Battre les micros stakes

Straightforward Loose Passive Players

You are likely to find that most of your opponents in small stakes cash games play in a straightforward, loose, passive manner. These players have usually been playing poker for a long time but have not grasped the concept that they do not need the best hand to win the pot. They also do not understand that if a lot of money goes into the pot when they have top pair, they will usually be crushed by a premium made hand.

Their general strategy is to limp, or call a raise, hoping to see a flop with a wide range of hands they think have potential, including 4-4, A-J, A-4, K-9, 9-8, K-5s, Q-7s, and 5-3s. After the flop, when they make top pair or better, they tend to apply immense pressure because they are afraid of getting outdrawn. With a made hand worse than top pair, they will usually check with the intention of calling down to the river, where they will typically fold to one last bet if they fail to improve to a hand that beats top pair. They tend to also play their drawing hands in a passive manner, calling down to see if they improve to a premium hand. If they are fortunate enough to complete their draw, they usually bet or raise big, hoping you will pay them off. When they miss their draw, they usually fold. You will find that most of these players rarely bluff because they think the only winning poker strategy is to make strong hands and then pile in their money.

For simplicity, all hand examples in this book will be from $1/$2 with $200 effective stacks unless otherwise stated. The effective stack is the shortest stack involved in the pot. Suppose three of these loose, passive players limp for $2, one from the lojack (the seat three to the right of the button), one from the hijack (the seat two to the right of the button), and one from the cutoff (the seat directly to the right of the button). You decide to call $2 on the button with 8-7. Both blinds see the flop as well. It comes 8-6-3. If someone bets and someone else calls, you should usually fold, assuming that you are against some combination of (a) made hands that beat yours, (b) worse made hands that will win 25% of the time against yours, and (c) draws that will win about 35% of the time against yours. While you could have the best hand, unless you think your opponents will play in an overly weak manner if you raise, you should get out of the way. Some players elect to call a bet to try to improve to trips or two pair, but you will often find that when you improve, you will not get paid off or that you still have the second-best hand. If only one player bets on the flop and everyone in between folds, you should tend to call, opting to see what develops on the turn. If everyone checks to you, you should certainly bet both for value (because worse made hands and draws will call) and protection (because you do not want to give a free card to various overcards, such as A-T and Q-J). It is important to realize that you should have a logical reason for every bet you make. If you routinely make bets without having a logical reason, you are certainly making errors.

Straightforward, loose, passive players are easy to beat because they usually play in a blatantly straightforward manner. They raise when they love their hand, call when they are unsure, and fold when they know they are crushed.

You will find that a decent chunk of your profit comes from folding when it is clear these opponents have premium hands. If you know your opponent really likes his hand and you have a marginal made hand, such as top pair with a weak kicker or middle pair, you should get out of the way, assuming you are not getting the proper price to draw to a better hand. Do not be stubborn and stick around until the river, hoping to luckily improve.

You will also crush these players by value betting in such a way that they can realistically call when you have the best hand. For example, assume you raise to $6 with A-Q and three players call. If the flop comes A-7-5, you should bet about half the size of the pot on all three streets. You will find that most opponents will happily call you down with any Ace, which you crush, whereas if you check, they may or may not value bet, fearing they could be beat. By betting on all three streets, you extract a huge amount of value from your opponents’ good, but second- best, made hands. However, if you instead bet the size of the pot or more on all three streets, unless your opponents are incapable of folding marginal made hands, they will usually make snug folds. You rarely want to make a bet that forces your opponents to play perfectly, as a large bet does in this situation.

You may be wondering why I used the preflop raise size of $6, as it is much smaller than most people’s raises are in a typical $1/$2 game. The logic for this bet sizing will be addressed in the Preflop section. I will also discuss how to deal with players who choose much larger bet sizes. In general though, before the flop you typically want to raise to a touch less than the size of the pot. You can figure out the size of the pot by multiplying the last bet by three then adding in any additional money that is in the pot. In this situation, when you are the first to put money in the pot, three times the last bet (the big blind) is $6 plus any dead money (the small blind), equals $7. So, a bit less than $7 is $6. This same formula applies when the pot gets large. Suppose there are two limpers for $2 each, someone raises to $10, and someone else reraises to $26. If you want to reraise to a bit less than the size of the pot, you should make it a bit less than 3 x 26 + 10 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 = $95, so perhaps $88. Once you memorize this simple formula, you will never again be confused about how much to raise before the flop. Of course, there are times when you should drastically adjust your bet sizes based on your opponent. These situations will be discussed in the Preflop section.

Always think about the range of hands you are trying to get value from and adjust your bet size accordingly. There are times to make big value bets and other times to value bet tiny. If you have the nuts and think your opponent has either the second nuts or nothing, you should bet huge, perhaps way more than the size of the pot, because very few people are capable of folding the second nuts and they will fold to any bet when they have nothing. If you have middle pair and think your opponent has bottom pair or Ace high, you should bet tiny, perhaps 25% of the size of the pot or less, because few people will call large bets with trashy made hands.

While betting for value will allow you to crush your opponent when you have a better made hand, you must be disciplined enough to make a big fold when it becomes clear that your opponent has improved to a superior hand. For example, if you bet the flop, turn and river with A-K on A-7-5-J-2 and your opponent called on the flop and turn, and then raised on the river, it would be a total disaster to call your opponent’s raise. Betting for value with the intention of folding if your opponent raises is a skill that simply must be mastered if you want to succeed against loose, passive, straightforward players. Remember, these players call when they have marginal hands (that your A-K beats) and raise when they have premium hands (which probably beat your A-K). This means you can profitably bet for value while still being able to fold if you get raised. Most small stakes cash game players are not capable of making a “big” fold in this spot, which is one of the main reasons they never move up in stakes. It is nearly impossible to build a bankroll if you always pay off your opponents when they outdraw you.

Another way you beat these opponents is by allowing them to overvalue their good, but not premium, made hands. Suppose three of these players limp from middle positions and you raise to $14 with A-A from the big blind. All the limpers call. The flop comes J-T-5. You bet $26 and one of your opponents raises to $60. At this point, both calling and going all-in are fine options, depending on what you think about your opponent’s raising range. It is up to you to figure out which play your opponent will view as the weakest, resulting in him paying you off with the vast majority of his range. Of course, he could have you beat, but you will find that most of the time you are against a marginal top pair such as K-J or Q-J.

Before we progress further, it is important to realize that you are always playing against a range of hands, not one specific hand. If you ever hear someone at the table say “I put him on A-J so I went all-in”, that player probably makes the mistake of putting his opponent on one specific hand. That is simply not how poker works in the real world. In the previous example, when your opponent raises the flop, his range could be quite tight, perhaps only A-J, K-J and Q-J, or it could be much wider, including all sets, two pairs, overpairs, top pairs, strong middle pairs, and draws. Of course, your opponent will only have one specific hand this exact time, but if you ran this situation a million times, you would find that your opponent does not have that one specific hand every single time. For this reason, you have to play your hand against your opponent’s range. If you happen to be against the wide range of all sets, decent made hands, and draws, your A-A will win roughly 67% of the time. While you will occasionally be against a set or two pair that has you crushed, on average you will be in great shape. In turn, if you find that your specific opponent has exactly a set or two pair almost every single time he raises, you should fold your A-A because it only has 19% equity.

This illustrates why it is so important to understand how each of your opponents thinks. If you get your stack in with 67% equity every time, you will crush the games, but if you instead get it in with 19% equity every time, you will quickly go broke. It is up to you to figure out how much equity you have in each situation and respond accordingly. In every hand you play for the rest of your life, you should focus diligently on putting each player on a range and narrowing it as play progresses.

One other way you can crush straightforward, loose, passive opponents is by picking up the pot when it is clear they are not interested. Suppose one of these players limps from the lojack and you raise to $10 from the button with K♦:5♦: (a risky, but probably correct play, depending on what you think about the limper’s limping range). Only the limper calls. The flop comes A♥:6♥:2♠:. Your opponent checks. This is an excellent spot to bet $10 into the $23 pot. If your opponent doesn’t have top pair or better, he will usually fold, giving you the pot. Seeing how your opponent will only connect with the flop roughly 33% of the time (meaning he will have nothing 67% of the time), and you only need to win the pot 30% of the time based on your bet size, you will steal the pot way more than is required to show a profit. To figure out how often a total bluff needs to work, you divide your bet ($10) by the pot you are trying to steal plus your bet ($23 +$10) giving you 10/33 = 30%. If you know roughly how often your opponent will call a bet based on his range, you can tailor your bluff size to ensure your bluffs are profitable. Keep in mind that as your bet size decreases, your opponent is likely to call with a wider range.

You can also attack multiway pots if it is clear no one is interested. If two people limp, you limp from late position, and the blinds come along, if the flop comes K-8-3 and everyone checks to you, feel free to take a stab with a bet of about 50% of the size of the pot with any two cards. When everyone checks to you, especially on the flop and turn when you are last to act, do not be afraid to bet. While most players in these games tend to bet large, usually near the size of the pot, you will find smaller bet sizes usually result in the same outcome. There is no point in betting the size of the pot when you are bluffing if betting half of the size of the pot will induce your opponents to fold roughly the same range of hands. By betting the minimum required to get the job done when you are bluffing, you save money every time your bluffs fail. You must realize that if your bluff needs to work 30% of the time but it will actually work 35% of the time, you will show a profit, even though your bluff will fail 65% of the time. If your bluffs succeed almost every time, you are not bluffing often enough.

@Jonathan Little