How do you find the balance?

I've just started playing micro nl cash games and I'm having a lot of trouble. I believe that my main obstacle is finding the right balance and timing of being aggressive and not so aggressive. It seems like whenever I try to bully others out of a pot I get sucked in to they're monster, but when I play more timidly I just get pushed out of most hands. Does anyone have any tips/advice on finding a balance and/or knowing when to be pushy and when to back off?

This sounds familiar. I know that bullying the clueless doesn't work. But I'm also really struggling with this game because, well, I'm not sure why and I'm looking for answers myself.

Good bullying is not so easy as it seems!
You need to know your opponents very well if you do!

Im not so sure that bullying at Micro is such a great strategy.

Learn to play good solid poker and dont waste your cash just to try to be a bully.



Snow

I think this is a common mistake new poker players make, bluffing too much. Try playing strong starting hands and not just any two cards. Let them try to bluff into you and get caught. You may not play as many hands, but your money will last longer.

Exactly...Snow nailed it.

Sidereal, the "balance" you're looking for is: bet when you have it and check/fold when you don't. At micro stakes, aggression w/out the goods just gets called down. Aggression w/ the goods gets the money.

You've got all day, wait for it.

I see your point guys, thank you. I've been working on this and what has been helping me is moving up from 1 table to 2 at a time which keeps me from getting too bored so I'm more patient.

At the micros you have to play tight aggresive. Don't try and steal the small pots. Make your move later on when they'll probably put you a monster hand.

Doubling up every 15 minutes looks great on paper.
Id like to see it done.

Double up once an hour if your lucky. Trying to push a double up because of time constraints just sounds silly to me.


Follow the advice given above.

Tighten up your starting hands.
Play more aggressive if you got the hand.
Less UTG play and more button play.
Arguing with a fool, makes you both fools. Bluffing at a dummy, makes you both dummies.

And most important of all probably... Dont play over your head.

Don't be aggressive out of position, also it's helpful if you have a good hand/draw.

One major component of bluffing is how well do you know the player you are trying bluff? A tight player is prone to laying down a hand, a lose player or call station will call you down even if the only thing they have is bottom pair (or less). Until you figure out who is who, just stick to solid, basic poker. If you haven't developed your observation skills, don't bluff. Also, be really careful if an ace or king hits the board. At the micro level, just about any ace or king is going to be played.

^^^This.
If you don't have the nutz in micro stakes, don't try to bully them. If you think you have the best hand on the flop you might want to try betting the pot so they do no chase and end up catching a monster. For example: you have Ac6d in the bb, limped pot, flop is Ah 2h 6s. Right now you most likely have the best hand. But that flop is what is called a "wet flop", meaning there is potential for others to draw out a big hand and/or a monster hand on you. Try and bet them off the flop, if another low card shows up (3, 4, 5) or another heart then back off to lessen the amount you will lose or throw out a lower bet (not the pot size) and see what happens. But if a dry card hits the turn (a card that doesn't seem to help with a draw) like the 9d then bet the pot again and try to get them off of their draw.

It's late and this is an example I came up with on when to not play timid and when to.

I've been taking all of your advice into account and my game has really improved. I've been working hard on folding the second best hand, I think that was my main issue. I'm finding that watching video of good players or WSOP is really helping keep me sharp.