GT_IEs Guide to Microstakes No Limit Hold Em

Contents
Contents..................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction................................................................................................................ 4 Setup..........................................................................................................................4 Holdem Manager or PokerTracker...........................................................................4 Pokerstove............................................................................................................... 5 Rakeback.................................................................................................................5 TwoPlusTwo forums.................................................................................................5 Trulyfreepokertraining.com.....................................................................................5 Table/Seat Selection................................................................................................5 6max or full ring? .................................................................................................. 6 Take Notes..............................................................................................................6 Heads Up Play......................................................................................................... 6 Drinking while playing.............................................................................................6 Bankroll Management.................................................................................................6 Where the money comes from...................................................................................7 Preflop Play:................................................................................................................8 Hand Strength......................................................................................................... 8 Balancing your range..............................................................................................8 Should my PFR% be closer to VPIP% ? ....................................................................9 Position....................................................................................................................9 Aggression............................................................................................................. 11 Opening.............................................................................................................. 11 3betting.............................................................................................................. 12 4betting.............................................................................................................. 13 Squeezing...........................................................................................................14 Punish the Limpers.............................................................................................15 Use your HUD.....................................................................................................16

Flat Calling.............................................................................................................17 Flat-call for Set-mining: ....................................................................................17 Flat-call, Suited connectors: .............................................................................17 Flat-call, Blind defense.......................................................................................18 Flat-call, Family pots: ........................................................................................19 You got 3-bet, now what?......................................................................................19 Stealing................................................................................................................. 21 Blind Defense........................................................................................................ 21 Effective Stacks.....................................................................................................22 Postflop Play............................................................................................................. 22 Whats your hand worth?.......................................................................................23 1 Pair Hands..........................................................................................................23 Consider some options..........................................................................................24 Continuation Betting..............................................................................................25 Delayed Cbet.........................................................................................................25 Check Calling.........................................................................................................26 Check Raising........................................................................................................26 With monsters when you put your opponent on a strong hand..........................26 As a pure bluff....................................................................................................27 As a semi-bluff with a strong drawing hand.......................................................27 For value against an overly aggressive player...................................................28 You got Check Raised............................................................................................28 Double Barrels.......................................................................................................29 Playing In Position................................................................................................. 29 Playing OOP........................................................................................................... 29 Extraction/Value Betting........................................................................................29 Combo Draws........................................................................................................ 29 Showdown Value...................................................................................................30 Floating................................................................................................................. 31 Bluffing..................................................................................................................32 Bet the Scare Cards...............................................................................................32 The Turn................................................................................................................32 Check Behind.....................................................................................................32

Non-Standard Lines...............................................................................................33 Slow Playing..........................................................................................................33 The power of the almighty FOLD BUTTON.............................................................34 Thoughts on running bad..........................................................................................34 Conclusion................................................................................................................ 35 Hand Chart............................................................................................................... 37

Introduction
There are a lot of topics in here. In fact, I keep checking books out of the library hoping for info on more of these, and you dont find many books that hit a lot of these. (Thats tip #1, use the public library and/or paperbackswap.com. You gotta play A LOT of hands at the micros to pay for a couple of new books. The ROI on a library card is and theres a library near you). Ill have a little to say about a lot of things because I couldnt pick just one that I wanted to go deep on. So let this serve as a guide to all the things you need to go deep on. All of these certainly arent necessary for play at NL10 (NLxx is where $xx is 100 big blinds, so NL10 has a 10 cent big blind) and below, but as you move up you need to incorporate more and more of them.

Setup
Holdem Manager or PokerTracker
These are software programs ( Pokertracker) that accumulate the history of every hand you play, and more importantly every hand your opponents play. They display back to you in real time stats on your opponent so that you know what kind of opponent you are up against. Set up a heads up display for playing and use it. I include: VPIP/PFR/AF/NbrHands/Steal%/Fold to steal %/CheckRaise%/CB %/FoldtoCB/3b/Foldto3b Next, use them for self-analysis. There are plenty of threads on stats. Check your stats overall. Check your stats by position (you better see a big difference in how you play on the button versus under the gun for instance). Review your sessions and focus on hands where you lost a lot. See why it happened and what you could have done different. As you play, mark hands for review when you have a tough decision. When you are reviewing hands after the fact, start to put players on a

range of hands (for instance, any pair 22-99 (but not TT-AA because he probably would have raised instead of calling), AT-AK, or maybe a suited connector that did ok with that flop)

Pokerstove
Its free ( Pokerstove ). Use it when you analyze hands after the fact where you had tough decisions. Use the range that you put the villain on to analyze your equity and decide if you had the right odds to call. Dont compare your hand against the vilains actual 2 cards, you didnt know them until showdown. Decide what a reasonable range of holdings is in that situation and compare your hand against all his likely holdings.

Rakeback
Its ridiculous beyond insane to play without rakeback if it is available. If you havent signed up at a poker site, dont signup without rakeback. If you have, either get it added to your account or move. Try this link (Read This) for what was the best deal as of the time I wrote this. You get rakeback, holdem manager, and a cardrunners/stoxpoker membership for free. Pokerstars doesnt offer rakeback, they have a much more generous points program than other sites, so you can play there but I think you have to be playing A LOT to make it really worthwhile. Search the forums for more info on this.

TwoPlusTwo forums
( Here ) Post hands. Read advice from others. Answer other peoples hands, it forces you to think about it and that will help your own play. Once you pick a game (hopefully 6max, see below) then read all the stickies in that forum. There will be a lot of great posts covering a lot of great info. Just lurk for a while and read, then youll be comfortable starting to post.

Trulyfreepokertraining.com
If its still there when you are reading this, sign up. There is no catch. Even if you only earn enough points for 1 week of Cardrunners, great! Use that first week the next month to watch some videos. Check out the Cardrunners forum on 2p2 (TwoPlusTwo forums) for more details.

Table/Seat Selection
Do you think Darvin Moon would have made the final table of the WSOP if it was the Tournament of Champions with all the past winners? Doubtful. Sure he can play. He also ran good. But he also didnt have Phil Ivey on his left the entire time. If you arent the 1st or 2nd best player at your table, then you probably arent winning a lot unless you get lucky. I sort the lobby by Plr/Flp descending and at NL (that is the micro sign. Youll see people use a u instead a lot) I will rarely sit at a table less 40% players per flop. I wont sit with a short stack on my immediate right. Same for a player I have tagged as good. After 50 hands or so, its time to rethink the

table. All the fish gone? 2 NITs or TAG (tight aggressive) regulars on your right?? Maybe theres a more +EV table and you should be looking for it. Stay away from the Deep tables (where the max buyin is 200bb) until you are experienced. An experienced player plays differently when deep and will stack you unexpectedly. If you cant identify a target at the table who is clearly an inferior player, then find a new table. You can build your bankroll just sitting at tables with complete droolers and waiting 30 minutes til you get a hand and they stack off with 2nd pair.

6max or full ring?

I started full ring (9 or 10 seats at the table) because I didnt even know there was a choice. Then I discovered 6max (6 seat tables) and there was a chorus of angels. The action goes a lot quicker. You get the button more often. Theres more betting and raising. You dont have to play those awful early position seats where you should fold just about everything. At the higher stakes games that you might dream of playing/beating, there arent as many full ring games so you may as well learn to 6 max now.

Take Notes
If nothing else, use the color marker. Something like Green ($$) for weak players and Red (danger) for strong players. I use Orange for players that have check raised me and purple for tight players that I would rather not have at my table. At the very least, this will help you decide if you want a vacant seat at a table once youve got a bunch of regulars tagged (try to sit with green on your right). There are whole posts on other good notes to take. As you move up, read them and by NL25 you should be making notes about how folks like to play. At this link theres software that will let you merge into 1 file notes that are in 2 files. This is great if you play on 2 computers and need to periodically merge your notes.

Heads Up Play
As a beginner, forget about it. Dont even give it a try for a long, long time. There are sharks just sitting and waiting to take your money.

Drinking while playing

Dont do it. Even 1 beer can loosen you up enough to make you make a stupid call or aggro-monkey bluff that you wouldnt otherwise make. Alcohol is a tilt magnifier. You can lose in 20 minutes everything that took you a week to win.

Bankroll Management
Do it. The federal government might be all for deficit spending, you shouldnt be. But keep in mind, its not bankroll management if you arent winning. If you are losing it is either a spending plan or a cost containment plan. Theres nothing

wrong with that. Play for entertainment, but be aware that you are and budget accordingly. If you want to win then build a bankroll, dont just deposit one. If you just deposit a roll for NL25 ($25 max buyin, 10/25 blinds) then if you need to be reading this guide, youll probably lose it all. Even if you think you are good. The online game is hard. There are a lot of good players. If you want to win regularly, youll need to be in the top 20%. Not many people just launch right into a new venture of any sort and are immediately in the top 20% of everyone doing it. So, deposit $100 (may as well get a decent first deposit bonus) but start playing NL2. If youre that great, youll crush it and after a week realize you are fine to move up. Once you are winning, in 3 months you can build a $5 bankroll into $1000 with rakeback, solid play, and a little luck. If you arent winning at NL2, dont move up to where they respect your raises. Theyll eat you alive. I learned the hard way. I started playing MTTs and won $1600 early on. I lost that so fast playing NL50 and NL100 that it made my head spin. Beat each level. At 30 buyins for the next level or so, start mixing in play at that next level, particularly when the games are softest (look at how many people are logged on to the site. More players = softer games) To play full time at a level, have at least 40 buyins.

Where the money comes from

At the really low buy-in games, there are so many bad players that you can just play premium starting cards, bet them hard, and win lots of money with hands as weak as top pair, top kicker. However, about the time you get to 25 cent big blinds, there are enough other players smart enough to play that way that you will find yourself swapping big pots. Theyll pay off your sets with AA, you will pay off theirs. Your win-rate will really drop. It now becomes critical to not only get your big hands paid off, but to avoid losing big pots. Folding is just as important as value betting. By playing only premium starting hands out of position, leveraging position by playing aggressively on the button and in the cutoff, and putting pressure on your opponents; you will win lots of small pots pre-flop and on the flop. This will keep your bankroll moving in the right direction and keep you in the game for the really big scores. What you are really waiting for is the hands where you have the effective nuts AND your opponent has a second best hand that is good enough to pay you off. Along the way, youll win other big pots with hands like AA, KK, bottom set, etc. Dont be afraid to get it all in with those hands AGAINST FISH. But, when you are up against a good, solid player then you have to be more careful. ESPECIALLY if he is raising or shoving and you are calling. You have to think about why a good player wants to get all his money in. Figure out what hand fits the way it is playing out, and learn to fold AA or top pair when they only thing he could have is 2 pair or better.

The money doesnt just come from winning pots, it comes from avoiding big losses. Dont give away your winnings by paying off villains the same way they pay you off.

Preflop Play:
As you play and study, youll learn the importance of: a) Hand strength (tight is right) b) Position (loosen up in-position (cutoff/button) and tighten up elsewhere) c) Aggression (use your position to pound on them)

Hand Strength
Dont be afraid to start off using a starting hand chart. Theres no shame in it for a beginner. You start off playing tight is right. Under the gun its really ok to fold AJ as a beginner. You can still make plenty of money. Dont get me wrong, you can open AJ utg, and even KJs (that s means suited. KJ is offsuit, KJs is suited); but you dont have to (and shouldnt) every time. Read through posts on 2plus2 and start counting how often the advice is simply fold pre. Once you are ok playing TIGHT, loosen up. It goes against everything youve learned to be raising with T6s or Q9o. Well, thats the power of position. You can open those hands with a raise in late position. The chart at the bottom of this doc is what I used to start. I built it largely starting off the guidance in Fees book, which is one of the MANY excellent things youll find Here. You dont have to follow a hand guide for very long to get it wired into your brain to fold early and raise late.

Balancing your range

This is a concept you wont need for a while, but its nice to go ahead an know what it means. If the only hands you ever raise from UTG (under the gun, first to act pre flop) are AA/KK/QQ/JJ/AK then after a while an observant opponent would know what you have when you open. This wont be a problem at the lowest levels. You wont encounter many people who can not only observe your tendencies but who know how to take advantage of them. However, as you move up it gets more important. So, to balance your range, you mix in some different hands and play all hands the same. So, you should raise with 33 the same amount as AA. You should play a big combo draw on the flop the same way you would play top set. A bluff on the river with a missed draw should be about the same as a value bet with the nuts. Again, not always necessary at the micros but you should start to understand it. Dont worry about being exploited for playing transparent until you are playing opponents who can exploit you. Just know what it means for now and worry about it as you move up.

Should my PFR% be closer to VPIP% ?

Yes, your pfr/vpip should be close together. First, when they are that far apart you are tipping off your cards. When you just call, I don't know exactly what you have, but I know what you DON'T have. You don't have a raising hand which, for you, is the top 12% of hands or so. So when you call I know you probably have something like a pair 22-55, maybe a low suited Ace (A2s A6s) or a suited K (K8 - KT) or some junky connector or suited connector. If your stats are like 21/20, then when you come in with all the hands I listed above, they are disguised. I can't distinguish your QQ from your 56s. This really pays off when you hit a big flop, like I'm slow playing AA and flat call your raise preflop, putting you on AK. flop is 56K and you hold 56, not AK. I think i've got you nailed. you raised pre, I think you hit TPTK but I have a slow played overpair. We get it in on the flop and you have 2pp and I'm pissed. The other big reason I know of for raising your whole range preflop is position. Most flops are going to miss people. When you are in position with 56s, MP opens and you raise, then MP just calls your raise now you have the lead postflop. Since he didn't 4bet, he has a speculative hand that will miss most flops and you can take the pot away. He is putting you on a big hand. flop comes 38K. You have nothing. He checks, you cbet, he folds and thinks "yep, he had AK. too bad I missed my set on the flop". If you get check-raised, then it's easy to give it up because you have nothing. Bonus, sometimes the flop is 47T and he has JJ. Now he check raises and you can shove a monster combo draw. This is great because you have a) a huge draw if he calls AND b) fold equity since you raised preflop and bet the flop. Some of the time, when you shove over the check raise he'll think a while, decide you could actually have QQ/KK/AA, and fold his JJ. All because you RAISED pre instead of CALLING pre. Get those numbers closer together.

Position
Its all about position. When you have position, wield it like a club. Open more hands. When no one before you has opened the betting, you do it. Take the aggression and go for the blinds. 3-bet people (3betting is raising someone who already opened with a raise). And dont just 3bet with AA/KK. You have position, represent AA/KK/AK and force them to make really hard decisions and regret every time they open the betting with A9 offsuit. This whole game is about getting those blinds. When you have position, the whole game is easier. You get to have more information before you make a decision. More information = better decisions. Better decisions = more $$. Butwhen you have the button, you are not entitled

to the pot. You should just play that way until your opponent makes it clear you are beat. Put your opponent to the test. Make him crumble under the pressure of your bets and raises until he adjusts and plays back at you. Dont get me wrong though, do it wisely. Dont cbet EVERY flop, youll start getting check raised a lot. Dont bet the other guys monster for him on 3 streets; if a good player keeps calling theres probably a reason. Get suspicious when he calls your raise preflop, and check/calls the flop. Dont double barrel air unless you have a good reason. Its ok to give up a pot every once in a while. So, learn the balance of selective aggression. When you have reason to believe that you are ahead then value bet and get as much money as you can. When the villain shows signs of weakness, show strength to get him to fold to a bluff. This hand illustrates the power of position well. Imagine the positions were reversed(see my thoughts after the hand). Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players CO: $19.92 Hero (BTN): $25.63 SB: $25.00 BB: $36.11 UTG: $25.00 MP: $18.91 Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with Q K UTG raises to $0.75, 2 folds, Hero raises to $2.60, 2 folds, UTG calls $1.85 Flop: ($5.55) 7 6 8 (2 players) UTG checks, Hero bets $4, UTG calls $4 Turn: ($13.55) A (2 players) UTG checks, Hero checks River: ($13.55) K (2 players) UTG checks, Hero checks Final Pot: $13.55 Hero shows Q K (a pair of Kings) UTG mucks J J Hero wins $12.88 (Rake: $0.67) Thoughts about how this would play Out of Position: 1) If I opened and he raised, I would have to fold KQ. Instead I can raise and be the aggressor 2) If I was out of position on that flop, I would probably have checked. JJ would bet and I fold.

3) On the turn, the Ace is bad for both of us. I get to check behind now and take off a free card though. If I was out of position, I check and he can bet the scare card and win. 4) On the river, I finally hit a winning card. Only because I was able to use position to even see the card. 5) On the River I can also check behind since I have showdown value with second pair. Even though I have a likely winner, I dont think theres any sense in betting. A lot of better hands will call and most worse hands will fold. What worse hands could I possibly expect to call? KJ??

Aggression
Opening When you enter the pot, raise. Period. If someone ahead of you has raised already then 3bet them or fold most of the time. Why all this raising? You want to limit the field. The more players you are against on the flop, the harder it is to win the hand. You also want more money in the pot when you have the best hand. One reason for this is because when youve raised, you get called by strong hands. When you flop a monster, that villain with a strong hand might keep calling. By building a big pot pre flop, youve made it much easier to get all-in some time after the flop without have to make some crazy oversized bet. Finally, you need to seize the aggression lead in the hand. Why? Well, first you will win a lot of money preflop. Second, there will be a lot of flops where you win with a cbet because you raised and nobody is strong enough to call now. A widely accepted rule of thumb at the Micro stakes is to raise to 4 big blinds when you are opening (plus more if people limped in front of you, see punish the limpers) First, a simple example where you steal from the cutoff. 86s is not a great hand, but if you are going to play it then raise. ESPECIALLY if the button is a really tight player. You raise knowing hell fold and the blinds will too. Easy Money. Dont Limp: Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players MP: $26.33 Hero (CO): $48.54 BTN: $23.03 SB: $28.78 BB: $25.35 UTG: $47.25 Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is CO with 8 6 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.85, 3 folds

Final Pot: $0.60 Hero wins $0.60 Remember, you also raise so that when you hit a big hand or a big draw on the flop you are against a hand that is strong enough to play a big pot with you AND so that the pot is already big when you see the flop Full Tilt Poker $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players MP: $10.28 Hero (CO): $23.03 BTN: $10.30 SB: $9.85 BB: $9.72 UTG: $12.78 Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is CO with 9 7 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.30, BTN calls $0.30, 2 folds Flop: ($0.75) J 8 T (2 players) Hero bets $0.40, BTN raises to $1.40, Hero raises to $3.20, BTN requests TIME, BTN raises to $5, Hero raises to $22.73 all in, BTN calls $5 all in Turn: ($20.75) 3 (2 players - 2 are all in) River: ($20.75) 7 (2 players - 2 are all in) Final Pot: $20.75 Hero shows 9 7 (a flush, Jack high) BTN shows J A (a pair of Jacks) Hero wins $19.37 (Rake: $1.38) OK, there are some exceptions. See Flat Calling below. 3betting If you dont know, a 3bet is when you raise a raiser. The big blind is bet 1. Calling the bb is limping and counts as nothing for this example. The first raise is Bet 2. The next raise is called a 3bet, then comes a 4bet. Generally, by the time you get to a 5bet, someone is going all-in. Like I said under Position, raise the opener with your strong hands. That means pairs JJ-AA (maybe 99/TT dependent on your read) and premium Aces like AK/AQ and maybe even AJs. Dont flat call when someone ahead of you raised, at least not very often. Its just so weak. If you cant raise, then fold. When you raise, your opponent will either call you (telling you hes weak and just hoping he hits a big hand which he will then proceed to announce with his betting) or reraise (4bet) you (telling you he has either AA/KK/QQ/AK or is occasionally bluffing). Most flops, you are both going to miss. Would you rather play that flop where you missed having raised preflop or just called? If you raised, then when you both miss but you bet its really hard for villain to keep calling. You just look so strong. Even better, when

you hit the flop youve already built a big pot and its going to be easy to stack him. Your AK is a monster when that donkey called your raise with AQ or AJ. Your KK will crush his AQ on the Q high flop when he thinks he has you destroyed. Remember, its easier to 3bet someone who opened from late position than from UTG. This is because their range will loosen up in later position to so they will open with worse hands Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players MP: $256.58 CO: $25.00 Hero (BTN): $31.19 SB: $11.59 BB: $57.86 UTG: $12.79 Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with T K 2 folds, CO raises to $0.75, Hero raises to $2.60, 3 folds Final Pot: $1.85 Hero wins $1.85 In pokertracker, your 3bet% should probably be in the 7%-10% range. Look at it. If it is down around 3% then you are way too tight and anyone with a brain will know you have AA/KK/QQ when you 3bet. If it is over 10%, then you are too aggressive. People are going to play back at you and you wont have a strong enough hand to do anything about it. 4betting Someone raised, maybe you. Someone else reraised (3bet). The action is to you. You can 4bet, fold or call. Dont call (unless it was a really weak 4bet and you get a good price to set-mine. A good price means at least 10:1 odds from the amount you call to the pot + effective stacks). When you 4 bet you can either raise or shove all in. If you dont have AA and you are worried your opponent does, then try 4betting to about 2.5x what the 3bet was. This might leave you enough room to fold if villain shoves. Enough room to fold means that you and villain are deep stacked. If you are not really deep, then when they shove over your 4-bet then the odds you are getting to call may be good enough to call with any two cards (ATC). If you have AA/KK, you should probably just shove it all in. I had a loose image at this table so I shoved hoping for just the call I got Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players BTN: $26.24 SB: $29.28 BB: $25.00 UTG: $25.36 Hero (CO): $47.97

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is CO with A A 1 fold, Hero raises to $1, 1 fold, SB raises to $4, 1 fold, Hero raises to $47.97 all in, SB calls $25.28 all in Flop: ($58.81) 7 6 2 Turn: ($58.81) T River: ($58.81) 3 Final Pot: $58.81 SB shows K A (Ace King high) Hero shows A A (a pair of Aces) Hero wins $55.87 (Rake: $2.94) When you are up against a villain who is too loose, you can 4 bet as a semi-bluff. The villain in this next hand was playing 47/27/3.5 (thats vpip1/pfr2/aggression3) and had 3bet 25% of hands! I shove hoping to have folding equity (Ill win whats in the pot right away when he folds) but also feeling pretty safe that Ill get a coin flip at worst. I dont want to see a flop with this because he could have absolutely any over cards that come on the flop, so against this villain it is shove or fold. After choosing shove, Ill tighten up against this player and look for a more premium hand before I get it in again. I didnt show the results below, because they dont matter. Full Tilt Poker $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players BB: $10.00 UTG: $10.00 MP: $10.59 Hero (CO): $11.81 BTN: $19.15 SB: $2.00 Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is CO with J J 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.30, BTN raises to $1, 2 folds, Hero raises to $11.81 all in, BTN calls $10.81 Final Pot: $23.77 Squeezing Someone opens with a raise. Someone behind them flat calls. Now, theres a big juicy pot approaching 10 big blinds. Your move? Put in a big raise and steal the pot pre flop. It doesnt really matter what cards. After you raise, your hand will play itself. If the original raiser shoves, your decision should be easy. If you get a caller, the flop should be pretty easy. If it is a dry flop or it hits you hard, and you
1 2

Voluntarily put $ into pot, expressed as a percentage Pre-flop raise, expressed as a percentage, always less than vpip since a raise is putting $ in. the difference between the 2 numbers is how often you limp or just Call 3 A calculated ratio of how often you raise versus call. Low number = passive player and high number = aggressive.

are checked to, then bet it. Thats right, bet if you miss and the flop is dry. So often the person who calls your squeeze will play pure fit-or-fold on the flop. They are hoping for a miracle set or 2 pair. You bet to represent AA/KK, they fold. If its a wet flop (suited/connected, your opponent could have a BIG draw) or you just have a really bad feeling about it, give it up. If you bet the flop and get called, then its probably time to give up. No more betting. You might call a small river bet if you have any showdown value. Squeezing works so well because it looks very strong and puts both players in a tough position. The original opener has to call a big bet from someone who was willing to 3 bet against 2 other players. He also has to worry because he isnt closing the action. If he calls your squeeze theres a possibility that the original caller could put in another raise. The original caller is in a worse position. Hes got a hand that was too weak to raise the opener so how can he call a hand that IS strong enough to 3bet. This is best when you have stats on the original opener and he is too loose. Someone playing 38/24 is great, especially if he has a high fold to 3bet%. Heres a good example, but dont start off trying this from the blinds. This is a better play when you are on the button, MP opened and CO called. The best time to squeeze from the blinds is when the cutoff opens (he has a wide range since hes in the CO) and the button flat calls (hes weak and just playing position). Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players UTG: $25.00 MP: $34.36 CO: $25.68 BTN: $18.03 SB: $5.25 Hero (BB): $25.00 Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with A T 2 folds, CO raises to $1, BTN calls $1, 1 fold, Hero raises to $4.50, 2 folds Final Pot: $3.10 Hero wins $3.10 (Rake: $-0.00) Punish the Limpers Bad players will limp into the pot. (Remember, you wont) Then, more bad players will limp in behind them. Take their money! Put in a big bet and take it without even seeing a flop. Or better yet, let them call you and then they have to play a flop when they are a) out of position and b) have announced by limp/calling that they have a weak hand. If they/limp call, assume they have a small pair or MAYBE low suited connectors. With that in mind, after the flop you will know what to do. If they suddenly get all aggressive, assume they hit a set or strong combo-draw and give it up. Otherwise, keep betting and theyll fold. A good rule of thumb is to open

for 4 big blinds, PLUS 1 more for each limper. So, 2 people have limped then you raise to 6 big blinds. Heres a good example. AJ is not a very strong hand, but compared to limpers its a monster. You have position and 2 limpers have juiced the pot for you. Thats 3.5 big blinds just begging to be taken Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players UTG: $27.41 MP: $30.37 CO: $16.78 Hero (BTN): $29.94 SB: $25.00 BB: $5.00 Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with A J 1 fold, MP calls $0.25, CO calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.75, 4 folds Final Pot: $1.10 Hero wins $1.10 Use your HUD The play you make depends A LOT on your opponent. Use your HUD (Heads Up Display from pokertracker) to know your opponent. If he folds to a 3bet 92% of the time, then when he 4bets your 3bet then you can feel sure he has AA/KK/QQ/AK. And its probably AA/KK. When you have QQ or AK and you get 3bet, look at your opponent. If it is a NIT who 3bets 4% of the time, you can think about folding. When its an aggro-monkey who 3bets 16% and has an aggression factor of 5, you can think about shoving all in over his raise. When you are on the button and the CO opens, look at his fold to 3bet%. If its over 80% then raise him with any good hand. When its under 40%, you better be ready to play a flop if you want to raise. On the flop, when you hit middle pair on a dry flop like 962 rainbow and the middle position opener bets, look at his cbet%. When its 90%, raise him. When its 45%, just fold. If you were the preflop raiser and its a dry flop, look at villains fold to CBet%. If he folds to cbet 85% then it doesnt really matter if you have a hand. Bet. When you have AJs in the cutoff and Middle Position (MP) opened, look at his stats. If hes a 40/25 (remember, thats vpip/pfr) then raise him for value. If hes 17/7 then fold it. You need to understand why your play should be different in these situations based on your opponents range/tendencies.

Flat Calling
Flat calling is when someone ahead of you has raised and you call their bet instead of re-raising. There are a few reasons to flat call pre-flop, but only a few. The most common stats discussed about a player are VPIP and PFR. The difference between the 2 stats is how often you are flat calling. If you are a 20/10 player then you are putting $ in 20% of the time, but only raising 10% of the time. So you are flat calling the time. This is terrible. Raise or fold. You should be more like a 22/20 player. So, when might you flat call? Flat-call for Set-mining: You have a pocket pair and the pot + your opponents stack is 10x the amount you have to call. Whats that you say? Why 10x when odds of a set are 8:1? Do you really think youll stack every opponent every time you flop a set?!? This isnt the best example ever because the original raiser still has to act. This would be an easier hand if the CO had just called. I took a chance though and it worked out. Full Tilt Poker $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players UTG: $2.00 MP: $10.45 CO: $12.72 Hero (BTN): $10.73 SB: $12.03 BB: $10.00 Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BTN with 5 5 1 fold, MP raises to $0.35, CO raises to $0.80, Hero calls $0.80, SB calls $0.75, 1 fold, MP calls $0.45 Flop: ($3.30) K K 5 (4 players) SB checks, MP checks, CO bets $10.60, Hero calls $9.93 all in, SB folds, MP folds Turn: ($23.16) J (2 players - 1 is all in) River: ($23.16) T (2 players - 1 is all in) Final Pot: $23.16 CO shows A K (three of a kind, Kings) Hero shows 5 5 (a full house, Fives full of Kings) Hero wins $21.62 (Rake: $1.54) Flat-call, Suited connectors: Its a small bet to call, you are closing the action, you have 2 opponents, at least one opponent is pretty loose or a fish and will get stacks in with you if you hit a big flop, you feel like gambling a little bit. These are decent reasons. Dont call with these hands all the time. You arent Daniel Negreanu. I was certainly lucky this guy didnt have a diamond and didnt have KQ. This isnt a standard call but I had a read on him as a weak player. Against a solid player, I would play this very

differently post flop. A fish will get all in on this board with AJ so you can stack him. Dont get all in with this against a solid player. Full Tilt Poker $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players BB: $4.92 UTG: $1.84 MP: $4.95 Hero (CO): $5.63 BTN: $2.85 SB: $1.86 Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is CO with 8 7 UTG raises to $0.17, MP calls $0.17, Hero calls $0.17, 1 fold, SB calls $0.15, 1 fold Flop: ($0.73) J T 9 (4 players) SB checks, UTG checks, MP checks, Hero bets $0.50, SB folds, UTG folds, MP calls $0.50 Turn: ($1.73) 3 (2 players) MP checks, Hero bets $1.90, MP raises to $4.28 all in, Hero calls $2.38 River: ($10.29) A (2 players - 1 is all in) Final Pot: $10.29 MP shows A J (two pair, Aces and Jacks) Hero shows 8 7 (a straight, Jack high) Hero wins $9.61 (Rake: $0.68) Flat-call, Blind defense You have a big hand like AQ in the blind and someone is stealing. Some people like to just call here hoping to hit a flop where they dominate an aggressive opponent. Then, just check/call all the way to the river with your sneaky monster. In the long run, its probably better to 3bet this pre-flop, but you have to adjust your play to the specific villain. Full Tilt Poker $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players CO: $11.06 BTN: $5.13 SB: $7.00 Hero (BB): $10.35 UTG: $4.02 Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BB with A Q 2 folds, BTN raises to $0.40, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.30 Flop: ($0.85) Q 6 8 (2 players) Hero checks, BTN bets $0.50, Hero raises to $2.35, BTN calls $1.85 Turn: ($5.55) 7 (2 players) Hero bets $5.55, BTN calls $2.38 all in

River: ($10.31) 2 (2 players - 1 is all in) Final Pot: $10.31 BTN shows Q J (a pair of Queens) Hero shows A Q (a pair of Queens) Hero wins $9.63 (Rake: $0.68) Flat-call, Family pots: You have position (either cutoff (CO) or on the button (OTB)), a lot of people are in the pot already, and it isnt expensive to call. Maybe from the Big blind to when someone min-raised and got several callers so you are getting like 8:1 odds to call.

You got 3-bet, now what?

Are you in position vs. the 3-bettor or out of position? What kind of player is he? If you 4-bet, will it be for value or as a bluff? Do you want to see a flop (you have 77/66/JTs) or get it all in now (AA/KK/AK)? Could you be dominated (AQ/AJ/AT/KQ)? What is YOUR table image (does he think you are tight and fold a lot?) Whats your position? (did you open UTG where people are tightest and he should know that? Did you open in the cutoff where people are looser so he can 3bet lighter?) Whats his position? (Did he 3bet from UTG+1 where there are lots of players still to act? Is he on the button where he could just be protecting his button?) Could this be a squeeze play, were there callers after your open? Do you have a plan for what to do if you call the 3-bet and miss the flop? These are all things to consider. Most of the time, as in all situations, you should raise or fold. There might be a few scenarios to call, but not many. It is weak and EV (negative expected value). Heres AJ played 3 different ways, so there is no right answer. Theres no shame in folding (the player on the button was tight and his 3b% was only 6%) Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players SB: $31.63 BB: $13.47 UTG: $25.00 Hero (CO): $25.93 BTN: $26.70 Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is CO with A J 1 fold, Hero raises to $1, BTN raises to $3.35, 3 folds Final Pot: $2.35 BTN wins $2.35

Or maybe you float him and take it away later (you shouldnt make this play often. I had notes on this player that he defends his blinds weak. I was counting on him cbetting and I planned to call any reasonable bet on the flop and reevaluate on the turn) Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players BB: $14.09 UTG: $6.01 CO: $8.29 Hero (BTN): $25.00 SB: $25.00 Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with J A 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.85, SB raises to $2.75, 1 fold, Hero calls $1.90 Flop: ($5.75) T 9 T (2 players) SB bets $3.75, Hero calls $3.75 Turn: ($13.25) K (2 players) SB checks, Hero bets $6.50, SB folds Final Pot: $13.25 Hero wins $12.59 (Rake: $0.66) Or maybe you 4bet for value (villain was a loose, weak player who was too aggressive and defended his blinds too much. Dont do this with every villain) Full Tilt Poker $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players Hero (BTN): $13.94 SB: $10.00 BB: $4.34 UTG: $9.11 MP: $17.74 CO: $10.00 Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BTN with A J 3 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, 1 fold, BB raises to $0.70, Hero raises to $2.15, BB raises to $4.34 all in, Hero calls $2.19 Flop: ($8.73) K Q 6 Turn: ($8.73) 2 River: ($8.73) J Final Pot: $8.73 Hero shows A J (a pair of Jacks) BB shows 4 A (Ace King high) Hero wins $8.15 (Rake: $0.58)

Stealing
If Moses played NLHE, then in Sunday School you would have learned Thou SHALT steal. Do it relentlessly. Steal with cards you would be embarrassed to show your mother. Steal when you think Cmon, he cant fold AGAIN. He just cant! Steal like these players are babies and they have your candy. Steal until they start playing back at you. Then, next time, steal again because they probably woke up with AA last time. When it is checked to you on the button, raise. OK, not with cards like 27 (ok, sometimes with 27 but only because the last 3 orbits you didnt get a chance to steal). When you are in the cutoff and the button is a NIT (check your HUD for his PFR and Steal rate), then steal from there too. Just pretend the button is sitting out. He wont mind, I promise; after all hes a NIT. Again, I wont bore you with the numbers, but they are good. At the micros, especially through NL10, people dont know how to defend. Part of the reason you are stealing is because when they call, now is when you hit sneaky monsters. You raise with 64s and flop trip fours then really get paid off by AK who called from the big blind and will go all in with you on the K44 flop. You dont need to raise as much when you are opening on the button. 3 big blinds is fine for stealing. There are good reasons for this, read up on it. There are some very good players who even raise only 2.5x when stealing. ***AT HIGHER LEVELS, THIS MEANS YOU HAVE TO OPEN AA ON THE BUTTON FOR THE SAME AMOUNT. DONT VARY YOUR RAISE WITH HAND STRENGTH*** (You can avoid this if you constantly mix up your steal amount, sometime 2x, 3x, 3.5x, 4x. But, you do this sizing randomly so that you can make AA 4x since you made 27 4x a few orbits ago. Low stakes? Just always make it 3x when you open on the button. ALWAYS.) At RUSH poker, you can also get away with raising premium hands more than speculative hands since the table changes with every hand so players wont have a read on your bet sizing. Ideally, you want tight players in the blind when you are stealing. VPIP < 20%? Awesome. Fold blinds to steal over 80%? You can literally attempt a steal with any two cards and it is a profitable play (assuming you dont do anything incredibly stupid when they wake up with a hand and play back at you)

Blind Defense
I watched a video by Pokey on Stoxpoker and I like his blind defense method. When the button opens trying to steal, raise to about 4x his open with your monsters, small pairs, small suited connectors, and low suited Aces (A2s A5s). If you get called then you cant play fit or fold on the flop. You have to come out firing like you have an overpair. If you cant win it on the flop and you dont have a strong hand or a big draw, then maybe you give it up on the turn. And of course, like everything else, this is villain specific. When the button is a NIT playing 8/6/1 and stealing 9%, dont bother. Just fold.

When I say to play it like you have an overpair, consider this hand. The button was an aggressive player who raises a lot and steals a lot. How many hands are in the villains range that he can call all in on that flop? Against a tight villain, this isnt a real good play. If his range is overpairs and flush draws then Ive got lousy equity. But, against a villain who will bluff raise your flop bet, this can work. Again, this play is very villain-specific. You cant try this on everyone, you need a read first. Full Tilt Poker $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players CO: $10.00 BTN: $10.30 SB: $3.81 Hero (BB): $12.86 UTG: $3.39 Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BB with 5 5 2 folds, BTN raises to $0.35, 1 fold, Hero raises to $1.40, BTN calls $1.05 Flop: ($2.85) 6 3 3 (2 players) Hero bets $2, BTN raises to $5.40, Hero raises to $11.46 all in, BTN folds Final Pot: $13.65 Hero wins $12.74 (Rake: $0.91)

Effective Stacks
This is how much money you can play for, the size of the smallest stack between you and your opponent. So, imagine you are sitting on a huge 200 big blind stack and raise to 3 big blinds with 78s, a nice speculative drawing hand. You get 3bet to 6bb, a weak min-raise. Do you call or fold?!? Well, effective stacks come into play. If your opponent is a short stack who started with 20bb, then fold. Your implied odds stink because the effective stacks are so small. However, if the opponent has you covered then call. If you flop a straight or 2 pair and get all in, great! So, before you do anything, check your opponents stack size and see if theres anything worth playing for. Be cautious against good, solid opponents. They know about effective stacks also. When you have a really big stack, a good opponent will be trying to hit sneaky monsters against you. If you are putting them on a range, you might need to adjust it. If your opponent is a complete fish, dont give a second thought to stack size though.

Postflop Play
Everything gets harder once theres a flop. With 3 rounds of betting still to go, and so many different types of flop/turn/river, there are way too many variables to create any sort of simple rules to follow. Now hand reading comes into play. You need a good idea of where you stand which is why you did all that betting preflop.

Hopefully you have the trifecta: good cards, position, and the aggression lead. If not, its about to get ugly. As a general rule, the sooner you get all the money in the simpler the hand plays DUH. But seriously, if you have a big hand or a big draw (see combo draws) then its hard to go wrong getting it all in. The further you go in the hand the bigger the bets will be, so you would like to either have Nuts and just be putting your opponent on the installment plan OR being playing against a fish who will call you with some crap like 2nd pair. You dont want to keep betting or calling with a weak made hand like top pair lousy kicker or second pair.

Whats your hand worth?

Consider once you have hit the flop how much your hand is worth. Are you willing to play for stacks? If you think you are ahead, how much value do you think you can get; 1, 2 or 3 streets of value? In other words, how many bets can you get called BY WORSE? You can always bet 3 times, but every time a villain calls your bet it narrows his range and makes it more likely that hes ahead. You only WANT to bet 3 times if you are winning or believe he will fold a better hand to a bluff. When you flop a straight and there is no flush draw, then thats worth 3 streets of value unless, for instance, the board pairs or you have the bottom end of a straight. Thats because a villain could call 3 bets from you with a set, 2 pair, or maybe even top pair and you beat all those hands. However, if you just flop top pair and you keep betting and getting called then you need to consider what hand you could beat that he would keep calling with. If your hand isnt worth 3 streets of value, then a couple of things come into play. You can start playing for pot control (dont let the pot get too big, but also dont let him draw for free). You can also have showdown value (a made hand that just might not be the best) so you try to get to showdown as cheaply as possible. This could mean checking, putting out small blocker bets, calling small bets, etc.

1 Pair Hands
You know how you LOVE it when you call a raiser in position with a small pair then flop a set or 2 pair? Its awesome because your opponent is going to stack off against you with his overpair or top pair top kicker (TPTK). Well, the people you play against love that too. You dont want to be the guy who overplays a 1 pair hand and gets stacked, like below. Poker isnt just about waiting for your big hands and getting paid. Your opponent is going to flop sets just as often as you are. If you get paid on all of yours, but pay him on all of his then it just evens out. You have to learn to stop playing for stacks (at least postflop) with 1 pair hands. Following is a borderline example of how not to play. (Its borderline because there are so many draws on this board. If the board was drier, like a rainbow instead of suited then you should for sure slow down. Do you see why? If there are no big draws, then his calls/raises mean he has a made hand or is an idiot.). As soon as you get raised,

you need to think about pot control. What would he raise you with on this flop? Well, probably not AA or KK because he would have raised those preflop. So, think about overpairs like 88-JJ, and big draws like A 3 , A 4 , 4 5 , , 5 6 , 22, 33, 77, and MAYBE a bluff. So, I would have been better off playing for pot control when he raised. I probably should have just called and then either check/called the turn/river (folding if big draws hit) or just called and then bet/fold the turn. (bet/fold means bet and fold if he raises). A wet board (wet=connects with a lot of hands, dry= safe) like this connects with a lot of hands that someone on the button would call with. And, we dont have great equity against those hands. If we put our QQ into pokerstove against this range on that flop (JJ-77,3322,AsKs,AsJs,As5s,A4s-A3s,65s,54s ) we are only a 2:1 favorite to win. If this player is a NIT who wouldnt even see the flop with some of those weak hands, thing look worse. Again, this hand is borderline. Its a bit of a cooler. It sure would have played better in position Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players SB: $24.75 BB: $19.74 Hero (UTG): $25.00 CO: $20.15 BTN: $25.00 Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is UTG with Q Q Hero raises to $1, 1 fold, BTN calls $1, 2 folds Flop: ($2.35) 2 7 3 (2 players) Hero bets $1.75, BTN raises to $3.50, Hero raises to $7.50, BTN calls $4\ Turn: ($17.35) 2 (2 players) Hero bets $16.50 all in, BTN calls $16.50 all in River: ($50.35) 8 (2 players - 2 are all in) Final Pot: $50.35 Hero shows Q Q (two pair, Queens and Twos) BTN shows 3 3 (a full house, Threes full of Twos) BTN wins $47.84 (Rake: $2.51)

Consider some options

Cbet Check/Fold Check/Call: Typically for pot control Delayed Cbet Check Raise

Continuation Betting
Do this. A LOT! (but not too much!) When you were the preflop raiser, bet the flop. You will make a pair or better on the flop about 1/3 of the time, you should be betting those. You should bet about the rest of the time too. So your cbet % should be 60% - 70% or so. Check pokertracker and if you are way off from this, start adjusting. When you have QQ and raise preflop and the flop comes A74 and they check to you, BET! What do you think they think you have? AK of course. You just hit top pair top kicker as far as they know. I know, sometimes you cant believe they could possibly fold, but they will. Calling you preflop with A7s seemed smart at the time, but now they didnt flop a flush nor 2 pair and what you know is that QQ will look like AK to them. Turn your hand into a bluff. I wont bore you with the math, but it doesnt even have to work very often. When someone donks into you (you raised after they limped, or you raised and a blind called, then the limper/caller bets first on the flop), raise them. Especially when they min-bet (bet just 1 big blind). And dont let that min-bet throw you off. Size your raise based on the $ in the pot, not the size of their pathetic bet. So, when dont you c-bet? Think flop texture, position, number of opponents, and type of opponent (is he tricky/aggro or weak/passive). Wet board and you got air? Nice time to focus on that other table you are playing. 3 other players saw the flop and you caught bottom pair? Nice time to check/fold and practice your hand reading skills by predicting what they will showdown. Tricky /aggressive opponent? Even in position you might get check raised. Check behind and see the turn. Out of position with overcards? Well, ask yourself what would he have called me with and what would he put me on? He would have called preflop with a speculative hand (suited connectors or smaller pairs). People have a tendency to put the preflop raiser on high cards. So when you have over cards, it is a) a flop that could have hit him giving him a set or a draw and b) a flop he is likely to think missed you. A good player will raise your cbet knowing that its gonna be damn hard for you to call. Its a good time to check and reflect on the benefits of playing in position.

Delayed Cbet
Maybe you have a hand, but its not great. You raised A5 on the button and the BB called. The flop is A83 rainbow and the BB checks to you. Well, you have top pair with a terrible kicker. Is your hand worth 3 streets of value? No. You are probably way ahead or way behind. Its a good time to check the flop and if he checks to you on the turn, make a delayed continuation bet. He may fold, which is ok, or now he may call with worse (like 98, 78, 45 or even KQ) because he doesnt believe you have an Ace since you didnt bet the flop.

Check Calling
So, you are out of position and you flop a big hand. You think you are ahead of the guy that has position on you. What do you do? Check! You might think you need to bet to show strength. Why do you want to show strength? Are you hoping that hell fold? Of course not. So, why check and call? What if he just checks behind you, dont you miss a bet? Think about this, if he checks behind you do you really think he would have called your bet? Its time to put your opponent on a range of hands. For this exercise, 2 ranges of hands actually. First, imagine a range of hands that your opponent will call your bet with. Now, imagine a range that he will BET with if you check. Which range is wider? The betting range. He SHOULD bet anything that hell call with plus some other hands like continuation bet bluffs and weak draws. So, if you check and call then there will be more times where you get money than if you bet. This also depends on the type of flop (wet/dry) and the type of opponent (aggro/passive). On a wet board, where your opponent could have a lot of very good draws, betting is probably better.

Check Raising
You can legitimately check raise With monsters when you put your opponent on a strong hand Since the player in the cutoff 3bet me preflop, Im hoping he has an overpair and is willing to go with it on the flop. I was planning a small check raise and then shove the turn, but when the big blind puts in a check raise himself (see the section on pure bluff) its time to go all in. The only hand Im worried he has is 99, and if he does well pay him off. Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players BB: $48.92 UTG: $37.93 Hero (MP): $25.00 CO: $25.19 BTN: $25.00 SB: $32.73 Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is MP with 7 7 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.85, CO raises to $2.75, 2 folds, BB calls $2.50, Hero calls $1.90 Flop: ($8.35) 9 7 2 (3 players) BB checks, Hero checks, CO bets $5.50, BB raises to $11, Hero raises to $22.25 all in, CO raises to $22.44 all in, BB calls $11.44 Turn: ($75.48) 5 (3 players - 2 are all in) River: ($75.48) 2 (3 players - 2 are all in) Final Pot: $75.48

BB shows 6 A (a pair of Twos) Hero shows 7 7 (a full house, Sevens full of Twos) CO shows A A (two pair, Aces and Twos) CO wins $0.38 Hero wins $72.10 (Rake: $3.00) As a pure bluff I wont put in an example of this, and I dont think you should do it very often. The most common time would be in blind defense. When villain steals a lot from the button, continuation bets a lot and you decide to defend. If the flop is very dry and you think it missed his range, you can put in a nice check raise. If he calls your bluff though, its time to click fold to any bet before you get stacked with air trying to double barrel him off some hand. As a semi-bluff with a strong drawing hand This is a good section to show a losing hand. Sure, I didnt win the hand but I dont think this is a terrible play. On the flop I have a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw. I realize that since UTG reraised my check-raise, I have no fold equity when I shove but I think I have the odds to go ahead and put it all in here on this draw, especially at these limits where people make some pretty bad plays. The only hand I really worry about is villain having a better flush draw, or that he flopped a set and could end up with a full house even when I catch a flush. So, this may not be the best example but I wanted to show a hand where I lost. Honestly though, you dont need to be this aggressive at the micros to win money. When he re-raises my check raise I could have folded and looked for a better spot. Full Tilt Poker $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players SB: $14.28 Hero (BB): $4.80 UTG: $13.55 MP: $7.48 CO: $4.78 BTN: $6.27 Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is BB with 6 5 UTG calls $0.05, 2 folds, BTN calls $0.05, 1 fold, Hero checks Flop: ($0.17) 3 T 7 (3 players) Hero checks, UTG bets $0.17, BTN calls $0.17, Hero raises to $0.85, UTG raises to $2.89, BTN folds, Hero raises to $4.75 all in, UTG calls $1.86 Turn: ($9.84) 5 (2 players - 1 is all in) River: ($9.84) 3 (2 players - 1 is all in) Final Pot: $9.84 Hero shows 6 5 (two pair, Fives and Threes) UTG shows K K (two pair, Kings and Threes)

UTG wins $9.19 (Rake: $0.65) For value against an overly aggressive player Villain in this hand was playing 93/19/2 and effective stacks were deep, over 100 big blinds. So, when I flop top pair top kicker and a backdoor nut flush draw, Im pretty sure I have the nuts. I also expect him to raise me since he 3bet me preflop. So, Ive decided right then Ill take this hand to the felt and the best way is a check raise shove hoping he has a weak pair or overcards and puts me on a flush draw. Like so many other plays, this is villain specific. You cant make this on a tight, solid player and expect him to call with worse. You have to tailor your play to your opponent and exploit his weaknesses. After this hand, you should put a note on this villain that he plays AK like it is AA Full Tilt Poker $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players MP: $2.00 CO: $4.23 BTN: $0.73 SB: $1.81 BB: $2.13 Hero (UTG): $3.48 CO posts a big blind ($0.02) Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero is UTG with A T Hero raises to $0.12, 1 fold, CO raises to $0.22, 3 folds, Hero calls $0.10 Flop: ($0.48) T 6 3 (2 players) Hero checks, CO bets $0.48, Hero raises to $3.26 all in, CO calls $2.78 Turn: ($7.00) J (2 players - 1 is all in) River: ($7.00) 6 (2 players - 1 is all in) Final Pot: $7.00 CO shows A K (a pair of Sixes) Hero shows A T (two pair, Tens and Sixes) Hero wins $6.54 (Rake: $0.46)

You got Check Raised

Dont be convinced that there are monsters under the bed. Every check raise doesnt mean he flopped the nuts. First, do you have something? Top pair or better or a strong draw? Then ask yourself what he might have. Is this a wet board (there are a lot of draw)? Is he in the blinds? Some people flat call your steal attempt preflop and check raise most flops as their blind defense mechanism. If it was a small check raise and youve got something, then dont be afraid to call and re-evaluate on the turn. If he leads the turn with a big bet, then you can fold. If

he checks the turn, you can check behind if you have showdown value or put in a bet if you are convinced he is drawing and you are ahead.

Double Barrels
C-betting flops and checking turns is weak-tight poker. If you arent going to bet the turn, then it was probably one of those situations that you should not have cbet. Dont be afraid of monsters under the bed. Dont let him have a free card to hit his draw on the river.

Playing In Position
This is what poker is all about. Its where you win most of your money. Focus all of your efforts on playing in position, and hand reading. You have to know where you stand and exploit it to maximize your profit. When you are ahead, get as much money out of them as possible. When you are behind, if they have some weak hand then push them off of it but if they are strong, then give it up. If you are unsure, get to showdown as cheap as you can.

Playing OOP
Playing out of position sucks. I hate when I open AK from middle position, the button calls and the flop comes J83. What now? What does the button have? Would he flat call AJ/KJ/QJ? Does he already have a pair he was set-mining with? So, you bet. He calls. Crap. Is he floating AQ or maybe T9 with an open end straight draw (OESD)? What about when you open QQ, the button calls and the flop is A72? This is another major reason that you open far fewer hands from early position. Its really hard to play the flop when you miss. And youll miss, or there will be overcards to your pair, A LOT! Some people believe ABC poker just means cbet the flop a fair amount of the time then give up if you dont have a made hand. Thats not too bad an idea. DONT START SPEWING! Dont keep throwing out big bets when you miss. When the button calls with AT and flops 2 pair hell love you if you keep on betting your Queens trying to convince him you have AK. He WANTS you to have AK. Out of position is a good time to remember this: Big Hands, Big Pots. Small Hands, Small pots. As soon as you see the flop, ask yourself do you want a big pot or small. If you want small, then go ahead and fold to pressure and/or try to get to showdown as cheaply as possible. Check/Call or put our some small blocker bets.

Extraction/Value Betting Combo Draws

When you flop a hand with 13 or more outs that improve it, play it FAST. Hands like a pair with a straight draw or flush draw. Or, an open ended straight draw with four

to a flush. Bet or raise and if you get played back at shove it all in. You probably have a thin advantage. That advantage is compounded by fold equity. When you shove and villain folds, you win a pretty decent pot. Add that pot to your small advantage when he calls and in the long term you are making a lot of money. Full Tilt Poker $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players BTN: $4.07 SB: $1.34 Hero (BB): $5.00 UTG: $5.00 CO: $7.01 Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is BB with J Flop: ($0.36) 9 3 Q (2 players) T UTG raises to $0.17, 3 folds, Hero calls $0.12 Hero checks, UTG bets $0.25, Hero raises to $1.11, UTG raises to $2.75, Hero raises to $4.83 all in, UTG calls $2.08 all in Turn: ($10.02) 6 River: ($10.02) 5 Final Pot: $10.02 Hero shows J UTG shows 9 (Rake: $0.66) T 9 (a flush, Queen high) (three of a kind, Nines) (2 players - 2 are all in) (2 players - 2 are all in)

Hero wins $9.36

Showdown Value
Whats this mean? You have a hand but not the nuts. And, you are pretty sure that your opponent is not extremely strong. You cant bet for value because you dont really believe you are solidly ahead. You dont want to bluff, because if you get raised then you have to fold and that was a waste of money. You want to see a showdown for as cheap as possible and hope your opponent missed a draw or has some weaker hand. On this hand, I could have bluffed on the turn. At that point I had no showdown value and I certainly couldnt bet for value. If the K doesnt come on the river, then the only way I can win the pot is to bluff so I would have to bet if I want to win. However, with the K on the river I suddenly have showdown value. Theres no need to bluff. Theres no good reason to value bet either since I probably wont get

called by worse. Think about it, what worse hand can call with an A and K on the board plus 3 to a flush? This is the same hand from playing in position. Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players CO: $19.92 Hero (BTN): $25.63 SB: $25.00 BB: $36.11 UTG: $25.00 MP: $18.91 Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with Q K UTG raises to $0.75, 2 folds, Hero raises to $2.60, 2 folds, UTG calls $1.85 Flop: ($5.55) 7 6 8 (2 players) UTG checks, Hero bets $4, UTG calls $4 Turn: ($13.55) A (2 players) UTG checks, Hero checks River: ($13.55) K (2 players) UTG checks, Hero checks Final Pot: $13.55 Hero shows Q K (a pair of Kings) UTG mucks J J Hero wins $12.88 (Rake: $0.67)

Floating
When you open a big hand like AK and get called, you wont hit the flop every time. And some of those times, somebody will have called you out of position. For instance, one of the blinds called or someone in early position limped then called your raise. Then, they will donk bet (a bet from out of position by someone who was not the preflop aggressor) into you on the flop. Dont auto-fold, especially if they bet too small and give you nice odds to call. Youve got to be willing to call and see what happens on the turn. Sometimes on the turn youll hit one of your overcards and now hold top pair. Other times, the person wont double barrel you and you can either bet and win the pot right there or take another free card on the river. Full Tilt Poker $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 4 players CO: $10.00 Hero (BTN): $10.35 SB: $10.15 BB: $10.48 Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BTN with K A CO raises to $0.40, Hero calls $0.40, 2 folds Flop: ($0.95) J 5 2 (2 players)

CO bets $0.60, Hero calls $0.60 Turn: ($2.15) 8 (2 players) CO bets $1.40, Hero raises to $3.80, CO folds Final Pot: $4.95 Hero wins $4.62 (Rake: $0.33)

Bluffing
Imagine your Mom coming in at bedtime and telling you this story. Once upon a time, there was a tortoise and a hare. Every Christmas Eve, the tortoise flew around the world and put money under all the kids pillows. The hare kissed a frog which turned into the artist formerly known as Prince. Republicans passed universal health care and we all lived happily ever after. Youd say, that doesnt make any sense! At the micros, this is how a lot of people bluff. Its not a bluff any more than that was a fairy tale. That is simply Spew. Make sure that when you bluff (and it should be rarely) it makes sense. If youve called 2 streets of betting and a draw hits on the river, but you only have 2nd pair; shove. If you raised preflop and floated a low flop in position, bet the ace that comes on the turn. Theres not much bluffing at the micros. Theres more spewing. If your opponents bet makes sense, then they probably just have a hand and you should fold. Theres no money to be made at the micros making hero calls with Ace high as a bluff catcher.

Bet the Scare Cards

This is a form of bluffing. So there are 2 things to keep in mind, dont do it often and pick your opponent carefully. You need a thinking player who is capable of folding a moderately strong hand. You can do this with a pure bluff when you are drawing and miss or you can turn your made hand into a bluff. For instance, you have a pair like JJ on a Q hi flop with 2 suited cards. You are in position and your opponent leads into you. You think he has an Q, but you call. When 3rd flush card comes on the turn, your opponent bets weakly or checks, you can raise to represent a flush you dont have. You are turning your weak made hand with marginal showdown value (he may have AK, you might be ahead) into a bluff.

The Turn
I wont say too much about the turn and river because Ive said too much already. Check Behind Consider this. You are in position. You raised preflop and got called. You flop a hand like TPTK (top pair, top kicker, maybe with the nut flush draw to boot) and you

bet and get called (villain either bet and called your raise, or check/called). Now, the turn is a blank and its checked to you. Whats the play? Well, first consider the texture of the board. Is it possible that the villain called the flop with a big draw? If so then maybe you value bet and make him pay to try to catch it on the river. If not though, then ask yourself what is he calling with and how is he likely to respond to a bet? What you have to fear here is that hes calling with a monster and hes lying in wait to check-raise all-in on the turn. Thats what you would do if you flopped a set, right? So it may be time to check behind and reevaluate on the river. The value that you are giving up by not betting when you are ahead is offset by the losses you suffer when you either have to fold to a check-raise, or call and lose.

Non-Standard Lines
Ultimately, you have to tailor your play to the player you are up against. In this hand, I was up against an aggressive opponent, the Bully type. They look for weakness and pounce. For many of them, a tiny little bet into them will send them over the edge. In this case, I wanted to make it look like I had a strong hand that got counterfeited by the 4th diamond. He took the bait. The point is, you need to learn the different kind of players, recognize from your HUD/Notes who you are playing, and use techniques tailored to exploit them. Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 4 players BTN: $18.68 Hero (SB): $25.00 BB: $3.96 CO: $37.28 Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is SB with A Q 1 fold, BTN raises to $0.85, Hero raises to $2.25, 1 fold, BTN calls $1.40 Flop: ($4.75) 7 J Q (2 players) Hero bets $3.75, BTN calls $3.75 Turn: ($12.25) 4 (2 players) Hero bets $0.25, BTN raises to $12.68 all in, Hero calls $12.43 River: ($37.61) 9 (2 players - 1 is all in) Final Pot: $37.61 BTN shows 6 6 (a flush, Queen high) Hero shows A Q (a flush, Ace high) Hero wins $35.73 (Rake: $1.88)

Slow Playing
Just DONT do it. Bet your big hands. If you get called on the flop by a really aggressive player consider a check raise on the turn. Bet, bet, bet. Sure, youll flop some monsters, bet and get no calls. Big deal. Better to win a small pot than lose a big one because they caught up with there weird straight draw. The way to win a lot of money is to get a lot of money in the pot and to do that you have to bet.

The power of the almighty FOLD BUTTON

A penny saved is a penny earned. Money you lose when you make a terrible call hits your win rate just as hard as the money you win. Make 2 or 3 good laydowns extra every 1000 hands and your winrate will go up several ptbb/100. This was the hardest skill for me to develop, by far. I just couldnt believe that the villain had it. Well, he did. Over and over again. Sure, you have to read hands and make some tough calls. But more often than not, you just need to fold. There will be times when it seems like everyone at the table is picking on you. That is one part of variance. There are times when everyone else is hitting there hands. This is why it is SOOOO much easier to lose money fast than it is to win it fast. Play your strong hands strong, but when they are telling you that you are beat, give it up. I have a quote from Fees guide on my monitor. People arent out to get you. If someone makes a move on you, they probably just have a hand. After all, thats what you would do if you had a hand, right?

Thoughts on running bad

Youve heard people say you wont believe how bad you can run, I believe it now. All of the following happened in a 24 hour period where I also lost 20% of a bankroll I had spent 3 months building. It all started with AA against QQ. I wait and get it all in on the turn, he tanks, calls and catches a Q on the river for 120 big blinds. 2 outer with 1 card to come. I shrugged it off, ended my session for the night and went to bed. The next day, it was all downhill from there. Against a villain who is 70/0/5, on back-to-back hands he flopped a set when I had an overpair then TPTK. Next orbit, he gets 88 when I have 77 (only lost 12bb on that one though). At least 4 other times that day I flopped top pair or 2pp and villain flopped a set. Villains flopped flushes against me twice. With AA, the flop came A55; and villain held 55 for quads. I flop top pair and a straight flush draw and get all in against 2 villains, one holding a set and the other has the nut flush draw including the card I need for my straight flush. Im drawing dead with what is usually a huge combo draw. On another day, I saw the flop with AA 17 times and lost 9 of them. J4 flopped 2 pair. 3 times, villain rivered 2 pair. Thats just variance. Shrug it off, you wont notice the days when you win 16 out of 17 and that isnt supposed to happen either.

Running bad can also mean repeatedly running into the top of villains range. After 100 hands with a villain who 3 bet 24% of the time, I finally 4 bet him with TT and he has AA. To add insult to injury, he rivered a set. What do you do? Drop down, way down if necessary. 2 or 3 levels down. Play for the fun of playing for a while. Earn back 1 buyin at your normal stakes. Own some really bad players. Dont rush it. Dont play on tilt. Dont move up a level to win it back faster.

Conclusion
If you understand all of these and incorporate them into your game, then you have a good start to grinding it out and showing a steady win rate, but just a start. To crush the micros and move up to small stakes, I think you need to be pretty comfortable with all this and have it as a regular part of your game; plus turn/river play that I didnt get deep on. You will have played enough hands that in the 15 seconds you have to decide what to do on the flop, 5 or 6 of these concepts will flash through your mind and help you know what to do. You wont make the optimal play every time, but you wont need to yet and youll still be making plenty of money.

Hand Chart

UTG

MP

CO

OTB SB BB

pp 22+ ATs+, AJo+ KJs, KQ 89s+

pp 22+ A9s+, ATo+ KTs, KQ, KJ 89s+

pp 22+ A5s+ , A9o+ K9s+ , Kto 65s+ , JTo+ T8s+ , QTo+ (1 gap) Q9s+ (suited 2 gap)

pp 22+ A2s+ , K8s+ , 54s+ , 64s+ , 96s+ , T6s+ A8o+ K9o+ 98o+ J9o+ (1 gap) Q9o+ (2 gap) (3 gap)

Raise more than pot pp 88+ pp 88+ Ajs+, KQs, AK Ajs+, KQs, AK

Open

Call a Raise

pp 22 - JJ AJs, AQ KQs

pp 22 -TT AT+, KQ, QJs, TJs

pp 22 - 99 AT+, KQ, QJs, TJs

pp 22 - TT AQ, AJs, KQs

pp 22 - TT AQ, AJs, KQs

3 Bet

AK, AA, KK, QQ Situational: AQ, AJs , KQs , JJ, TT Light: 56s - QJs, Axs (5 is best) 22 - 77, Kqo, Ajo

AK, AA, KK, QQ Situational: AQ, AJs , KQs , JJ, TT Light: 56s - QJs, Axs (5 is best) 22 - 77, Kqo, Ajo

AK, AQ, AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT Situational: AJs , KQs Light: 56s - QJs, Axs (5 is best) 22 - 77, Kqo, Ajo

AK, AA, KK, QQ, JJ Situational: 22 - TT

AK, AA, KK, QQ, JJ Situational: 22 - TT