“You should now evolve to a non-nit and open more hands play more aggressive and playing back at regulars.”
I plan to play so since nl5. On nl2 too much clowns like this 45/20/6,5.


“I often see you at the tables, and have a note on you saying "weak tight mass-table nit/set-miner". I guess you've learned from Nathan to increase your bet sizes to get paid off bigger with your monster hands. Congrats! You're in Ukraine, aren't you?”
You absolutely rights in everything. More about me - http://www.blackrain79.com/2012/02/i...andrewabc.html

“Man, you have quite a bit of time”
107hrs/month=107:31=3.45hrs/day. Not so much time if to do it every day.

“sick volume bro!”
Is it a compliment or abuse?

That is a compliment on how many hands you've played

Probably the best book around for starting cash game players but also for the players that want to get out of the micros asap. I have the book and i love it!

Gonna buy the book now. Ill write a few words once I have a read.
Saturday night I should be out getting smashed LOL

I bought the e-book yesterday and read it in two sittings.
It's not that it's too short or lacking information. It's just concise and to the point, telling you everything you need to know for beating the nanostakes, without adding too much complicated math or theory that you can find elsewhere. I'm absolutely certain that Nathan's tips for "extraction" will boost my winrate at 2NL, although I doubt any reader will crush Stars 2NL at a double-digit winrate like he did in the past.

I mainly hang out in the Beginners Questions part of 2+2, and this book should be required reading for all the newbies. It's basically the nanostakes equivalent of 'Super System'. It's really that revolutionary, and - like Doyle's book - could lead to the games getting a whole lot tougher at the micro level. Nathan's "playbook" has worked for a few years, but once his tips get adopted by the mainstream, their impact will be lessened. So my advice to a beginning player is: Get this book before Nathan's winning strategies stop working!

Is this book really translatable to 6 max, or is it one of these full ring books that have like a paragraph on how to extrapolate full ring play to 6 max play?

No money in micros...everyone's solid

I never play FR but still found the book immensely useful and if you add some good value coaching to the package you are very good to go.

Lol, when basic TAG play stops working at 2nl-5nl the majority of folk 50nl+ will have hung themselves out of frustration due to micro, micro-edges they hold over each other. [/sarcasm]

2nl-5nl and up to 10nl will have plenty of fish for my lifetime, and even beyond that there will be recreational players looking to mess around.

The euro sites are absolutely full of them at all levels.

Bought the book and also read it in 2 sittings. If I started it in the morning I prob would of read it in 1 go.
Great read, very clear and concise. An absolute must for any newbie or player at the micros needing a point in the right direction.
I wonder if the majority of micro players read and adapt to this book will we see players then readjusting to this creating different levels in the games?
Highly unlikely however at NL2 or NL5.

I don't really consider my book to be focused on either game really. While I do come from a mostly full ring background I think the strategies and ideas that I talk about readily cross over to either game. Besides ignoring the starting hand suggestions for the first 3 seats which don't exist at a 6max table and opening up your 3bet and 4bet range a little bit more around the button there is nothing else in the book that is really specific to either game.

I would say that at least half of the people who buy my book are 6max players and I coach a ton of them as well. My main game these days is actually 6max and short handed since I decided to stop mass multi-tabling. I don't really recommend my book for heads up, MTT or SnG players as the differences in those formats are much more pronounced.

I've had a chance to read it and think that anyone playing the 2NL - 10NL Full Ring games should buy this book. At ~$20, it offers great insight and value. The book should pay for itself quickly.

Thanks for the clarifications BlackRain!

I read through this thing, its a quick read and a very very good value. The only thing is that I am not a full ring player nor a mass-multitabler.

I would say that the advice in this books is really REALLY geared towards this style of play, limping early with a certain range might work great in nit-ring but in 6 max you will be losing too much by playing oop without initiative and also simply easier to read and exploitable when you do this, also his betsizing advice is just WAY WAY WAY too exploitable in 6max bet more when you are strong, is an easy way to get folds in 6max, but in full ring you might get the calls, pretty much be playing with nits/calling stations that dont adjust nor do they pay attention as a lot of them are multi-tabling also.

His advice works on Stars because of this, I dont think its true of 6max and sure the easy solution is to read the book, take the stuff that would apply to your game/site and use it. He has a lot of good material in this book and for the $20 price its pretty much a snap buy.

1 more sorta off topic:
I printed my copy out, and I would actually like to see a different formatting, basically each page of this book was about 1/2 of a page on paper centered so you have a bunch of white space on top, and on bottom, this was probably done to make it easier on the ereaders as it was intended, but from what little I know on the subject, I am pretty sure ereaders can flow the text so I think the formatting could use a change.

Sorry to sound negative in this review, but I will say it again, this is a great book for the game discussed, and the price for the info you get is a SNAP BUY

Hey axe_effect,

Thanks for the review and I am glad that you enjoyed the book overall! I know that the limp 22-66 in EP thing gets brought up a lot. I should have been a little bit more clear about this perhaps. 6max players should simply ignore the recommendations from the starting hands chart on page 66 because those seats do not exist in those games. If I release a 2nd edition I will add a ninja page 66a chart for 6max and just photoshop out those seats So I absolutely do not recommend limping at any point in a 6max game.

I don't really recommend it much in a full ring game either to be honest. I think it can be ok to limp the small pocket pairs at NL2 only in the first two seats due to a couple of very game specific reasons. I think it would be perfectly fine to raise them or even fold them as well. This is a topic that gets discussed a lot on forums everywhere and I have stressed over it for years myself haha. I have done extensive analysis (at full ring) over huge samples and it literally makes very little difference whether you limp, raise or fold these hands from these positions. These hands will be very marginal winners at best no matter how you play them. But you are correct that people are more aware these days and so limping is becoming a less desirable option.

As for my bet sizing strategies. I play mostly 6max these days on Stars and elsewhere NL2-NL10 and they continue to work for me. I think it is very important NOT to give people too much credit at these limits for being anything but beginners. Thanks again for your thoughts. Really appreciate it

This is very interesting to hear, I dont see any SH volume on stars, so I would be curious to see what other sites you are playing 6max on.

I re-read my post and I really came off as overly critical I thought, I have to say again, this is a great book.

My opinion on the bet-sizing/limping has to do with low volume sites, basically there isnt much you can do for table selecting there, and your book talks about table selecting FIRST and FOREMOST and is probably why the following pages work for those games, if you are gunning for those loose passive tables like you should then the advice in the book is SOLID.

My criticism was basically out of context, basically only saying that in a typical 6max game that has more aggressive players, limping and bet sizing stuff will be pretty easy for them to exploit. But if you table select like the book recommends, follow this advice to the letter, his results over that sample are clear AND he was CRUSHING the rake (till a hit at .25/.50? maybe) and then goes on to crush the rake more, this is tough to do at the micro's where the rake is so high.

So I think were on the same page, its just that I dont have the ability to table select like you can at the bigger sites atm. But thinking back on the order of the book, Table Select THEN do the following.

Good stuff

I think it's refreshing to see an author having proven winning results over a significant sample at the stakes he's writing about.

I haven't read the book, but have watched some of Blackrain's videos and his advice is solid and definitely in tune with today's games.

I haven't read and will probably never read your book, but you give me an excellent impression. You completely understand that as long as you have a sound preflop strategy, there is very little difference between playing 3-handed or playing 10-handed; this is the same game.

The distinction between FR and short-handed is a gimmick that authors and publishers have been using for years to increase their bottom line by selling 2 books instead of one at the expense of beginning players who haven't grasped how to adjust when the number of players increase/decrease at the table (I know: I was there too.) Observant readers notice anyway that the content of FR books and SH books is almost identical. As a friend of mine often says: "You can't beat the truth!" even if authors try to disguise their book as being only a book for FR or only a book for SH. I repeat: this is the same game. Truly, a small chapter/a few paragraphs is all you need to make the transition from FR to SH. The fact that BlackRain wrote only one book for FR/SH is a testimony of his good understanding of poker fundamentals. Readers shouldn't hold it against him by saying, "Is there more than a paragraph to deal with SH games?" because really, you barely need more than a paragraph.

For microstakes sure. But others would disagree as one moves up as discussed in this thread:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78...-6max-1113179/

Thanks. I have read most of it and stood by what I said. A solid preflop strategy can handle both types (with small adjustments). Personally, I multi-table both FR and 6-max at the same time on ipoker. Don't know about higher stakes since FR doesn't seem to run much/at all above 100NL on the network.

I am just starting the book and just one question. Does NL4 play more similarly to NL5 or NL2?

From my experience playing NL4 on Merge I would have to say that it plays closer to the NL5 game on Stars.

I bought this book at the beginning of January this year. Here are my results since studying and applying the concepts Nathan teaches in Crushing the Microstakes.




Before I bought this book I was a break-even/losing player and could never understand why.

This book is a snap buy for anyone struggling to beat the lowest games on the Internet. Nathan outlines the basic fundamentals to build a solid strategy. As well as buying the book you also get access to a Skype group and a private forum. If you buy this book and apply the strategies Nathan has outlined you WILL CRUSH the micro NLHE games online as well as having a solid stepping stone to moving up the limits.

Thank you BlackRain for replying. I am not new to poker but I am young and new to the online culture of this game, it is encouraging getting a response from the author of one of the first books I am beginning my library with.

I reviewed this not long ago and posted it on my blog for anyone thats thinking of buying it

http://stealingblinds.blogspot.com/2...crostakes.html