Hi all,

I thought I'd make a thread to discuss some strategy tips for beating the microstakes games. Is there any patterns, lines, plays and moves that you have picked up on through playing these games?

Any leaks you've discovered yourself that you haven't had much success with also?

Please feel free to include anything else relevant to the topic. Might as well make the most out of this useful resource.

Regards.


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I think this is a great idea and I'd love if this thread took off. Most general strategy I find for the micros is either for 6max or is pretty outdated

I keep reading that you can relentlessly value bet at the micros because everyone is loose-passive, but I haven't found this is the case. I think more people know to fold to aggression on later streets in the micros now

In general, I've found:
-a limp/raise or limp/shove pre is often KK/AA
-people do not 3bet enough pre, so if someone 3bets you with appropriate sizing (2.5-4x) they are usually strong
-people cbet flops too often but rarely bluff two streets, so floating or semi-bluff raising in position can be profitable

My biggest leaks:
-not folding AK/AQ enough when I miss
-not betting big enough when I try to squeeze. People who have already put money in the pot call way too wide pre
-3betting pre from the blinds too often

Specifically about NL5 on stars, regs are 3betting more, including bluffs, but some of gthe light 3bettors are doing this with weird hands like Q3s, A7o, and even pure crap sometimes, so it is a good idea to pay attention and make notes all the time at the micros.

Postflop, people seems to finally adapt to the old saying that you have to play aggressive poker to win, but a lot of them are overdoing it (spew) so I think it pays to do the opposite and tone down your aggression, especially on the flop.

Games changed a lot and you can´t just fold everything but the nuts without thinking about ranges, villain´s line etc, but my biggest leak is sometimes overdoing this and being a station. But I think I´m slowly improving here.

Interesting analysis. Im going through similar processes myself.

A thing I've definitely noticed is the limp raise/shove pre either meaning AA or KK. With either of those hands the micro players are really keen to get the stacks in the middle, which helps when you are sitting with AK, 10s or jacks and are wondering whether or not to call.

One thing I've noticed also (well I read it on a newsletter and paid it a little attention) is players seem to quick call/quick bet when they have Middle pair or drawing. I can't say the same for all players but since I read that I've started to monitor betting speeds and the cards they are showing up with at showdown. Feels like it's worthwhile carrying it on.

I'd say currently my main leak is getting bored and loosening up too much. I've noticed when this happens and drifting away from playing tight (under 16% vpip) I just seem to get into expensive and tricky situations that other wise could of been avoided. I find it's difficult to make other players fold at micro; not so much because I'm portraying weakness (at least I don't think) but just because they have a high calling frequency.

As of late, my most profitable plays have been table hopping/scouting tables for players who are in a large majority of the pots and are just throwing money around. Then I've just been waiting for a decent hand and when I hit, even if they've connected with the board with a mediocre hand I'm getting good value out of my bets.


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Agree.

About playing looser due to boredom (a mild form of tilt imo), Idk if there is a perfect solution other than trying very hard to enforce discipline in yourself. One thing that I´m doing the last 2 months is keeping all my preflop ranges (handwritten in a piece of paper) in front of me while playing.

Also avoiding any trigger for tilt/frustration. If I have to take any big decision for a great part of my stack, I´m either covering the table or minimizing it after clicking, so I´m not seeing the results immediately after the decision. Waiting 30 secs-1 minute and seeing it using the replayer removes most of the frustration if it´s a bad beat, or even if I made a mistake.

Re: playing loose out of boredom, I've found a way to deal with this, although I'm sure it's a terrible habit. But sometimes I'll play 2-3 full ring tables (5nl on ignition) where I play tight and wait for value spots, and while I do that I'll also be playing a $1 heads-up sit-n-go. The heads-up has enough constant action to keep me from getting bored, and I'm not terrible at heads up so I'm usually winning or breaking even there, and at the very least it saves me from spewing at the full ring tables. Like I said, I'm sure this is a terrible habit but it works for me

Wouldn´t say that it´s bad, the best approach is the one that works for you, but I tried to mix formats (FR and 6-max same session) one day long time ago and the end result was quite bad, so I´m pretty sure it wouldn´t work for me to mix HU.

I'm finding multi-tabling definitely helping. So far a good balance for me is two tables and a you tube video on my other screen. My boredom loose play has definitely improved since I opened up another table


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I think this is excellant. I do this myself aswell, but don't fall in the trap of being too rigid. You need a default range but you should adjust to your table aswell. After a 100hands you usually start to have a good idea of the table's dynamic. You could even add notes to your default range for the kind of table you're in.

At those stakes, you usually have a lot of extremes. Either supreme calling station/maniacs or super weak wide/tight player that will fold to almost any kind of bluff.