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Micro Stakes = Setting Money on Fire?

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jiffybag
Joined: 21.12.2010

Million hands on micros?

Dude its been done before, old thread on 2+2, made decent profit over 1k if I remember right, and he did it over a month I think.
It gave me the idea to play 10k HU SNG on Stars at the time, I burnt out after about 2k games for a profit of just over $200 I think.
Makes me want to try and play a milly at 2nl and 5nl :coolface:


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Super Moderator
VorpalF2F
Joined: 02.09.2010

Originally posted by Gauer
Hey Nazgos, it is not about mistakes, it is about playing against players who are not afraid of losing. They just don't respect position, don't fear raising, shoving... They are just playing roulette or raising war.

No matter what stakes you play, you should not be afraid of losing. If you are afraid to lose, then you won't bet when you should and you'll lose money.
If you are afraid of losing at the micros, then you should not be playing poker at all.

Doyle Brunson once said something like "You must want to win, but you must not care if you lose"

If you find someone calling you down with trash, take notes, and adjust your play accordingly. However at higher stakes, it is quite possible that a highly skilled player will do this early in a session so that when they later call you down with the nuts they get your entire stack — including the bit that you got earlier.

Good luck.
Study the game — starting at the micros.


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Gauer
Joined: 25.12.2022

I am not afraid of losing my dude. The problem is that it is impossible to constantly be on the green. If I were afraid of losing money, my profession would no be: TRADER.

No one came here so far and posted at least a sample of 1 million hands at any stake, let's see those green numbers.

I bet that if anyone check a report including all the hands they ever played at a given stake, the screen would be glowing with red numbers.

And I already studied the game more than enough. You can t do anything if you are dealt crappy hands and when you finally get good hands, you get a cooler or everyone jumps ship. There is no skill or study that is gonna change the RNG of the game, you need luck too. It is a game that involves luck, I don't know how can it be compare to a mind sport, it is not at all, specially when playing tourneys. Funnily enough, I did way better in tourneys than cash, at least I could finish 1st in some, and at the top (2nd - 5th) at least in half of them.


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VorpalF2F
Joined: 02.09.2010

OK, you make some fair points.

Luck is the same for everyone long term. What is left is the skill advantage. If you have one, over the long term you will win — maybe.

Have a look at the poker variance calculator
When you first open the link, you see 1000 simulations of 100,000 hands each, for a player with a presumed winrate of 2.5 big blinds per 100 hands.
Pay close attention to the best and worst runs. This is why we at PokerStrategy.com recommend conservative bankroll management

Now change the parameters to 1,000,000 hands — now only one of the 20 iterations is in losing territory — and not by much. At 10 million even the worst run is solidly profitable.

Originally posted by Gauer
Funnily enough, I did way better in tourneys than cash, at least I could finish 1st in some, and at the top (2nd - 5th) at least in half of them.

My experience also. In fact, I'm in lifetime profit largely because of some very deep runs in large tournaments.

If you enjoy the game no problem, but if it is becoming tedious — or worse — take a break


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ColorFlusher
Joined: 19.01.2008

Hey Gauer!
I'm most likely a winning player in the past 1 million hands. This graph is closest I could get to it. All the hands were played since the beginning of 2020. Unfortunately I don't have any older hands on my database. In theory this could still be a huge upswing but if it is, I hope it will last : )


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Mickl84
Joined: 25.01.2023

Thats kinda dumb when BR79 has been smashing MS for years. It works. youre getting fancy i bet.


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Guntersafeword
Joined: 14.07.2011

see below :f_biggrin:


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Guntersafeword
Joined: 14.07.2011

Originally posted by ColorFlusher
Knowing the type of your opponents is very important on microstakes because they can vary from very weak opponents to those that never fold. By weak opponent I mean a person that plays tight preflop range or folds to continuation bets. They are easier to put on range and you can eventually run over them. Recognize those villains and start betting more often against them. On many of the cases you are making instant profit against them because they fold too much. And if they call start thinking a reasonable story you could tell them on later streets.

Let's say you are making a continuation bet on a draw heavy flop because your opponent is folding half of the times and only check-raises top of the range. He calls. Turn doesn't complete the draws. How would you play your strong hands? Do that and see if he continues to river. If you have showdown value on river then check. There is no need to overbluff those hands because you are winning the pot often enough. Else consider still betting. Weak opponents make ridiculous folds sometimes. Even some calling stations have really high fold to river bet %.

Against calling stations you are betting for value. If they are passive don't try to be tricky with check-raising or stuff like that. You can even start donk betting against them as an exploit. Just bet more often for value and play tight when they raise you. Out of all the stakes I've played I have the highest continuation bet %, donk bet %, fold to continuation bet % and fold to river bet % on the micros and also the lowest check-raise %. In general players don't bluff-raise much in microstakes.

Betting three streets for value can get tough sometimes. There are two things you could do. First of all you can delay your continuation bet for turn with some of your weaker valuehands especially against villains that are aggressive. That is how you can avoid situations where you have to check either turn in position or river out of position. Because when you check either of those situations, aggressive players can smell the blood and decide to bluff you out of the hand. It is much easier to check-call a tough river as a bluffcatcher when you have only bet the turn, not just because the pot is smaller but also because your opponents range is weaker.

Another way to make your life easier on river is to use a block bet on a scary board. Let's say you have two pairs and you have bet both flop and turn out of position. Calling station is still in the hand and some of the draws complete. Instead of checking and getting yourself possible in trouble start using small block bets. They are great because they work in two ways. In best case scenario you are still getting value when they call with worse hand. If you are raised you are most likely behind and you get to fold easily.

Also bet sizing matters. It is often good to keep flop bets smaller so you can keep your own range and your opponents range wider. Let's say you bet big on a paired board with trips or overpair, what is the most likely result? Your opponent folds. What about if you bet big as a bluff and the opponent calls? There are less hands you can double barrell as a bluff because your bet size on flop lead to a situation where he has stronger range. Then you check turn and face a bet on river and you end up folding too much or calling too wide. The thing is you don't exactly want them to fold on flop but on turn instead. That is how you get more value for your good hands but also get your bluffs to win slightly more. To achieve that bet smaller on flop so you can bet bigger and more often on turn. It will make your turn continuation bets much more efficient.

Lastly play more against bad players and less against good players. Being in position is very important. Steal more if the blinds are bad or tight players and they don't 3-bet a lot. That will make your winrate in position much higher.

Can I say ^^this

very good run down :)


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davidclark
Joined: 13.04.2022

on pokerstars the cashout makes most of the players brave. even most of the players on .01 .02 play alot better


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yangmartins
Joined: 28.11.2009

I'd love to know how it is going for OP


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