Still super new to poker (~2 months) and I'm just starting to become a break even leaning toward winning player at micro-stakes. I had a 2,300 card session at NL2 running 5 NL2 tables and a 500 card session at NL5 with just one table. NL2 profited me $6.49 and NL5 was 56c.

Just a couple of things I learned tonight:

- People at these stakes seriously do not bluff often. I had a few times where I had a really good hand like two pair or the second nut flush and I had to call just to see, and 95% of the time they had the goods.

- The higher my chip-stack at a table I got the way more I could bluff them. I'm sitting at one NL2 table with 7x the buy-in and almost nobody calls me at this point. I've been playing tight and haven't been caught bluffing once (although I have a lot, but more on that in a second.) I was kind of wondering if this is normal at higher stakes, or if it's far too uncommon to see chip stacks that deep at a cash game? Mind you I've been sitting at this table for 5+ hours.

- One thing I learned that works incredibly well at these low stakes is that when you have somebody isolated and they check to you, I'd wager that 75% of the time a half-pot to 3/4 pot sized bet will fold them. I've done this so many times holding nothing but air and it's really reliable. If they call and I don't improve on the turn I check, if they bet I'll fold.

- People at these stakes go all-in a lot with AK. I don't know what else to say, but it's true. I think AK is one of the biggest money losing hands I play and I've become a lot more cautious with it.

Anyway, just wanted to highlight a few things for people, I'm sure they've all been said before, but I'm really proud of tonight and wanted to share with my fellow poker players.

Love you all!
JB

PS: Why wont it let me post my PTR link? It comes up all asterisks.

1 - They don't bluff a lot at the river, but it's very common to cbet without a good hand. Also you'll find specific groups of players that bluff a lot (they don't last long at the tables)

2 - That's because their level of thinking is low. They think you got a good stack because you're a good player and win hands and they don't think any further. Most players don't care about that in the higher stakes

3 - Isolating and cbetting at most flops, plus not giving action when they resist is a very good strategy at small stakes.

4 - To fish, AK = nuts. And they put you on AK every time. Hope you don't do the same.

GL.

Good post, but regarding this point, I thought this for a while and was cleaning up at 2nl using this but then I got a very bad run where I kept getting called and reraised which ate into my BR a bit. It kind of knocked my confidence a small bit, it works well ,but I dont completely rely on it anymore.

what? its like never really a mistake to get it in of with AK 100bb's especially i assume in micros ppl will shove with like AJ and AQ

isnt AK against any pair -ev?

yes but they're not shoving any pair

AK is good to get in pre vs fish and other loose opponents but I wouldnt go crazy in saying its never bad to get all in with AK

Not bad when u consider you still have fold equity too

About the AK thing, I think he's talking about when people go all in with AK in a low card board.

It's obviously good to get it in pre, but it's common to see those guys getting check-raised at a 884 type of board and getting it in with AK high. Correct if I'm wrong OP?

I'm also pretty new to poker (I've been playing since December). So far, at least, I agree with OP completely on what works at the micros.

I don't know how it would even be possible to win if you never isolate and cbet with air or close to it. I do it often (almost every time I get checked to, actually). I do realize that at higher stakes, this will not be quite as successful/automatic.

I have also found that a lot of people at micros will stack off with AK after the flop against a low board. I love it, but it makes it very difficult to know where you're at if you happen to get reraised by the kind of idiot who will do this.

I dipped my toe in the water last night and played .50/1 for about a half-hour, just to see what it was like, and found that the players are much more aggressive and will 3-bet and put you in tougher spots before the flop. I won some nice pots, but decided to move my scared money out of there.

(Gonna bury a brag here: even though I wasn't rolled for it whatsoever, I shipped a $4.40 180-man on Stars last night and I'm now break-even for the first time. Now it's time to practice some BRM!!)

[edit: my graph]

Sitting .50/1 and winning a $214 to be breakeven. Good luck with the BRM!

I know, pretty bad. Thanks for wishing me luck though. I seriously am going to start doing it the right way now.

interesting. at 10nl i seem to notice the opposite, where people seem to play into the highest stacks, making them go even higher!