Is ABC Poker really best style for micro stakes?

Hello everyone. I'm hearing this really often and wanted to ask your opinion. Many people are saying that and I'm not sure.

ABC Poker is really bad for exploitative opponents. I think there aren't really many exploitative players at micros. What do you think?

And is there any book could you advice to study/improve for exploitative game?

Loyal_Flush said:

Hello everyone. I'm hearing this really often and wanted to ask your opinion. Many people are saying that and I'm not sure.

ABC Poker is really bad for exploitative opponents. I think there aren't really many exploitative players at micros. What do you think?

And is there any book could you advice to study/improve for exploitative game?

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I'm starting to think maybe it is... I've been studying a lot recently and the more advanced concepts and style of play seem to be hurting me at the micro level, because no one is playing the way they "should". You probably don't need books for ABC. Just a casual stroll around the internet for the basics and you're off to the races. There's a lot of good resources right here, obviously, as well. CC is very good at getting people started. Good luck to you!

bellicoso said:

I'm starting to think maybe it is... I've been studying a lot recently and the more advanced concepts and style of play seem to be hurting me at the micro level, because no one is playing the way they "should". You probably don't need books for ABC. Just a casual stroll around the internet for the basics and you're off to the races. There's a lot of good resources right here, obviously, as well. CC is very good at getting people started. Good luck to you!

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Thanks for reply! That's right, CC helps really much. Tons of helpfull people Good luck!

At the micro stakes, based on my experience, YES, ABC poker is what you want to apply. You should focus on just out-fundamentaling your opponents, don't try fancy moves too much. Its all about the basics at the micro stakes.

youri said:

At the micro stakes, based on my experience, YES, ABC poker is what you want to apply. You should focus on just out-fundamentaling your opponents, don't try fancy moves too much. Its all about the basics at the micro stakes.

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Thanks for reply!

I'm trying to do my best but some opponents starting to exploit me when they notice that I'm staying to keep away from fancy moves Just like folding if i havent anything on flop and facing a c-bet there. I think i have to make some check-raise when i hit the flop.

ABC poker is still the best way to beat most low stakes poker games whether online or live.

There is a common misconception that you need to learn a ton of advanced strategies in order to beat bad poker players.

The opposite is actually true.

In order to beat low level beginner players the best thing you can do is keep everything is ridiculously simple as possible.

Bet when you are supposed to bet, raise when you should raise and so on. Fancy play syndrome (FPS) as I call it, is really the biggest mistake you can make in these games.

Micro stakes poker is all about getting paid, when you have the best hand and getting away cheap, when you dont. Feeling that you "need to have bluffs" against a calling station is just silly. They are going to pay you anyway, so why bother? Most regulars have learned this the hard way, so they also tend to not bluff much, when the pot gets big. Therefore you also dont need to "defend at the right frequenzy" in spots, where its very unlikely, your opponent is bluffing.

That being said if HUDs are allowed, then regs will notice it over time, if you fold to much to 3-bets preflop or fold to much to C-bets on the flop, and this will be exploited by some. But nobody has a large enough sample on you or for that matter enough time to dive into their HUD to see, if they can make a profitable bluff-raise on the river, after you raised preflop and bet all streets. Most regs play a bunch of tables at the same time, which force them to also keep things relatively simple most of the time.

I agree with this... My game is gradually becoming more and more weighted towards value bets vs the micros population. I guess the key is to figure out who the good regs are and maintain a solid game against them to stay sharp. Maybe you can also play vs Snowie on the side to keep the bluffing/floating mentality in your skill arsenal? I'm sure you realize there are also a lot of fit or fold players that you can bluff in an unbalanced manner, it just takes a lot of hands to really be sure who they are.

Loyal_Flush said:

Hello everyone. I'm hearing this really often and wanted to ask your opinion. Many people are saying that and I'm not sure.

ABC Poker is really bad for exploitative opponents. I think there aren't really many exploitative players at micros. What do you think?

And is there any book could you advice to study/improve for exploitative game?

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For exploitative play I highly recommend the grinder's manual. The author (Peter Clarke) is a coach at run it once. He's got free 6max articles and videos that he made for pokerstars school so you can get a taste. I've been through of lot of learning material and I'd say what I learned from him has been the most helpful.

ABCDEF is the best play vs micros

no need to worry about play

just play the top 10-15percent pre-flop hands then keep betting for value and just give up when you did not hit

Yeah i think it is + what i think the most important concept on micros is the so called "Baluga Theorem" - this can save you a tooon of money.

Yes I agree with this , especially in micro stakes you will be playing against different opponents everyday in the bigger sites.So ABC approach and value heavy plays will do the job for you. You just have to keep in mind and recognize ,if possible , how to adapt your play against micro regs , they may fold an exploitative river shove etc.

I have some doubts on what is ABC poker, if i take the pre flop chart of the 30-day course, and always open raise with then then fold if i hit nothing, is that the ABC?

sure, mostly because you have to play 4-8-12 tables at micros, and ABC is easy for multitabling

Nathan Williams said:

ABC poker is still the best way to beat most low stakes poker games whether online or live.

There is a common misconception that you need to learn a ton of advanced strategies in order to beat bad poker players.

The opposite is actually true.

In order to beat low level beginner players the best thing you can do is keep everything is ridiculously simple as possible.

Bet when you are supposed to bet, raise when you should raise and so on. Fancy play syndrome (FPS) as I call it, is really the biggest mistake you can make in these games.

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I like what you call "FPS" - I had that true for me in the past, but since have been learning that simple ABC poker is really good at the lowest levels. Beginners simply make enough mistakes, so we don't need to try to get fancy; just exploit their obvious weaknesses and value bet your best hands.

zixuzo said:

I have some doubts on what is ABC poker, if i take the pre flop chart of the 30-day course, and always open raise with then then fold if i hit nothing, is that the ABC?

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ABC poker is about not trying to many fancy multi-street bluffs like betting all 3 streets, because the board runout is QsTs2s5h8c, and you hold AsJc and therefore block the nut flush. Having the nut blocker is relevant against thinking players. But it does not matter, if your opponent is a fish, who will call you down with Kh8s, because he was chasing after an 8 high flush and rivered third pair, and he is not going to be pushed around by you.

Its also about not slowplaying to much. There is no reason for instance to overlimp QQ to trap players behind, as I saw someone do in a MTT today. Just make the simple raise for value. Sure in this case it kind of worked for him, since he got it in on the flop as a 4:1 favourite against me, but he still lost the hand, which he was mad about in the chat afterwards. If he just pump it up pre, then I go away with JTs, which is a fine enough outcome for him.

https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/aa1AeDym

Finally its about not assuming, that your opponents are paying a ton of attention to, what you are doing, and that your "table image" is therefore very important. As someone recently wrote in another thread, maybe they have been watching porn videos the whole time, so it has completely missed their attention, that you have hardly been involved at all, because you were card dead.

Or in case of regulars they are often playing so many tables at the same time, that they also dont have time to keep track off, what everyone has been doing, unless it was in hands against them specifically.

I pay attention to how people bet. 90% of people have a pattern when they bet. Most are easy to see, especially people that bluff way to much

You have had a couple of very good responses here.

If you do not know how to interpret WHY an opponent is doing something (and maybe they are just mashing buttons, but you need to know this is WHY they are doing whatever) then ABC is the best you can do IMHO.

When you can start to separate the "pros" in the micros - and there are some, they might not be good but they are plentiful - from the completely clueless, then you can start adjusting your play. Some people are playing purely off a HUD, some are multi-tabling, with or without HUD, and some are here "to play, damn it". And there are others. If you cant differentiate, then play ABC. When you can differentiate, you adjust.

I like the thought process of this thread. If you are playing ABC poker then you will be getting bad beats from Fish heads. If you study the table then you cannot multi table as much. So there may be an equation here do you make enough extra ABC to offset the focus factor of playing each opponent separately. Bottom line are you in it for the money or the joy of the play.

If you are good enough to do both at the same time touche!

ABC Poker is the best style for micro stakes because it is the foundation of poker. In ABC Poker we all have learn the fundamentals when, how and why we bet. when how and why we raise. when, how and why we bluff. ABC style of Poker is the basic of poker and it is how developed our skills, move up in stakes and learn how to exploit our opponents. Therefore, ABC Poker is the best style for micro stakes.

ABC poker with the occasional bluff.

In my opinion when I often do limp on preflop with suited connectors on non aggresive tables where many players see flop to catch strong dro or nice hand this is not bad. Or no? I know that isn't ABC poker.

Probably gonna go with yes, just know the fundamentals of whatever game your playing.

Nothing better has been invented yet. Minimum bluffs, do not invent anything. This is how micro-stakes pass.

I do think its the best way, mathematically and logically. Especially if you play multitables like 5 7 10 or more tables. And also thats why its called micro, its for simple poker and not calculating etc. Also, if you play micro on one table you should definitely not sweat it too much..

Play fundamental poker with emphasis on value betting instead large number of players play too many hands. I would limit bluffing players unless you know they are playing tight.