Doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to think this way. Maybe it's because I bluff so much myself that I assume others are playing in the same manner. Usually I out level myself with this kind of thinking and make a lot of mistakes, like bluffing too much because "they have air here instead of any type of made hand that will call" or I call down too light because "oh he's only repping the nuts but really has total air" like it's just stupid.

Maybe I think this way because of my decade I played play money where this sort of thinking was actually rational. But now I don't think it is anymore. When a player is repping the nuts at real money, it seems like now it's always true. I should probably be making tighter folds and bluff less from now on, right? Give my opponent's more credit and just realize not everyone is just trying to outplay me?

So how do I start taking out of my opponent's range total air and just start considering that at least most of the time they have made some sort of hand?

First, never play poker for play money; that isnÂ’t poker. Since you already violated this one, you need to completely forget any strategy you think you learned by playing for play money. It just doesnÂ’t apply for real money. Even if you are playing 2NL itÂ’s just a completely different game.

Second, (and related to the first point) you must never assume your opponents are complete idiots. That may work at play money tables but will get you crushed at real money. That is not to say that there arenÂ’t bad players on real money tables. The band real money players, though tend to have opposite tendencies than the ones you saw at play money games. Play money players are hyper aggressive and bluff often, often shoving with complete air. At least at micro stakes bad real money players tend to be overly passive. They bluff too little, bet too little, raise too little and call too much.

With that in mind, your strategy should be clear. DonÂ’t waste your money trying to bluff too much at micros. After all if someone never folds, what good is it to bluff? I am not saying they will never fold, so it isnÂ’t true that you should never bluff. Just limit your bluffing. They also are passive so most of the time, when they wake up and start betting or raising, they have something; it may not beat you, but they certainly are not typically taking aggressive action with air. They often play their hands face up.

For example, suppose you have AKcc. You raise PF IP and get called. Flop is Ah 6h 5c. Villain checks, you bet, he calls. Turn is say Jd, again check call. River is 9h. Villain donk shoves. What do you think villain has with that line? Hint: it ainÂ’t air and itÂ’s something you can do with a toilet.

Just forget all the play money idiots, learn some GTO opening ranges, and limit your bluffing to mainly spots on the flop or possibly turn where you have a flush or straight draw that gives you some outs if called. Possibly a well-timed river bluff when a good scare card hits might work, but do it sparingly. When you do have something, donÂ’t slow play or get fancy; just bet it - you will often get called. Be very careful when mostly passive opponents get aggressive. Do this and you should stop losing and at least start winning something. Obviously this is not all there is to winning poker, and itÂ’s overly simplistic, but itÂ’s a start to transition from losing to break even or small winner at micros.

Thanks, but just did it again

Yatahay Network - $0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: 126.6 BB
CO: 101 BB
BTN: 34 BB
Hero (SB): 190 BB
BB: 113.6 BB

Hero posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 3 A

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, BB raises to 11 BB, Hero raises to 28 BB, BB raises to 113.6 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 85.6 BB

Flop: (227.2 BB, 2 players) 4 A J

Turn: (227.2 BB, 2 players) 9

River: (227.2 BB, 2 players) Q

Hero shows 3 A (One Pair, Aces)
(Pre 31%, Flop 13%, Turn 7%)
BB shows A K (One Pair, Aces)
(Pre 69%, Flop 87%, Turn 93%)
BB wins 216 BB

PF, did you ever consider that you were behind? At what point?

You did not list any reads on villain. Why?

If someone is willing to get all in for 100+ BB, in what world do you think A3 is ahead?

It could be in the play money world - but once you are outside of play money, it usually is way behind. Before hitting the call button, put yourself in their shoes with a hand worse than yours and ask yourself "would I be willing to commit all my chips with worse than this?" If the answer is no, then don't assume that someone else would. It really isn't that hard to hit the fold button.

start quantifying "total air"
gutshots, blockers, overs etc

Did you not read my post? When a micro player starts getting aggressive, he has a hand. A3, even if itÂ’s suited is NOT a hand, or at least not a hand that a micro player is typically going to shove pre for 100 BB. Most playersÂ’ 5 bet shove range is something more like AA, KK, and possibly AK and/or QQ. Depending on reads, I often will fold AQ to a 4 bet, and hands like AT and AJ to a 3 bet.

A GTO PF range has some small suited aces in your 4 bet range, but these are bluff 4 bets to balance out the rest of your 4 bet range, which is primarily premium holdings like JJ+, AK. If you do 4 bet such a combo itÂ’s best to pick ONE weak suited ace (A5s is the one that is usually suggested) as your bluff combo. When you 4 bet bluff and are faced with a shove, though, itÂ’s a comfortable fold, especially in micro games.

You ainÂ’t in play money anymore. You have a lot to unlearn. Start by SEVERELY tightening your starting hand range. While A3s can typically be opened if you are playing a LAG style, IÂ’d suggest a more TAG style while you unlearn all your play money habits. A3, suited or unsuited, should be folded pre. To start, IÂ’d suggest something like AT+, KJ+, and maybe 55+. Position is important- you should tighten these even more from early positions, and maybe add a few hands from the button.

Once you stop making these play money moves, you can then loosen up a bit and add some other hands (especially in late positions) such as the other broadway combos (QT,QJ,KT,etc.), the lower pocket pairs, and some suited connectors. Be prepared to fold the bottom of this range to a 3 bet, especially if the three bettor has been mostly passive (as most micro stakes players are).

Apologies for the double post. Not sure what happened. Mods, could you remove one copy?

Get comfortable with the fact that sometimes you are going to get bluffed and there is nothing you can do about it. It doesn't make you a bad player.

I will get technical with you for the way I think ..

'Air' is not part of a range.

You certainly want to consider an opponent's bluffing frequency .. AND you do want to consider what portions of a Player's range has missed. I will agree that the larger the portion of a range that has missed will increase the bluffing frequency, but I don't want to consider those combinations 'air' per se.

I don't care if it's play or real chips, when someone 5-bet shoves on you then A3s is not a hand to go to war with for 100+bb.

When you 4-bet with A3s, THAT is a bluff, But it's also not necessarily 'air' if you flat a 3-bet with the same hand. Poker is hard from that perspective.

I want you to take most of the 'play' chip advice. You can play with fake chips as long as you are using it to get used to a software or game flow. But you really need to toss out all the 'strat'. GL

Thanks everyone. Making more disciplined folds since implementing this new strategy.

Folded a straight when the flush got there on the river to a shove.

Folded KQ to a turn raise OOP on Q472 rainbow.

Even though I was CONVINCED they were bluffing me, I just decided to fold because my old strategy of just calling always in these spots because I didn't believe them wasn't working for me.

I'm by no means an expert. Far from it, actually.
But I'm halfway through the first stage of my poker goals (50k hands at 5€ NL).
Currently winning 8.6 BB/100 after 25k hands, so I have an idea about the tendencies at 5NL.

You will get bluffed, but it's extremely rare. At this level, when they look strong they ARE strong. I've seen less than a handful of "balanced players".

5NL is dominated by a few categories of players:
- Passive stations. VPIP 40, 50 and higher, low PFR and low aggression in general. They get married to garbage hands and you print money by value-betting them. Never bluff these.
- Complete lunatics. Crazy high VPIP and PFR. They just mash buttons with their face and usually have a very short lifespan. Tighten up and stack them with top pair.
- Uber nits. The rarely play and when they play, they have it. They don't play many hands but when they play they are aggressive.

In general, there are a few lines you should be wary of at this level.
FLOP check/call, TURN check/call, RIVER bet. They are usually very strong when they use this line.
Any check/raise at the river is always a huge alarm bell, unless it's coming from a crazy lunatic.
Triple barrel, they have it more often than not.
Sudden aggression when the board pairs or a draw completes is another huge alarm bell.

Overall, you won't have a big enough sample size on anyone to see their bluff tendencies. In 25k hands, I think I have one guy with 1k hands, a couple with 7-800 and everyone else is lower. These samples are more than enough to put them in a broad category, but not enough to really see how often they play with "total air".

So you will be bluffed, but way less often than you imagine.

At 5NL, when you face a 3-bet with A3 oop, it's a fold. It MAY be a call if you have position and you have enough info about the villain to know you could stack him with a flush.
So the 4-bet is terrible, the shove call is atrocious. Best case scenario, you will see QK here, but it's rare. Usually you will see QQ+ and AK, end of story.

eisenkruz, thats really good advice for micros
people truly do not balance their value range, and the ones that do have bluffs waaaay over do it

+1

OP, decide if you like winning or not. If you don't care, make all the bad calls you like, it's only money. If you do care, start folding your worst hands.