Hi, I want to take $40 and get it to 1000 by the end of the summer moving through the micro-limit cash games. Little bit about me: played poker on and off since 2006. Never studied the game or payed attention to odds and outs or anything like that. Last summer i ran 60 to 500ish in about 2 1/2 months. Ever since i havent been able to get it back up there. I just get so frustrated at these limits. Seems like i always end up second best. I know my game is weak and leaky. I just need something to keep me motivated to stay in there. Im looking for someone who would like to talk poker and help me with my game. None of my friends play poker or gamble for that matter so someone to talk poker with would be nice Let me know if intrested. Thanks

Wow, almost a year to make your first post. Dedicated lurker, I guess?

Good luck with this. The only advice you really need to improve your game at 2nl is "play tight and don't bluff much". ABC poker beats the ******ed donks in the micros in the long run. It's not flashy, and it can be boring at times, but it does work.

Haha yea i guess. I know abc poker wins against them its just i cant deal with second best hand constantly. I swear im like under 50% with QQ KK AA. I don't know whats going on Its so unbelievable every time i get kk some one shows aa. Its the stupid little things like that, make me tilt my roll away. NO DISCIPLINE

Ok so here is a little sample of what i go through all the time. Unbelievable. I mean this happen all the time to me. According to my HEM I win more with 55-99.

h1 find a fold or loose minumum....played horribly to be honest.

h2 std

h3 dont get fancy ur playing the micros, people will not fold regardless so just stick to playing good hands. fold pre.

hand 1: overbet flop much? you are basically making it so he can ONLY call with better hands

hand 2: all in pf with kings vs AQ will lose approx 30% of the time. this is one of those times, it happens.

hand 3:about the most misplayed underpair I've ever seen in micros.


micros are generally pretty easy to beat. make a hand and value bet it.


raising to 4x pot =/= value betting.
best hand =/= win every time
underpair =/= a hand.

You're shoving way, way too much.

Hand 1 you shoved like 1.40 into .35. Nothing is calling there but a Jack or pocket 4s. This is awful.
Hand 2 I prefer flatting the 3bet pre and trying to get him on the flop rather than 4bet jamming, but 4bet jamming isn't awful.
Hand 3 I think you're okay limp/calling with 4s on the button, but you're doing so purely to set mine because you're up against stacks that can afford to pay you off if you hit. I wouldn't have called more than the extra 6 cents there, and I c/f the flop.

Just fold when you're so crushed and value bet people when you've got a hand. It's not a big deal at the micros really.

Maybe thats my problem I don't know how to play this limit. I play so tight then miss all kinds of opportunities, then the hands i play i get crap like this. I would like to watch one of you play a session and trake some notes cause im not getting this ABC poker wins

In the last hand you linked, your raise preflop was bad (a minraise is usually worse than flat calling unless you're specifically using it to bait), and your reraise on the flop was way too small. Either flat preflop and play position, or reraise larger so that it actually means something. On the flop, if you're going to reraise, reraise a bigger portion of the pot. 6 into 16 is way too low. Playing tight and playing passive are not the same thing.

That said, after the flop happens you're pretty much going to get stacked all day if he doesn't fold to an appropriate sized reraise on the flop. Most 2nl players aren't folding a set for anything, especially a set of kings. At that point, he just sucked out.

I'd suggest you look around the micro stakes cash forum here on 2p2, and maybe look at some of the sites that provide free videos. Once you get the fundamentals down, it'll be easier to fine tune your game. You can't build a solid house on a crooked foundation.

I agree with grimhowl except the minraise...

Any kind of pot building is better than limping when you are way ahead of villain's range.


OTF: you raise 2c to 6c in a 14c pot... meaning he has to call 4c into a 22c pot.

You have about $1.5 behind, meaning he is getting 4/172 implied odds(if he thinks he will stack you upon hitting)

Basically you actually GAVE him odds to draw out.

If you raise to 16c, he's calling 14c into a 32c pot, = 14/182(if he thinks he will stack out every time he hits)

As an addendum to the preflop thing...

If you raised to 8c, pot would have been 22c on the flop, your raise would have been to 20c or so, and he would have had less than 1/7 implied.

What % of hands should i play here?

I think a big leak for most micro players is not looking at your opponents calling range.

When you overshove the Aces what do you expect villian to call you with that you have beat? With the pocket 4's best case scenario is he is on a draw but, you will still most likely have less than 50% equity.

I remember someone saying that to try to think of 3 worse hands villian can call with before making a bet I suggest you try it it has helped me a lot.

GL @ the tables.