Micro stakes strategy. Oxymoron?

After doing only Sng and Mtt for a while,I have been studying a lot and trying to improve my cash game. I feel like I have a better grip on game strategy, I am paying attention to position, calling/betting/raising range, and feel ok about the way I am playing. I understand variance, but I am wondering if you just need the best hand or fold on these tables. In maybe 20 hands I saw 2 way all in 3 way all in and 4 way all in with hands like 79 s, KJos, Atos. OK, not all of em, some were JJ or KK or AA but lots of impossible PF all in hands. My raises were getting re raises that were then getting re-raised again that made it hard for me to stay in...... I havent been on cash games so much maybe I just forgot how it is.... I am on the micro stakes. Is it just an all in frenzy, or did I have bad table selection (watched 4 tables, happening on all of em)

OK I didnt post a question here so here is one...
Is Micro stake strategy: wait till you can afford to see the flop with a good hand, and take advantage of flopping the winner and then take the money and otherwise fold???? Of gambling with the rest of em.....?

wat

I guess what I was doing was ranting. I just cant seem to make any sense out of the players on the .2-.4 tables. 3 betting 7 9 s utg etc, and I find it extremely difficult to play them. Was wondering if strategy makes sense in these stakes of if one must just accept wild coin flips......Thats wat.....

play uber tight, wait till you have a very good hand and make them pay, they will. dont bluff, dont limp in too much, unless you have maybe a small pair and you want to catch a set. people dont give a crap if they have 7 9, for 2 cent they will see a flop and times will come when they are going to bust you, happens crap loads of times so you might as well get used to it :P
.

Advice for Micro stakes:
1: play tight- cbet often and dont playback at people who are likely playing straightforward.

2: Have a bankroll that can deal with the volatility of micro-stakes multi-buy in swings over a short session are not that crazy (at least at 6-max)

3: Play tight, be aggressive with your starting hands and charge people to play the random garbage they want to come in with

4: Prepare yourself for bad-beats/suckouts/coolers by having a box of Kleenex. Its hard to focus on the game with tears in your eyes so you need something near-by that will absorb them. I like the Kleenex brand because its softer and more absorbent. Also get the kind with lotion or you will end up rubbing your eye sockets raw.

5: Play tight because you need strong hands to be able to combat retards, they dont respect your bets and that should be ok.

The reason you find it difficult to play them is because you can't bring yourself to tighten up. If you have aces/kings/AK/AQ/ect. and they're 3-betting 79s, then you're doing a little jig behind your monitor.

lol, yes.. I just look at my HH, and it seems you might of as well.....
Seriously, I looked and did some analysis, and I do need to tighten up. TY.

Tight seems to be the word. Thanks for the posts all.

Ill re-evaluate my playing, (not on the cash tables much, thought Id give it a try again) and post again in a few days with better results........

Are you playing six max or full ring? For six max squeezing limpers is always effective. They may call your squeeze but will almost always give it up to a c-bet when they don't hit. Oh and try to keep Fancy plays to an absolute minimum, level 2 thinking is all that is required for NL2/NL5.

This is really big. The players down at the micros aren't paying attention to or understand for that matter a lot of the advanced plays you my have read about in your new cash games book, so don't even bother with it. No metagame analysis going on across the table here. Many times they only look at their hand and nothing else, so if they think their a5o or 79s is strong preflop and they decide they want to play, then you trying to squeeze them isn't getting them out preflop. Postflop is another story many times as they play fit or fold, but you have to C-Bet to figure that out like Boom also said.

When playing for pennies all you can really do is jam your monsters and cross your fingers. Wait for big hands and as long as you have an over pair or TPTK you should be good. Be aware of who you are playing against. There are still nits grinding it out down there and if they are calling you down or raising back you still need to ask yourself what hand they likely have.

-Raymond

lol, popowich, people that are playing that way are the people who I just sit and wait for. Their game is so predictable that you can just drive them right into the ground. Look up any of the players playing that way on a site like PTR and they are almost always a losing player.

TY Boom and Absolut.. I play mainly full ring. And, yea, I am seeing that I really have to mix it up. I am not trying to guess what they think I am thinking, cause they probably dont care what I am thinking, much less what I think they are thinking...... I have to tighten up as I find I cant place many players on hands, as ATC are often good enough. So the average villains starting range is, say, 2-7 os to AA, and pretty much everything in between........

and to quote a cartoon from my daughter....."do they know I am thinking about them, and are they thinking about me thinking about them, and are they thinking about me thinking about them thinking about me while I am thinking about them thinking about me thinking about them..............." Hmmmmm, what was that about level 2 thinking lol

I play microstakes all the time cose my bankroll is small yet.
Depending on what site u play u will see all kind of players.
Is like the guys before me said. There are a lot of fish but after watching 15-20 hands u'll see who they are and how are they playing. Usualy i play at tables of 6 and there are 2-3 resonable players and the rest is fish. I do not play full ring cose it is hard to read all the players.
At 6 max i usualy see who the players making money are an i do not challeneg them without a reason.
With the fish it is easy. They usually bluff a lot, call a lot of chips to see the next card . U just have to pay attention to them to not really get caught if they have a monster. Most of the maniac fish try to bluff almost every hand cose they do not know any other way. Play tight agressive and make profit. Do not slow play them without being sure u have the best hand untill the river cose they might get lucky. Donks follow a flush untill the end and overestimate a pair. Do not get in all in situations with them before the flop without having a monster. Usualy stupid ppl are lucky If u see a big raise form a fish they do not necessary have a good hand preflop. Pocket pairs , suited connectors, an ace are heaven to them. In other words they make all the possible mistakes .
With patience u can take all of their money cose they do not leave the table if they are lucky to win an all in or a big hand.

I cannot give advice for full ring cash tables cose i never play them at microstakes knowing 3-4 donks will dance with me if i am going all in with aces. I only play full ring in tournaments.
At 6 max usualy 2 or 3 players see the flop even at microstakes and it is not that hard to overplay them cose most of the time they are predictable.


PS. A dollar a day made at microstakes is heaven. Usualy after 3-4 hours of playing i have my dollar and close the computer. Never ask for more cose is risky

Take a lot of notes. Also try limping suited connectors on the button and co behind 2 or 3 limpers. You'll find that in a multi way pot players at these limits almost always give you good odds to call. You don't want to limp early because there's a lot of aggression at most tables.

DON'T LIMP

RAISE, please for the love of god stop limping.

EVERYONE please stop limping, it does not help your game.

Maybe your playing FR, but why does everyone want to limp so bad?

PFR+Cbet= profit

You don't really wanna be raising with 98 suited with 3 other players in the pot. Limp+playing the odds = profit

since starting this post, I must say, I have been hearing, reading and being told this so much. I am actively pursuing a "dont limp" style, just to see, meaning raise or fold, and i'll be damned if it aint growin on me...... If I wont call a raise on it, fold it, or make the raise myself, simple..... I will be posting how it continues, but I already see the game different......(im talking PF here)

98s is a great hand to raise with, I even 3-Bet with it fairly often with a lot of success. It has a ton of possibilities postflop and a proper raise will/should eliminate half of the limpers just trying to see a flop for cheap. Passive is not the way to play poker...at least not if you want to win anything.

I will raise the hell out of 98s on the button when it has been limped to me 100% of the time at the microstakes.

1: people fold after they limp a lot and when they don't...
2: they fold to my cbet when I miss and if they don't happen to do that then...
3: I hit my hand sometimes real hard and pick up someones stack.

Or you can limp and when someone bets on the flop when you miss you can... fold, or do you call when you simply pair up, tough to know where you are after the flop when you limp I guess.

Sometimes i raise 5-6 hands 4 BB with junk . It is my strategy to scare the donks that are limping with junk . After they call 5-6 times and loose a quarter of the stack just to see the flop they kinda get scared and do not limp for a while with pure junk. I do not mind losing 25 BB cose i know i will take 4 times more from them .

playing micro stakes cash game is just a joke, you cannot play good thier and win, id bump to at least.2 .05 were the play is alittle bit better and players are playing a little bit more skilled.

Classic.

lol, play at 2NL is just about the exact same as 5NL. Stupid moves with no rationalization. Players that watch the WSOP then go to a table and think they can bluff anyone off their hand no matter what their hand is.

The difference in skill between 2nl and 5nl is dramatic.

Its TWICE the buy in, its like the difference between 50nl and 100nl.

5nl is basically where the hardened veterans of the micros dwell, its a cut-throat game but if your a cagey player with lots of moves you'll be successful there.

Just wait til you get to 10NL, its nuts up there.

Ya, I routinely 6-bet AJo for value 300bb's deep at 10NL, because the play is so advanced.

lol

In my limited 5NL experience it seems slightly tighter than 2NL.

In 2NL you have some idiots with 64/10 stats that want to see every flop..vs these guys im more inclined to limp along (knowing that they will all call regardless). Raises and cbets just arent always profitable vs these donks with small pp or scs.

You still get those same idiots at 5NL all the time, and they start to trail off a little into 10NL, but they are still there.

You kind of have to figure out who at your table knows what he's doing and who doesn't. It usually doesn't take long to figure out.

I just had a guy call my 4xbb raise with 63 offsuit. And you know what? He spikes a triplet of 3s on the flop. But he kept checking, and he only called my 25c raise on the turn (with AK on a QQ33 board). So I only lost 45c there.

Against a guy like that, you'll need to forget about bluffing or semibluffing and jam it when you have a reasonably solid hand.

I lost my job and had to take out almost all of my money from tilt and stars; now forced to play micro and trying to grind out a BR. Yea there's a lot of buffoons out there making completely insane plays, but you occasionally run into some good players at that level as well.

PF if you've got a good starting hand - raise the hell out of it.

I have noticed that if you fold too much, sometimes even the fish notice when you come in for a raise and get out of your way. Of course I've folded for 3 rounds, come in for a raise with a big PP and gotten called by 4 players as well.

Ramblin' reply - I know I had a point to make when I started - maybe I'll think of it later.

What stakes was this at?

Yes u cannot be that tight even at microstakes.
But the big problem is not preflop. Problem is after the flop where sometimes donks follow u untill the river. and make streights or 3 of kind with 2,3,4,5. U have to raise like hell when u have the best hand after the flop cose if they have a chance of streight they will follow if u raise like 1/3 pot or half of the pot. That is the problem at microstakes. They follow draws untill the rive a lot of times.

very low. .2 -.5 cents. I know, it is probably just the nature of the beast....

I wont enter a game where the table leader is more than one and a half the max entry. these people have usually been at the table some time and have the cards going for them...play tight and dont tilt on bad beats.