect other players to play a hand in the same fashion as you would play it, this is a big leak. Just because you would raise a super wet board with a set, doesn't mean fish will, some fish are sneaky fish. When you're playing against a lobotomized primate, you must get on their level. Example: SS87 is on level 0, Joopjan is on level 3, Joopjan should try and make simple decisions to exploit my fundamental weaknesses, he should not try and use the same moves he would on a level 3 opponent...because i won't fall for them, i'm just gonna call him down because he's got AK, I just know it!

You must not give idiots too much credit, this probably isn't the time he's c/r bluffing the river, nor is next time for that matter.


Discuss amongst yourselves...

Totallly agree.

I only started winning again once I snapped out of this line of thinking.


First!

2nd

Awsome post, congrats

i'd hit that...

This is awesome!

Better than my effort on similar subjects.

good post

So very wrong. But I like it.

I think it's really hard to think like a fish. I can't remember the bad plays I made when I was a fish, so it's hard for me to exploit fish based on thinking like them. In a tough spot I usually just put my cat Jasper at the keyboard and whatever he decides is fine with me.

I played a lot online/IRL with a good friend. He still brings up mistakes I made 5 years ago.

"What'd you call with on the flop?"
"I had 3 to a straight, 3 to a flush and an Ace."

Nice poast!

One thing that I would like to add is the tendency to constantly try to outplay other regs in like every single pot. This tendency is very prevalent at NL25 and also at NL50 from my experiences there. Its like they don't think about ranges at all when they get HU in a pot with a reg. I've been very guilty of this from time to time too. In recent sessions, I've been trying not to bluff regs and guess what, they still don't respect my 3bets or my 2 barrells.

Making people fold definitely gets the chicks...

this is what it's all about in the end

I think your (and most other 2+2ers) assement that most players at the micro's biggest mistake is calling to much is over simplified. Sure this applies to the 42/2 fish, but the average 2+2 regs do many other things way too much that cost them as much money in some cases.

With that in mind I think the biggest mistake is trying to take blanket statements/advice and applying them to many situations and opponenets to produce a robotic strategy that involves little to no acctually improving and thinking about the game.

Things like:
I have to call here (fish do this the most, but there are alot of spots/ posts from regs who say this where it simply isnt true)
Aggro is always better. (pretty standard 2+2)
I should never fold XX.
I should raise __ range in this spot always.

I could keep going but I think the idea is there.

I agree with everything except:

Obviously, raising 22 UTG to be 20/18 will be bad but folding 22-66 UTG to be 12/10 is never a bad thing for a beginner. I find myself calling and open raising way too many hands when I don't pay attention to vpip/pfr stats and I think this is the problem for the majority of micro stake players. If you are not sure about your post-flop skill, it is good to force your stat near 14/12~12/10. Just my 2 cents.

Great post

Spot on.. thanks!

+1

good post springer

I think way too many people get into a mindset of driving their play to fit their stats. The key is to let the table direct how you play. Sometimes, you need to tighten up, other times, you can be a maniac. it just depends on who the people are in your steal zone (2 to left, 2 to right).

in the long run, your stats are going to typically fall into a certain range. But you have to let them fall into that acceptable range, and focus more on positional play and villain-dependent hand selection than saying 'I'm goin to play 17/15. When you do that, you tend to start playing more hands when you're playing tighter because you're card dead and don't have good steal opportunities.

VI. I've read the stickies, all the COTWs, watched 30 videos on two different coaching sites, and I'm still not crushing the games after two weeks.

I really like Alan Schoonmaker's comment that winning poker is unnatural behavior. Losing at poker is natural. Knowing that there is such a thing as polarization and 3betting light is one thing. Knowing when to apply it properly requires practice and concentration. I know I'm pretty slow, but changing a behavior doesn't happen immediately. Trying to implement 10 things at once ends up leading you to drift.

I personally believe that if a poker play took a hard look at themselves and decided to fix the top leak, spending 3 weeks on that alone and cure it, they would see a huge improvement in their WR in two months. It isn't how wide you know, it is how deep you know.

Great post

I'm definitely guilty of this, i can remember sessions where I made sometimes 5 BI's by playing simple fit or fold v-bet my good hands poker and feel like a bad player. For instance, if i didn't try c/r a reg's c-bet with zero equity in the hand at all i was not playing poker, just being another TAG HUDbot cowering the poker tables.

I'm in this boat as well, I often cannot believe someone can just flat call with 1010 on a J 10 9 mono board only to see them c/r the turn just like they do with every other set they hit.

Excellent post springsteen.

This is an excellent post as well. People want instructions, "in this spot do X" that's what they want to hear, and that's what they follow. Why? Because its a lot easier than figuring out why and when to apply something. Its simpler to just say "oh ok, do X here, ill remember that ez game"

Wonderful post. Whenever I am having a bad session I am at least doing two of these things. I wonder why so many people pay for coaching, videos, etc. when such valuable information is on a free forum.

Nice Post.

It happens to fit perfectly with the two goals i made for myself tonight:

1. Fold more (with a focus on some special stack killers - QQ, JJ and AQ)

2. Try to identify people as either fishy (as in fishier than me) or ABCish, mostly by looking at their betting and starting hands relative to their positions.