Small ball

Hey guys. So about a month or two ago, I saw Negreaneu's small ball idea. basically steal a bunch of blinds by betting small and if you get caught toss it in since you didn't invest too much. and if they try to fight back and you have a big hand take it down. I tried it with some of the don's before they went away and sometimes i do it with the fifty50's. either 5 or 10 buy in. worked as well as any other strategy, I'd recommend putting it in your pocket.

I was curious as to whether or not anyone has tried it at a ring table. if it would even be relevant at a ring table since the tourney and ring differences. I am not too great at ring games so when i do play its small like at most 0.05 bb. so i doubt anything other than bet your hands works consistantly. but for those of you that play $1 bb or anything bigger i'd be interested to know if youve done it, you know whether it would work or not, ideas on small ball at ring games. just whatever really.

I see some people trying to do this and most times I 3bet them and they fold. It does seem like an interesting idea, and it's always a good idea to have different ways to mix up your game.

I use this in ring games. I am not so interested in the blind stealing in the ring games as when playing tournaments but it does help create a loose image. Combined with flop SB CB's, I think it can definetly keep you a float or maybe even adding to your stack while creating a loose image that will work well when you flop a big hand.

The 2nd commentm the guy who raises when seeing people do this probably is working well for him. If the player is not adjusting at all and not bluff 4 betting, most of the time he will be picking up the pot.

i've played poker at a reasonable level for years and i've no idea what small ball means other than blind stealing which is the most basic and fundamental poker stategy ever. stealing blinds is the first thing you learn beyond playing tight.

Been discussed a number of times in the forum, search for the threads and you'll find it.

Nutshell - Small Ball works best when all players have deep stacks, M>30, blinds increase slowly and relatively small, so it's not very useful for most of the online games. Big live multi-day tournaments where stacks are huge and levels go up every 2 hours.

reverie said:

i've played poker at a reasonable level for years and i've no idea what small ball means other than blind stealing which is the most basic and fundamental poker stategy ever. stealing blinds is the first thing you learn beyond playing tight.

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i hear ya

i kinda think of it as avoiding big pots ... obviously the raise you make to steal is affordable unless you are short stacked

the continuation bet, again, is usually affordable

beyond that you get very conservative ... not saying you lay down top pair or anything, but you really try to avoid a huge pot with beatable hands

if you can check down a pot with another player who mgiht also be small balling, then that is another safe thing ... you both got something, but whether drawing or having a real hand ... you check it down anyway, since you still are winning blinds and antes from the other players at the table, say, 50% of the time ... this seems to happen more, again, close to the cash

Every few weeks/months a new small ball thread pops up.


Heres the rub.

DN is critizicised for his abilty to beat online poker.
And you want to use a strategy from him.... WHY?