Is it worth it at all to attempt constructing ranges and playing sound mathematical poker at micro stakes where players just call raises with Q2 off suit preflop and do other crazy stuff like 4 bet get it in with AJ lol I’m sort of getting the impression I should just bet my good hands, play pretty tight, not bluff very often and in other words play very predictable, abc poker 🤔 why bother balancing my ranges when it seems the average opponent just doesn’t care and or pay attention?

Yes. You work out their range is extremely wide and adapt accordingly

Move up to stakes where players play better?

Maybe you should take a minute to think about what “sound mathematical poker” means.

If you solve an equation, the results change based on the numbers you put in. But that doesn’t mean the equation changes or becomes irrelevant. If you want to find the length of the third side of a right triangle, you solve a^2+b^2=c^2. No matter if A = 2 and B = 3 or A = 3 and B = 4.

If somebody 4bets AJ (which btw is in a lot of “standard” ranges in case it’s one of the strongest hands to weak to call) you factor that into your calculations instead of throwing the calculator out of the window.

I’ve managed to get to 10nl (and winning atm with small sample) by doing just this. My poker isn’t great but anyone who limps, plays with a broken stack or does something really unusual then I’m tagging them as recreational/fish. I play regular tables and search for the highest VPIP tables and when the table is **** I leave. No point battling with the other good players because it doesn’t get you far, I know the higher I get the harder this will ‘gameplan’ will become because there won’t be those kind of players around higher up. Also I play from 7pm GMT when my son goes to sleep and it’s when there is a lot of these players around (this helps quite a lot). Don’t bluff unless you have a good draw is my advice, keep it simple, keep it fairly tight because of rake, hope this helps

Edit: when you have a hand bet it, slow play hardly ever works for me at these stakes

i think the most important thing you can do is realize how and to what extent a non perfect range affects what villain has on each street. aka, u know what hes doing is wrong, now you need to realize what the implications are. Once you discover that, you should be able to tailor a counter. This comes from looking at spots/ranges/villains individually to create a holistic understanding. thats the exploit side of it

Part B is knowing the "sound mathematical approach" so that you can 1. detect deviations 2. switch to GTO play vs people who are trying to do GTO.

when i sit someone first thing i ask is : are they attempting gto, if answer is yes then i play gto. if answer is no, i ask what are they doing wrong, and how should i exploit this.

basically, u need it in your arsenal vs good players

You don't do 2 lol, you work out how they are doing GTO wrong and then exploit it, if they are doing GTO right then in the absence of any other marks on the table you leave

What are you supposed to do while you figure that out? COME ON
and in HU Whoever gets bunked wit me IS the mark

I’m sorry how is AJ a standard 4 bet hand? That sounds like you stack off with a lot of hands ��

Agree with most of the folks here. When playing against microstakes players the game is completely different. Tend to play a little tighter and bet frequently with strongish hands to put them off.

That's the one thing you took away from a thread full of advice? Alrighty then..

FWIW, I said AJ is in a lot of 4betting ranges, I didn't say anything about it being part of the value range or stacking off.

I didn’t have any questions about the other things people said in this thread lol
The comment that AJ is in a lot of 4 betting ranges surprised me and I don’t understand why it should be. Just because of blockers? It does seem pretty loose tbh.

your 4b range is going to be almost exclusively based upon their 3b range. If you're vsing someone with a 2% 3b there really isnt any merit in 4betting anything other than premiums. If they have a 15% 3b range, AJ is well within the 4b stack off for value/meeting mdf range
Somewhere in between it might arguably fall into the "blocker bluff" category

-dont do it vs nitty 3bettors
-consider it as a blocker 4b bluff vs taggy 3bettors
-fist pump value all in hand vs LAGGY 3bettors