Even with that factor, it's easier to play well IP, so the player IP will always make less mistakes vs someone on his level. But I'm pretty sure a 8bb/100 rake will make a lot of marginal opens -EV if people aren't insanely overfolding.

Also there's a dynamic where villain overdefends with a -ev call making it a -EV for both players, so the rfi should consider that possibility: if I find myself playing vs reg who defends 80% in the btn and doesn't have high fold to cbet stats, I will tighten up a bit and not open 89o/9To/J4s from btn to avoid those -EV scenarios. In a world with lower rake I would open those.

In the micros I feel like it's very important to learn how to consider the rake in your plays, even more important than a lot of strategy topics. Like looking to 3-bet more rather than calling, 5-bet-jamming more than calling 4-bets. Every time I call a 4-bet it hurts a lot to see how much is raked there, meh.

You going for some doctor grade about micros. How many years education is it?
Eager to know the final conclusion how to beat micros. And how all of us moved pass micros without all this theory you can provide.

tightened them a bit and still unsure whether 74s co in too loose? lol.

mirage still can't figure it out afaik

You consider rake by not playing against people who have a reasonable idea what they're doing and are not giving their money away easily. You will never win against such players when you're paying 10bb/100 in rake.

fk so many idiot in thread - hurt me to read this ****

I play zoom, bro. Can't do much about that, it's the only format where I can put some serious volume on.

Im looking forward to the day rapid shows most of us how its done!
Then he can laugh of me all day long.
But if he is gonna complicate every limit and separate each of them like he needs different super powers he better stick to fantasy land and
Magic cards.
2026 is the year for 500z with this speed.

There's no one saying you have to play zoom. If you're paying 10bb/100 in rake and your opponents are a bunch of tight nits who you can't run over, no one is going to win but the house. The rake structure at the micros is designed such that you will remain stuck there if you're playing against anyone reasonably competent.

Roll is still at $3k

Some hands

H1: hate this one, I'm becoming quite obvious with those overbets, it was vs a whale too, he was folding a lot OTR though, so he was probably defending too light OTT/OTF, I think his range is quite inelastic so exploitatively a bluff would do better as a smaller sizing, on top of that my range wants to bet a normal sizing in that spot. Sure that I could split into overbet and normal bet but in practice it's almost impossible to balance 2 sizings in there.

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 103.2 BB
Hero (SB): 111.4 BB
BB: 145.7 BB
UTG: 253.82 BB
MP: 154.5 BB
CO: 74.04 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 9 8

fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, BB calls 2 BB

Flop: (6 BB, 2 players) T 2 K
Hero bets 1.48 BB, BB calls 1.48 BB

Turn: (8.96 BB, 2 players) J
Hero bets 6.4 BB, BB calls 6.4 BB



H2: guy had 4/8 4-bet, maybe he got lucky in his 4-bets haha. Gotta try

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 100 BB
SB: 144.04 BB
BB: 66 BB
UTG: 100.8 BB
MP: 153.74 BB
CO: 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A J

fold, fold, CO raises to 2.24 BB, Hero raises to 7 BB, fold, fold, CO raises to 20 BB, Hero raises to 100 BB and is all-in, CO calls 80 BB and is all-in

Flop: (201.5 BB, 2 players) 6 Q 5

Turn: (201.5 BB, 2 players) 2

River: (201.5 BB, 2 players) Q
Players agreed to run it twice.

Flop #2: (201.5 BB, 2 players) 6 4 6

Turn #2: (201.5 BB, 2 players) 7

River #2: (201.5 BB, 2 players) 8



H3: annoying river, meh

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 52.88 BB
SB: 98.26 BB
BB: 77.1 BB
UTG: 296.54 BB
Hero (MP): 169.76 BB
CO: 137.26 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K A

UTG raises to 2.3 BB, Hero raises to 7 BB, fold, fold, fold, BB calls 6 BB, UTG calls 4.7 BB

Flop: (21.5 BB, 3 players) 6 T K
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets 5.3 BB, BB calls 5.3 BB, fold

Turn: (32.1 BB, 2 players) A
BB checks, Hero bets 22.88 BB, BB calls 22.88 BB

River: (77.86 BB, 2 players) J
BB bets 36.98 BB, fold

BB wins 73.96 BB


H4: vs passive guy, his sizing scheme seemed very nutted imo

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 118.18 BB
SB: 43.72 BB
BB: 58.48 BB
Hero (UTG): 164.28 BB
MP: 104.36 BB
CO: 114.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q Q

Hero raises to 2.32 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 2.32 BB, fold, fold

Flop: (6.14 BB, 2 players) 3 J 4
Hero checks, BTN bets 5 BB, Hero calls 5 BB

Turn: (16.14 BB, 2 players) 5
Hero checks, BTN bets 13 BB, fold

BTN wins 15.34 BB

H4 why is this not a continuation bet? Your range is in pretty good shape against villain (I'd have thought, he does have more 33 and 44) and you're quite near the top of your range and your hand benefits from the protection. Is this purely an attempt to balance your checking range?

H2 That seems like a pretty poor adjustment. Especially when stats like that can be so heavily distorted by running hot and can be very situation dependant. If 6 spots were BTN v SB or UTG v MP for example.

There should be a lot of checking oop vs cold caller, position is too strong.

I agree that I went a bit crazy in there, but I'm not sure how should I play regarding sample size in that spot, what do you suggest?

You don't think he could be valuebetting AJ in H4? I see people value bet waaaaaaay thinner than that. idk how you're check/folding QQ there tbh. I would also way rather check AA than QQ. are you checking both? what value bets/bluffs do you have? seems crazy to me to basically give up the pot anytime BU cold calls. you can get wrekt that way

lol @ h4. still a sad nit.

actually you are not supposed to c-bet many boards when BTN cold calls, you can check whole range and go from there, obv in this case the check fold on turn with QQ is an absolute disaster

I x range oop vs everyone in some textures, people overstab on average and it's easier to play turns/rivers.

I don't fold vs everyone, guy was quite extreme passive and bet 80%+ on that dry board, couldn't find many bluffs ott for that guy. And yeah, he could have AJ, but those are 12 combos and he probably has 6 set combos minimum, maybe 9 and he could have AA/KK. It's very likely that I will face a big bet OTR too, so decided to just fold ott. Quite weak, but in the best case scenario (he goes for those sizings with AJ) I made a slightly bad fold, in the worst case scenario I'm drawing to 2 outs paying close to pot.

I'm not sure about those spots, just follow my feelings, could be very bad ofc

not only is it bad but your hand is good enough to even check raise flop for value, or even raising turn for value wouldn't be all that bad

+1

yeah like xeno said, not only should it be a check/call but c/raise is also standard

Folding QQ ott on that board rofl. What's new rapid

and he wonders why he's only playing 50NL after 2 years.

I'm almost tempted to say that H4 is a fake hand history... because that's just embarrassing.

i really don't get this hand. I dont play on Stars anymore but have played 50z in the past. This is surely a terrible fold.

The way you play just doesn't make sense. You will stick in over 100bbs with pretty bad river bluffs yet fold QQ on J534. Just because he is passive doesn't mean he isn't betting just a Jack imo.

I know it, vs someone with enough bluffs/thin value ofc, vs a passive guy using the "let's make babies" sizing I don't like that much.

What's the problem with bluffing 100bbs? In those spots I bluff I have a decent idea about my value range/blockers/villain's range and just go for it, std.

Villain in this hand was marked as a fish with passive stats, somethings you must know about fish ranges in that spot:

1- the fish will have a x range
2- the fish will have a small betting range
3- the fish will have a big betting range.

His x back range will be most likely garbage hands with bad equity/some pps
His small betting range will have bluffs he wants to stab and win the pot and he will be happy with that. He will have thin value bets like 66 in there
Now what goes into his big betting range? I'm pretty sure he has 0 sets on all other ranges and only in the big betting range, sure that he will have some AJ, but these guys are pussies to the point of not even going that big with AJ (or maybe 0 Jx). Gotta remember that they love betting small to make sure they will get calls, they do that all the time.

There's another player profile who can bet that big with garbage/thin value/protection, which is an aggro whale, but this guy had like 20/10 stats and 30 afq on each street, I was confident there was a 0 chance he was a whale.

On top of that, these nitfish never fold pps pre, they set mine all the time because people give them reasons to. I'm not even sure if he calls KJo in there and he could 3bet some AJ combos pre. Vs a preflop range very heavy with pps, it's a good fold of my read on his ranges 1,2 and 3 are right. I've ran a sim to see how pio plays vs a range with many pps in there, it cbets very often and almost range checks any turn (something that people used to do in 2009-2013 when everyone was setmining like crazy). Vs that range there isn't that much value to be made, since most of villain's range will be very bad equity hands or nuts.

I play vs these nits since I started poker, gotta remember that I played 500+k hands of FR, mostly at nl10 back in 2013, it wasn't uncommon to see a table filled with 14 vpip ppl. And on 6-max most of my volume was on 50z, a stake where most of the population is very nitty too. You don't beat nits by playing reasonable poker, you just overbluff them all the time and get out of the way if you think he will be underbluffing.

He needs to win around 23bbs from me for his setmines to breakeven, and I will rarely see his sizing scheme imo, so most of the time he will bet small, I will x/r and bluff him off his equity or get some thin value along the way, when he has a set he will never get paid. That's how I like playing vs these guys.

I know it's micro stakes logic, but that's how micro stakes people play: they have exactly what they have amd they are afraid of valuebetting thin, specially for a big sizing. I know how insane it is to fold QQ in there, but if you take into account that guy won't use that sizing scheme almost never (and it's very unlikely that he will use the reverse logic), I can soul read him.

Tbh check-calling turn and x/f all rivers seems best if he has AJ in his range. But I'm not sure about that.

Btw, some other interesting hands I found out from yesterday, I was a bit tilted at this part of the session

H1: vs aggro reg

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 126.88 BB
SB: 131.28 BB
BB: 159.38 BB
UTG: 76 BB
MP: 108.5 BB
CO: 103.74 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J Q

fold, fold, CO raises to 2.5 BB, Hero raises to 8 BB, fold, fold, CO calls 5.5 BB

Flop: (17.5 BB, 2 players) K 9 6
CO checks, Hero bets 4.32 BB, CO raises to 15 BB, Hero calls 10.68 BB

Turn: (47.5 BB, 2 players) T
CO bets 80.74 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 80.74 BB

River: (208.98 BB, 2 players) 6
Players agreed to run it twice.

River #2: (208.98 BB, 2 players) Q



H2: station! vaaamooo

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 186.8 BB
SB: 105.4 BB
Hero (BB): 119.8 BB
UTG: 215.28 BB
MP: 100 BB
CO: 71.84 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K A

fold, fold, CO raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, Hero raises to 11 BB, CO calls 8 BB

Flop: (22.5 BB, 2 players) 8 9 6
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: (22.5 BB, 2 players) 9
Hero checks, CO checks

River: (22.5 BB, 2 players) 4
Hero checks, CO bets 11 BB, Hero calls 11 BB


H3: vs unknown, not sure if this is any good, what do you guys think? Most of his bluffs got there, but I thought there could be a chance of him just spazzing out vs checks trying to bluff a lot when shown weakness

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 102.08 BB
Hero (SB): 129.38 BB
BB: 425.18 BB
UTG: 22.9 BB
MP: 69.76 BB
CO: 113.06 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has T Q

fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, BB calls 2 BB

Flop: (6 BB, 2 players) Q 5 7
Hero checks, BB bets 2.5 BB, Hero calls 2.5 BB

Turn: (11 BB, 2 players) 2
Hero checks, BB bets 5.5 BB, Hero calls 5.5 BB

River: (22 BB, 2 players) 9
Hero checks, BB bets 12 BB, Hero calls 12 BB



H4: vs nit, vs his line I won't have a call, these guys love bluffing a lot OTT and when they x back they're Kx/Qx heavy imo.

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 141.72 BB
SB: 96 BB
Hero (BB): 130.58 BB
UTG: 238.22 BB
MP: 94.1 BB
CO: 112.8 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 9 7

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2 BB, fold, Hero calls 1 BB

Flop: (4.5 BB, 2 players) Q 4 9
Hero checks, BTN bets 2 BB, Hero calls 2 BB

Turn: (8.5 BB, 2 players) K
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (8.5 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero checks, BTN bets 6 BB, Hero raises to 26.08 BB, fold

Hero wins 19.48 BB


H5: lol, such a pussy. People love x back to induce vs me

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 89.8 BB
SB: 101.16 BB
Hero (BB): 122.8 BB
UTG: 110.58 BB
MP: 39.3 BB
CO: 105.4 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 8 7

UTG raises to 2.5 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 1.5 BB

Flop: (5.5 BB, 2 players) K 7 A
Hero checks, UTG checks

Turn: (5.5 BB, 2 players) J
Hero checks, UTG checks

River: (5.5 BB, 2 players) 9
Hero checks, UTG checks



H6: vs fish, insane to see how much respect I give to those raise bet bet and some guys are doing it with any2.

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 98.5 BB
SB: 145.84 BB
BB: 78.16 BB
UTG: 288.42 BB
MP: 101.5 BB
Hero (CO): 102.28 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has T K

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.32 BB, fold, fold, BB calls 1.32 BB

Flop: (5.14 BB, 2 players) K 8 2
BB checks, Hero bets 1.26 BB, BB raises to 4.96 BB, Hero calls 3.7 BB

Turn: (15.06 BB, 2 players) 7
BB bets 11 BB, Hero calls 11 BB

River: (37.06 BB, 2 players) 9
BB bets 26 BB, Hero calls 26 BB



H7: 0% equity OTF lol, snap folded this vs that guy

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 68.28 BB
SB: 195.72 BB
BB: 228 BB
UTG: 146.62 BB
MP: 82.02 BB
Hero (CO): 128.46 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A 9

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.32 BB, BTN calls 2.32 BB, SB calls 1.82 BB, fold

Flop: (7.96 BB, 3 players) A 3 6
SB checks, Hero bets 1.96 BB, BTN calls 1.96 BB, SB raises to 8 BB, fold, BTN calls 6.04 BB

Turn: (25.92 BB, 2 players) 2
SB bets 16.72 BB, BTN calls 16.72 BB

River: (59.36 BB, 2 players) 3
SB bets 45.5 BB, BTN calls 41.24 BB and is all-in




H8: Not sure about this one, I know it's better to bluff with QJ because of better blockers lower SDV, villain was an unknown, from my experience people overfold vs triple barrels and my blockers were decent.

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 136.3 BB
SB: 91.56 BB
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 142.24 BB
MP: 132.38 BB
CO: 148.32 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J A

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.32 BB, fold, BB calls 1.32 BB

Flop: (5.14 BB, 2 players) K 4 T
BB checks, Hero bets 1.26 BB, BB calls 1.26 BB

Turn: (7.66 BB, 2 players) 7
BB checks, Hero bets 5.46 BB, BB calls 5.46 BB

River: (18.58 BB, 2 players) 5
BB checks, Hero bets 13.24 BB, BB calls 13.24 BB



H9: excellent call by villain lol. He was a reg

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 134.6 BB
SB: 36.9 BB
BB: 101.5 BB
UTG: 142 BB
MP: 88.14 BB
Hero (CO): 122.98 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A A

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.32 BB, fold, fold, BB calls 1.32 BB

Flop: (5.14 BB, 2 players) K K 9
BB checks, Hero bets 1.26 BB, BB calls 1.26 BB

Turn: (7.66 BB, 2 players) 6
BB checks, Hero bets 5.46 BB, BB calls 5.46 BB

River: (18.58 BB, 2 players) 7
BB checks, Hero bets 13.24 BB, BB calls 13.24 BB