I'm reading Crushing the Microstakes by BlackRain79, but I've seen this issue in several other books too. I'm playing $2NL.

They say not to bluff in the microstakes, ever. This book says to just check down no pair hands without a really big draw. Then they say to C-bet roughly 75%. I don't hit the flop 75% of the time with a pair hand+ or a really good draw.

So, am I supposed to be c-betting those hands sometimes, or not at all? Am I just supposed c-bet them just sometimes, based on position, initiative, texture, opponent, etc? Or checking them down?

Thanks for any advice.

I think saying to act "only" or "never" is terrible advice. Only a Sith deals in absolutes type of thing. AK/AQ are always tricky hands for me but I think opponent is the primary driver of my decisions in these scenarios. I do think at lower levels you can detect weakness and use C-bets properly to take down pots. Then it boils down to sizing; I like to mix it up frequently but I generally keep my C-bets smaller to rather than over-popping and representing a bluff.

If you can look at the villans fold to cbet - if its really high cbet them, if its really low value own them. If you dont have a hud cbet and see if it works -if it works try it again.

You can c-bet in villains who folds to much for c-bets with good backdoors flush and overcards in dry boards!
Ex: AsQs in flop 2s2c8d

Originally Posted by Maikychan

You can c-bet in villains who folds to much for c-bets with good backdoors flush and overcards in dry boards!
Ex: AsQs in flop 2s2c8d

That's a big help, thanks all.

Originally Posted by Maikychan

You can c-bet in villains who folds to much for c-bets with good backdoors flush and overcards in dry boards!
Ex: AsQs in flop 2s2c8d

Awesome response, gonna implement this tonight.

We have to analyze the hand as a whole.
Position, size of your stack, how many players are in the hand, which part of the tournament you are on, what are the bets up to the time of your bet, and what kind of cards you have in hand.
If you bet or raise, what do you expect with this move?
Advice is not always good and in poker if they were good no one would.
Think, reason and try to do what is most profitable for you.

The decisions of a hand will not always be the best, but surely they should be in doubt cautious.

Increasing my c-betting when I was the open raiser to at least 70% of the time was a pretty big game changer for me, at least in my online game. Obviously more effective against fewer opponents and also more effective in later than earlier positions. Usually if we get re-raised in these spots we need to reassess and also if we miss the turn and bet again and get raised, we really need to reconsider.

And that was something I learned more about from the very e-book you mentioned.

Over at least 40,000 hands at 10NL I found my c-betting success against 1 opponent was 50-60%., around 40% against 2, and 35%ish against 3+ opponents.

Your c-bets can be smaller on dry flops but should be around 3/4 pot on wet draw heavy boards.

Originally Posted by bigbird

Awesome response, gonna implement this tonight.

I like that advice.

I would say that trying to boost your c-bet numbers all the way to 75% isn’t the right way to go about it.

If you feel you aren’t c betting enough, look for more situations to c bet properly. Always lean towards c betting more when in position as you will likely get to check back on the turn without facing a bet.

Good times to c bet are when your opponent is very unlikely to hit a particular flop or you will still have good equity against their calling range as the hand continues. Some ideas for situations you could try:

Dry flops with 1 high card - your opponent will not catch a piece very often

Monotone flops - opponent unlikely to call without that suit in their hand (better if you hold 1 on suit card)

Low flops when you hold unpaired over cards - you have good equity against the calling range of your opponent and both your cards are likely live as pairs.

Whenever you flop a strong draw or a medium combo draw like a gut shot + backsaw flush draw - these hands have decent number of outs against pairs on the flop when you see the turn and river and you are likely to get paid off when they hit.

If you think your opponent is likely to have a piece of the flop and you have no backdoor equity when called, it’s fine to just check back the flop and give up. You can’t win every single hand.

Originally Posted by NJW

I would say that trying to boost your c-bet numbers all the way to 75% isn’t the right way to go about it.

If you feel you aren’t c betting enough, look for more situations to c bet properly. Always lean towards c betting more when in position as you will likely get to check back on the turn without facing a bet.

Great help. Thanks all!

Always pay attention to how the villain has been playing. If they over fold to C-bet then we over C-bet likewise against stations or players that over call continue for value and pot control.

It depends on your position at the table and against who is playing, if it is against weaker players I think it is worth betting.

Im usually c-betting only with draws or over cards. If I dont have any chance to improve the c-bet doesnt work out great in micros

Yeah that’s true. It’s very villain dependent and there is a lot of calling stations at the micros.

If you have a read that a villain will never fold third pair or a gutter straight draw, you should never be c betting unless you have a made hand and sizing the bets huge when you do.

This is super exploitable play but that doesn’t matter when your opponent is a calling station as they aren’t paying attention to what you’re doing and we can better exploit them.