How I Roll @ .01/.02

L

light65536

Rock Star
Silver Level
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Aug 7, 2007
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I'm including my most recent session in .01/.02 with full hand history for anyone to learn from or just amuse yourselves here:

Poker Blog: How I Roll

Too long to post here. If anyone likes it I might post another. It's how I RUN good and BAD.
 
c9h13no3

c9h13no3

Is drawing with AK
Silver Level
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Total posts
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PokerStars Game #18368805305: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.01/$0.02) - 2008/06/25 - 03:38:42 (ET)
Table 'Semele' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: mustang548 ($2.70 in chips)
Seat 2: 100BadAces ($3.10 in chips)
Seat 3: KumaKiller ($2.96 in chips)
Seat 4: glm2 ($0.54 in chips)
Seat 5: ketupat ($2.91 in chips)
Seat 6: light65536 ($5.57 in chips)
100BadAces: posts small blind $0.01
KumaKiller: posts big blind $0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to light65536 [Ad Th]
glm2: calls $0.02
ketupat: folds
light65536: raises $0.03 to $0.05 <-- make a real raise to at least 8c here.
mustang548: folds
100BadAces: calls $0.04
KumaKiller: calls $0.03
glm2: calls $0.03
*** FLOP *** [4d 8h Kd]
100BadAces: checks
KumaKiller: checks
glm2: checks
light65536: checks
*** TURN *** [4d 8h Kd] [2s]
100BadAces: checks
KumaKiller: checks
glm2: checks
light65536: checks
*** RIVER *** [4d 8h Kd 2s] [5c]
100BadAces: bets $0.04
KumaKiller: folds
glm2: folds
light65536: calls $0.04 <--Calling with ace high at these limits is largely a losing play.




Dealt to light65536 [7s 9s]
KumaKiller: calls $0.02
glm2: calls $0.02
ketupat: folds
light65536: folds <-- good time to limp in behind and get in a multi-way pot with a hand that flops well.



Dealt to light65536 [Ah Th]
100BadAces: calls $0.02
KumaKiller: folds
glm2: folds
ketupat: calls $0.02
light65536: raises $0.03 to $0.05 <-- not a fan of these micro raises. At these stakes, raise big or just limp.


*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to light65536 [8c 8s]
glm2: calls $0.02
tbird86ghz: checks
light65536: raises $0.08 to $0.10 <-- with the table playing as loose & good as it is, there's a lot less value to raising this pair here. And if you're going to raise it, make it a smaller one to induce more calls. We're not looking for flop fold equity, which is a big reason you raise small pairs.
mustang548: calls $0.10
100BadAces: calls $0.09
KumaKiller: folds
glm2: calls $0.08
tbird86ghz: calls $0.08
*** FLOP *** [5h 7d 3d]
100BadAces: checks
glm2: checks
tbird86ghz: checks
light65536: bets $0.25
mustang548: calls $0.25
100BadAces: calls $0.25
glm2: folds
tbird86ghz: folds
*** TURN *** [5h 7d 3d] [Jc]
100BadAces: checks
light65536: checks <-- Keep betting. These fish are unlikely to have hit the J, and it doesn't fill any draws. You crush their range, so keep betting for value.
mustang548: checks


light65536: posts small blind $0.01
mustang548: posts big blind $0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to light65536 [Kc 6h]
100BadAces: calls $0.02
KumaKiller: calls $0.02
glm2: folds
tbird86ghz: calls $0.02
light65536: calls $0.01 <--this is a pretty marginal complete in the SB.
mustang548: checks
That's good enough for now. Also, this is a really awesome table you've found. My only suggestion other than those random things I pointed out are to *STOP C-BETTING COMPLETELY*. This game is awesome, and your opponents are calling with anything. In games like this, you pretty much do not c-bet unless you are heads up with another decent player. But at this table, everyone is a fish, and you are only betting for value.
 
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rwilson

rwilson

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Agree with everything C9h13no3 says.. play less hands at this limit and play the cards more. The rest are calling anything.. wait for the big hands and then punish them.

Remember also, micro raises won't deter others from calling, so if you're trying to thin the field to get good high cards heads up or 3 handed, then you need to raise harder. There's little reason to min raise in most forms of poker.. it'll usually just make you worse off.
 
L

light65536

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Joined
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That's not the purpose for raising. If I play pretty tight then I don't get any callers when I raise on a 6 player turbo table. A good sized raise is between 10-17 cent depending on the table. I'd say about 12 cent is a good raise that's roughly 6x the big blind. What I'm trying to do is setup with the small raise say a 5 cent raise a post-flop steal AND also conceal the strength of my hand. Say, I have 10-9. What should I do with it? If I call then people say he's probably playing something that's a draw. But at the same time I might be beat. I don't want to spend a lot of money on my bluffs.

If I raise 5 cent and 2 blinds are left to act it could put me on an Ace for sure with a weak kicker but they might have drawing hand like J-10. It's cheap. So they call. An ace hits and I raise: they fold because I hit my ace. I'm so lucky.

Look at another way, I bluff on the flop and take down a small pot. But this is only part of the reason for my raises which is not a min raise (as 4 cent is a min raise) its 1 cent more. But the other reason is that now I have a big hand. I raise 5 cent too. There are only usually 2 or 3 people left to act and the small blind will fold most of the time anyway. So they try to get back at me by re-raising. Good that's what I want. I *know* what I'm playing but they have no clue.

Now from early position I agree or with many callers its better to put in a real raise but this is only 6 player and usually from button on. Sometimes with such a small raise I might even win a pot.

What would happen if I raise my raise to something like 10 or 12 cent? Well they'll see my range is pretty wide and when they call they'll know they are either "equal" or have me beat. My whole concept behind this is that its cheap.

I agree the 4 cent raise is silly but a 5 cent raise is also if you thinka bout it the pot is only 3 cent and thats more then the pot with only 2 people to act.

The other thing is if you aren't paying close attention it looks like I'm a maniac. I'm raising every time 5 cents and in a lot of pots. But I'm not spending much money. I know from experience if I sit and wait for a big hand and raise a good amount which is in my experience 17 cent then I wont get any callers. But every game is different.. in some games I'm getting called all the time with 12 cent raises. My post-flop standard raise is 8 cents. I always raise 8 cents whether hit or not.

This does a few things too. If I raise 8 cents and I raised 5 cents and you called and you didnt hit. Maybe you think I didn't hit either and you re-raise me. That's good because maybe this time I have a real hand. OR maybe I don't and I fold because I never had anything at all. If I raised something like 10 cent then I'd have to raise EVEN more post-flop for my bluff. PLus I don't really like the way the number 6 looks.

I mean I'm open to suggestions but I want to make small bluffs and not risk much money and playing a lot of hands with these small bets can and often does setup some great things. I don't feel the pressure that a TAG has to make a hand. I get to play nothing. Early position I play standard TAG as most people here advocate but I find this works for me but it may not be the most optimal way to play.
 
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c9h13no3

c9h13no3

Is drawing with AK
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What I'm trying to do is setup with the small raise say a 5 cent raise a post-flop steal AND also conceal the strength of my hand.
1) You can't steal from these guys, because they don't fold. Just look at what players are calling with in the hand history.
2) Conceal? They call with anything, and they obviously don't care how strong your hand is!
3) Your hand value decreases exponentially with the number of players in the pot, so by keeping others in, you are decreasing your chances of winning.

Your raises should be for *value*. The 2$ NL games on Ultimatebet that I played in were a little different than the ones on stars. Many players there had just won a dollar in freerolls, and were scared of losing it. So bluffing and putting pressure on them worked. But even then, I was raising *bigger*, and pushing them off hands with just brute force. Not messing around with cute little micro bets.

Stars and other sites (like Carbon) have a much different atmosphere. Bluffing is almost worthless, and the tables are very loose.

I know that bluffing is cool and glamorous, and you think you're being strategic with your raises. But you're just not paying attention to what your opponents are doing.

In poker, we make money when our opponents make mistakes. We make more money when they make big mistakes. So what mistake is our opponent more likely to make? Are they more likely to call too loose & light, or are they more likely to fold the best hand?

So yeah, here's my challange to you. If you wanna be strategic playing poker, then work on finding more situations to valuebet. These players are calling you down very light, so if you can find a lot of places to value-bet where you usually wouldn't, you will improve your profitability a lot.
 
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KyleJRM

KyleJRM

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Sep 9, 2007
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I think what we have here is a classic case of thinking too many levels beyond your opponents.
 
rwilson

rwilson

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Jan 15, 2008
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Just some pointers that you may or may not want to keep in mind:

*A small raise gives you no information on what your opponent may or may not be playing, and once you get one caller it gives every player behind them an excuse to limp with just about any two cards.

*A micro raise also induces callers.. it's harder to bluff 4 or 5 opponents than it is 1 or 2.

*"My post-flop standard raise is 8 cents. I always raise 8 cents whether hit or not." - C-betting every time and to a standard amount isn't a good idea. It may work sometimes at 2nl, but you'll just end up bleeding a lot of unecessary cash doing this. Surely people cotton onto this even at 2nl? C-betting often is probably not a good idea full stop in 2nl.

*"I want to make small bluffs and not risk much money" - You'll risk and lose more money long term by making lots of small bluffs at pots at this level. trust me.

*When you raise all the time to a micro amount, you won't be getting enough value from your bigger hands, and your bigger hands wont hold up as often.
 
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