Two inter-related concepts for microstakes: Balance Opening Range and C-betting

I'm wondering what others think about the need to show a balanced hand range for Early position when playing 5nl. Is it important to play sm/ medium pps when OOP so as to not play with your hole cards face up?

If so, what about c-betting when you miss? If you raise pf with 77 and the flop comes down KT4 do you fire a c-bet? If not most villians think check means weakness and will often try to take the pot from you but if you bet and get called you are probably beat. This also applies to AK and Suited Broadway Aces. Last night I was in the CO. The guy to my right open limped and I raised with AJs. He called and the flop came down all low cards with one spade. He made a pot-sized bet and I re-raised him. He called. The turn was a blank. He checked and I checked behind. Another blank on the river. I checked and he showed K6s and had paired his six on the flop. To think he called a raise OOP and a re-raise on the flop with a pair of sixes blew my mind. Of course the ultimate irony is he was also suited in spades so had we made I flush I would have stacked him.

So is c-betting worth the investment or should I not be worried about being transparent and go back to playing 77-22 only in late position?

It depends.

imo a balanced range should be almost not a concern at 5nl unless you're playing the same people often and/or you think your opponents are paying attention more than typical for 5nl. Same with deciding whether to c-bet or not. If you look at the board, think about what you know about your opponent, then look at your hand and decide whether a bet will 1) get a fold when you have a weak/no hand or 2) get money in when you likely have the best hand, or 3) possibly get a fold but otherwise get money in if called and you have strong draws (semi-bluff).

If you have no hand and your opponent never folds, then there's no point betting. If, on the other hand, you have Ace high and your opponent will always call down with King high, then you have the best hand. That's why it depends.

The value of opening 22-77 from early at 5nl would be that if you hit a set, your opponents are highly likely to pay you off with their KJ that flops top pair. It also makes c-betting pretty simple; in most cases you are turning your pair into a bluff since there will be overcards on the flop. Often bet once then fold to resistance. At 5nl there won't be many opponents that you need to worry any more about, unless you have seen for certain that they always bet the river. Those ones you may want to look up.

No need to balance at micros (or small or even mid) stakes because no one's solid.

Seriously, just fold you're small pairs and play a tight range (~7%) from EP. You'll still get plenty of calls and you'll make more money. As for cbetting if you're HU and OOP just cbet unless you think the particular villain is going to play back at you without a hand. Most 5nl villains are so fit or fold (yes they think 3rd pair fits) that not cbetting when HU is a big mistake.

I've seen several of this type of post from you now and I REALLY think you're overthinking it. You should be going for fat value (TPTK = 3 street unless they raise), get every $$ in you can with 2pair+ on most boards, at least consider folding TP/overpairs when they raise, make them pay to draw, play as many hands as possible IN position and as few as possible OUT of position, cbet often, double barrel scare cards and times when you turn added equity, don't flat 3bets without deep stacks, and give your opponents opportunities to make more mistakes than you.

That's it. That's all you need. See you at 100nl shortly.

I appreciate everyone's comments. My natural tendency is to play tight but honestly 5nl is a minefield as these players will call raises with ATC and then stack you with Q3. I have learned how to fold lower Overpairs to a re-raise when I am OOP, however I just feel that playing a TAG style gets you lots of tiny pots until you get stacked with your Overpair or TPTK because you ran into a set or 2 pair on a dry board and you cannot accept that someone would call a raise or even a re-raise with total junk or you run into the one hand that beat you. I have had sets which ran into straights. Straights that ran into full houses. It is utterly discouraging to play good poker for 2 hours and lose a hand like this. Last two times I made TPTK with AK I ran into Pocket Aces and Pocket 22s that flopped a set in a 3 way pot.

This is where position helps the most. You have to be able to lay down TPTK when someone minraises you or river check/check TPTK when someone has floated your 1st 2 barrels.

This is just variance and good variance. You are playing against ranges, not specific hands and if villains are beating you with the one out that they had then you have beaten the range which will yield profit in the long term.

Of course variance has an infinite time line so there is no guarantee that my variance would even out in my lifetime. If you flipped a coin 1 million times and each time it came up heads then the probability of it coming up tails in the 1,000,001th time is 50%. I am definitely tails in a heads world.

Balnced range from UTG @ 5nl?

Ill tell you a secret that I figured out all on my own. Youll never need a balanced range. Almost never.
This is something that applies more in a HU enviroment.
More important is your hand reading skills. Focus more attention on that.


UTG, Hi-jack, CO, BTN, SB, BB.
The only position that matters is your position on the fish. Obv. the more hands you play in EP, the more marginal spots youll find yourself in OOP. As you get better at hand reading and ranges you can open your range from all positions more comfortably.


But Im a freakin donk. So take everything I say with a grain of salt.

Just play ABC poker. Against the ones you know are halfway competent, you can throw in some bluffs once in a while. Otherwise don't bother to be fancy.

I have now come close to quintupling my original deposit at Carbon doing nothing but playing straight forward poker, with the occasional loosening up in late position. Most observant people would probably be able to read me like a book, but I still win...

That should give you an idea of the type of players at the bottom stakes.

Thanks. I resumed doing that yesterday, playing very tight EP, c-betting 90% of the time, folding AQ vs a rasied pot, not trying to be tricky with AA, playing AK properly. Folding single pairs to a re-raise when OOP without a good read and mixing in a few bluffs on the turn and river.

Result over approx 250 hands = 160bb profit. Obviously I've been running good and have been at some soft tables- very little 3 betting and was able to get AI w/ AA vs QQ but it feels good to be back.

I'm trying to figure out how to win at the micro-stakes right now. So far has been difficult. But gonna keep learning and hopefully will succeed and eventually move up.

Focus on cbetting before worrying about expanding your EP range. Playing in EP sucks. Expanding your EP range requires concepts such as double-barreling and requires more advanced hand-reading, and if you haven't figured out cbetting on the flop you'll be lost at double-barreling with draws/air/small pps.

basics first.

as an addendum, I'd add suited broadways to your range of, say, 77+/AQ+ from UTG before smaller pairs. they're a lot easier to play postflop. KQs is such a superior hand for pure playability than 22.

I love your response - It's like a super condensed beginners guide to micro-stakes. Short, sweet and to the point ^_^

Although, I must say personally I enjoy opening up with a min-raise with small pp from ep to get rid of at least a few limpers and following up with a C-bet on the flop given the board texture. I feel like my min-raise gives my C-bet a bit more backing and I feel like the times I take down the pot pre-flop or on the flop out weighs the fewer times I get called or re-raised on the flop which from that point is usually an easy lay down.

When I read what I've written it sounds a bit dangerous in all honesty but it's been effective for me so far.

I'm certainly no expert but playing marginal hands out of position just can't be profitable long term. I have finally started to beat the micros and position is vital.