Contradictory advice/strategy

I try and take in as much advice as I can and during the lockdown days it was alot easier to find time to study than now.. But Ive always kinda found the same thing.. Alot of advice and learning I read seems to contradict itself.

For instance.. (im a 1/2c player) And people who are well versed in those stakes say forget fancy play, focus on the fundamentals, bet for value rather than bluffing... But then say if your AF is sitting below 2 your not being aggressive enough.
If your only betting for value, unless your on some huge heater you are never ever getting your AF high enough.

Should you even take note of your stats (apart from Vpip) when playing at the micros???

They say you should try to really play in position unless you have a really top hand, yet so much writing is about opening ranges where (unless you are on the button) you are probably going to be playing out of position.

People say stick to the fundamentals of poker at the micros and its easy to beat, But there is no way you can win enough pots to mitigate the losses just folding every flop that doesn't have a draw or misses entirely.

If I open raise and I miss the flop what am I doing? Checking? C-betting? Because a C-bet with a missed flop is basically a bluff as far as I see it.

I feel like no matter what I do Im doing something wrong depending on what 'fundamental' rule might pop into my head.. and im losing, alot. Consistently around 2/3 Buy ins per session.

Are you playing full ring or 6-max?
Have you read any poker books?
How many hands have you played in total?

Also there is a misconception about "fundamental" poker. People think fundamental poker is exploitative poker and "fancy play" is GTO; but in reality fundamental poker is both exploitative and GTO and everything in between. "Fundamental" is like learning the alphabet before starting to write words and sentences.

Make sure you are studying from a reputable source and not just listening to random advice. Also make sure you're studying for your specific game type.

I also commented on an earlier post about 2NL that I suggested studying exploitative play to use against the fish there. High rake means you need to maximize your winnings when you have the goods to compensate for the high rake to pot ratio.

Hope this helps.

JR1987 said:

I try and take in as much advice as I can and during the lockdown days it was alot easier to find time to study than now.. But Ive always kinda found the same thing.. Alot of advice and learning I read seems to contradict itself.

For instance.. (im a 1/2c player) And people who are well versed in those stakes say forget fancy play, focus on the fundamentals, bet for value rather than bluffing... But then say if your AF is sitting below 2 your not being aggressive enough.
If your only betting for value, unless your on some huge heater you are never ever getting your AF high enough.

Should you even take note of your stats (apart from Vpip) when playing at the micros???

They say you should try to really play in position unless you have a really top hand, yet so much writing is about opening ranges where (unless you are on the button) you are probably going to be playing out of position.

People say stick to the fundamentals of poker at the micros and its easy to beat, But there is no way you can win enough pots to mitigate the losses just folding every flop that doesn't have a draw or misses entirely.

If I open raise and I miss the flop what am I doing? Checking? C-betting? Because a C-bet with a missed flop is basically a bluff as far as I see it.

I feel like no matter what I do Im doing something wrong depending on what 'fundamental' rule might pop into my head.. and im losing, alot. Consistently around 2/3 Buy ins per session.

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arenaci said:

Are you playing full ring or 6-max?
Have you read any poker books?
How many hands have you played in total?

Click to expand...

I only really play 6 max cash.
I've played just short of 30,000 hands.

I havent read any poker books but I've watched and read alot of black rains material. Also alot of others but I know it doesn't apply so much at the micros.

Here's the thing poker is more grey than simply black and white. I can play the same situation six ways and justify all six.

Books and videos will help with seeing how other players thinks and plays certain spots but you must make your own strategy and have multiple strategies for different kinds of players and different situations.

Try to always have a plan in a hand and always have a purpose for you action. Some good questions to ask is why am I betting/calling/raising, what is my opponent representing, does the story me or my opponent is telling make sense.

Above all you must put your strategies into practice the more you play the better you become, which holds true for poker and anything else in life you want to get good at.

A Cbet when missed a flop is a bluff sometimes but a lot of the times your opponent would have missed the flop too and you would have the best hand so it can be seen as a protection bet as well as a value bet.

JR1987 said:

I only really play 6 max cash.
I've played just short of 30,000 hands.

I havent read any poker books but I've watched and read alot of black rains material. Also alot of others but I know it doesn't apply so much at the micros.

Click to expand...

I am also relatively new to poker. Haven't played for about 8 years. I've read blakrain79's book "Crushing the Microstakes" back in the days in 2011 when it was first published and was amazed by it. He mainly advocates a minus redline in order to maximize on value hands. But poker has evolved a lot since then. Still his approach to fundamentals is still good and viable like HUD building and reading, etc. If you are playing 6-max and planning to do so in the near future I recommend you to read Grinder's Manual by Peter Clarke. Without solid fundamentals and holistic approach to the game you might be burning money.

JR1987 said:

For instance.. (im a 1/2c player) And people who are well versed in thosestakes say forget fancy play, focus on the fundamentals, bet for value ratherthan bluffing... But then say if your AF is sitting below 2 your not beingaggressive enough. If your only betting for value, unless your on some hugeheater you are never ever getting your AF high enough.

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AF iscalculated as (bet+raise) / call. So if we fold 50% of the time when facing bets, that will already result in an AF of 2, assuming that we bet no more but also no less often than our opponents, and we are playing heads-up pots. So its not that difficult to get AF up to 2, and its just as much about not calling to much as it is about betting.

JR1987 said:

They say you should try to really play in position unless you have a really tophand, yet so much writing is about opening ranges where (unless you are on thebutton) you are probably going to be playing out of position.

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If you open less hands from early position, like all those charts will tell you, then you also get to play less out of position. Sure you will still be out of position,when someone calls you, but because you only open your best hands, it wont happen very often.

JR1987 said:

People say stick to the fundamentals of poker at themicros and its easy to beat, But there is no way you can win enough pots tomitigate the losses just folding every flop that doesn't have a draw or missesentirely. If I open raise and I miss the flop what am I doing? Checking?C-betting? Because a C-bet with a missed flop is basically a bluff as far as Isee it.

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This is,where the mantra “don’t bluff” needs a little bit of modification. Even beginners or recreational players will usually fold, if they have absolutely nothing, so one-and-done C-betting can certainly be a valid strategy against them. Especially if its heads-up, and you have position. If you are out of position against 2-3 players, or the monkey in the middle, then not so much.

Also sometimes your “nothing” is still better than their “nothing”, and even when you are behind, you often have decent equity, if for instance you have two overcards or one overcard and a gutshot. So even A high can sometimes be a C-bet almost for value, or at least you are not just in give-up mode, if you get called.

If you have position, you can check back turn and see all 5 cards for the price of one bet.Sometimes you spike a pair on the river, and sometimes it goes check-check, and then A-high win at showdown against, whatever they called you with on the flop.

JR1987 said:

Ifeel like no matter what I do Im doing something wrong depending on what'fundamental' rule might pop into my head. and im losing, alot. Consistentlyaround 2/3 Buy ins per session.

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Over what sample size? You need at least 10.000-20.000 hands, before you can even begin to evaluate your winrate. And even then there is still a lot of variance.