Crushing the Microstakes by Blackrain 79

[Nathan Williams]

I have actually played the majority of the hands in my poker career without a HUD. I started 5 or 6 years ago when HUD's were not widely used at all. And then I thought they were a waste of time for several more years after that and still didn't use one. I was totally wrong and I probably cost myself a lot of money over the years. I guess if you are playing at a site where they are not allowed then that is fine. In all other cases I highly recommend getting one.

My book talks about and refers to HUD stats a fair bit but not to the point where it is necessary that you have one to make sense of the information. Most of the book is really just about making fundamentally sound poker decisions at the micros.

Here is a detailed review by a live player (obviously doesn't use a HUD) which may provide some more insight:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=30679337&postcount=26

 

[smokeme]

alright thank you nathan i will try to pick up the book this week

 

[Dreams of Tragedy]

i try to buy the book today, but the US gov denied the payment...
sorry could not help it..lol

 

[Dreams of Tragedy]

blackrain,
if i were to ask you a question hear on this forum would you answer. Cause i got a good one that been bugging me for sometime.

 

[smokeme]

why did they deny you? i just pickd up a copy i think it went smooth

 

[Big_Rudy]

Why would "the US Government" deny the payment? I just bought mine a couple of hours ago, and all went well. Yes, I'm in the US. I'd check to see if there was some other issue, rather than just "the US government".

 

[Nathan Williams]

Haha, I think he was joking guys. Or is there a new Black Friday for my poker book now too?! Sick beat.

Dreams, absolutely, ask away.

 

[Big_Rudy]

Haha, I think he was joking guys. Or is there a new Black Friday for my poker book now too?! Sick beat.

Dreams, absolutely, ask away.

Doh. Yeah, I totally missed that the first time. Book seems really good so far.

 

[Dreams of Tragedy]

Haha, I think he was joking guys. Or is there a new Black Friday for my poker book now too?! Sick beat.

Dreams, absolutely, ask away.

yes i was joking guys.

But the question...do you think that the poker site that you play at has alot to do with being a winning player...example i am a winning player at stars,tilt,cake,everleaf, AB. But for some reason i can not win on merge , and bodog (or what ever they call them selfs now.) So do you think that part of being a winning player is were you play at as well...
thank for this..but have to get a pro view on this

 

[Big_Rudy]

Well, DT, I'm far from a pro, and hopefully BR79 will respond as well, but I think the reason for this is that those sites (Merge, Bovada) are 2 of the few that still cater to US players. Simply put, after Black Friday in the US most casual players simply abandoned the game, leaving the fish/regs ratio significantly lower on those sites.

There are still fish there, just not nearly as many as before. It's just natural, then, if those sites have more regs and fewer fish (which is largely the composition of the US-based player pool now), that sites that cater to these players (that is, US based players), will be somewhat tougher to beat.

Anyway, just my .02

 

[witchywitchy]

Would be great if you published this for the Kindle and in print via Amazon Createspace. Both are free... just take a bit of time of your time to get in the proper format.

If you are interested BlackRain79 and need some help let me know...

 

[Dreams of Tragedy]

Well, DT, I'm far from a pro, and hopefully BR79 will respond as well, but I think the reason for this is that those sites (Merge, Bovada) are 2 of the few that still cater to US players. Simply put, after Black Friday in the US most casual players simply abandoned the game, leaving the fish/regs ratio significantly lower on those sites.

There are still fish there, just not nearly as many as before. It's just natural, then, if those sites have more regs and fewer fish (which is largely the composition of the US-based player pool now), that sites that cater to these players (that is, US based players), will be somewhat tougher to beat.

Anyway, just my .02

I know what you are saying. But it not the people that get me. It the software....when i play over at carbon about 98% of the time i get junk cards. As well as bovada. Just something with there Random hand gen just does not rub me the right way. even with those sites. that why i love everleaf so much because it was one of the best hand gen i have ever played with. But with them pulling out of the u.s. not sure what going to happen now

 

[WVHillbilly]

Take it to the rigtard thread. Seriously. You're talking stupid here.

 

[Big_Rudy]

Take it to the rigtard thread. Seriously. You're talking stupid here.

Agree, but......

I know what you are saying. But it not the people that get me. It the software....when i play over at carbon about 98% of the time i get junk cards. As well as bovada. Just something with there Random hand gen just does not rub me the right way. even with those sites. that why i love everleaf so much because it was one of the best hand gen i have ever played with. But with them pulling out of the u.s. not sure what going to happen now

I wonder if everyone who says "this sites RNG sucks", or "this site's RNG is so much better/more accurate than that one", could even tell the difference if they were somehow able to play the various RNG's without knowing which site that they are attached to. My guess is a resounding "no"; they could not tell the difference over any reasonable sample size. If you want to continue this.... See you in the rigtard thread .

 

[Nathan Williams]

Would be great if you published this for the Kindle and in print via Amazon Createspace. Both are free... just take a bit of time of your time to get in the proper format.

If you are interested BlackRain79 and need some help let me know...

Thanks. PM'd.

But the question...do you think that the poker site that you play at has alot to do with being a winning player...example i am a winning player at stars,tilt,cake,everleaf, AB. But for some reason i can not win on merge , and bodog (or what ever they call them selfs now.) So do you think that part of being a winning player is were you play at as well...
thank for this..but have to get a pro view on this

No. If you want to know more of my thoughts on this you can pm me. I don't want to clutter this thread with something that in my mind is really silly though. As WVH said,

Take it to the rigtard thread. Seriously. You're talking stupid here.

 

[Fib]

will this book work for 10Nl or is geared towards 5nl and 2nl?

 

[fletchdad]

will this book work for 10Nl or is geared towards 5nl and 2nl?

It is geared toward 2nl and 5nl but has good info if you are a relative newer player at any stakes. Solid ABC poker advice is solid advice. Its up to you to then distinguish what level - if any - you opponent is at. This book is aimed at people playing mainly vs level 0 thinkers. But good poker basics remain good poker basics, and this book if full of that.

 

[rodgbaby]

I purchased and read this book last night and again today!!!... I was able to quickly see some of the mistakes i was making as a TAG player. One being i was limping about 16 percent and raising around 8. That said I played a quick session of about 200 hands this morning and using the simple techniques in this book noticed i was running at about 12 and 10. The advice about nut draws vs 2nd nut draws should save me a ton of money. I was able to raise with j8 suited on the button and ended up stacking a guy in the sb that had kings when i flopped an oe and flush draw. The player did not raise me at all and i was able to control the size of the pot. Great book and i plan on reading it at least 2 more times this weekend.

IF YOU ARE WONDERING THIS BOOK IS A GREAT VALUE FOR THE PRICE.

 

[Fib]

Got the book yesterday morning and its already paid for itself and it is a lot better than the other poker books i have read for microstakes

 

[Arjonius]

. I was able to quickly see some of the mistakes i was making as a TAG player. One being i was limping about 16 percent and raising around 8. .

These stats indicate you were not playing TAG. Playing 24% of hands isn't particularly tight, and limping 2/3 of them definitely isn't aggressive.

 

[rodgbaby]

If im playing 16 percent and rasing 8 percent, wouldnt that mean im raising half the time i come into a pot. I would typically limp trying to hit a set or limp on the button with certain hands.

 

[rodgbaby]

How do you get 24 lol??? I mean PFR goes into your VPIP percentage.

 

[alaskabill]

You don't want to be open limping. Your vpip and pfr should be very close together.

 

[Jagsti]

If your stats are 16/8... it doesnt mean you're limping 16%. It means you're putting money into the pot 16%... 8% of which as a pf raiser. He assumes your vpip is 24% because you said you limp 16% and raise 8%.

 

[Nathan Williams]

Glad the book is helping some of you out so much. As Fletch said, yes it is geared primarily at the smallest stakes. I talk specifically about NL2 and NL5 in the book but many of the NL5 strategies should work fine at NL10 and possibly NL16 or NL25 as well.

The purpose of the book is a sort of no nonsense guide to understanding how to win at these stakes. It pains me to see people struggling for years sometimes at these levels because in my mind it really isn't that difficult to win or even crush these stakes if you are playing something resembling a correct ABC or TAG strategy and develop a little bit of tilt control.

I wrote the book as a primer to get people to start understanding how to win at the lowest limits based off my own experience, and then you take it from there. And so it is priced accordingly. Like any author, I would not have written it for free but I do appreciate hearing the success stories and the paying for it in a few sessions or a week type stuff. Because that was the whole point afterall.