Beating Small Stakes Online Cash Games
Small Stakes Poker Games Are Dangerous – How To Dodge The Donks, Frustrate The Fish And Confuse The Calling Stations Here.
After you took the time to figure the hand rankings, starting hands and how to bet – yet the bad-beats keep flying in! What you need is a solid foundation of poker strategy concepts, with a special twist on how to safely navigate the minefield of players in lower stakes online cash games who have no clue – and so will call you with any tiny hope of winning the pot. This guide for beginning Ubuntu Poker players everywhere!
We will start with the idea of position, explaining why this is a powerful concept. Next the related ‘gap concept’ which concerns both position and starting hands. Domination is never good in poker, we show you how to avoid this next before getting into the advantages of being the aggressor. Finally we wrap up with adapting to bad opponents by bluffing less and ‘value betting’ more.
Beating Small Stakes Online Cash Games – 5 Killer Tips!
1. Position Matters – A Lot!
Playing last in a poker hand, particularly after the flop, is a huge advantage that many new players do not fully appreciate. The chance to see your opponents actions before you commit any more money to the pot saves you bets when you are behind and allows you to build the pot when you think your hand is good. Try playing more hands from the dealer button position (or positions just before it) and less hands when one of the first to act – you should immediately notice how much easier your decisions become.
2. Mind The Gap!
Many players are disciplined with their starting hands, sticking to the top 10% to 20% of holdings when they play. Adding a ‘gap’ when another player enters the pot ahead of you, particularly for a raise, is an easy to implement strategy that will help you win more. The logic goes like this: When you are the first to bet your hand only has to beat the ‘unknown’ hands of your opponents. However, when someone raises they are defining their hand as above average (unless they raise every time). Your hand thus needs to beat the average hand that they are raising with. This is the gap concept, you need a better hand to call a raise than you need to raise with yourself.
3. Domination And How To Avoid It.
Domination describes a situation where a hand is more than 70% favorite to beat another. The most common examples are when you compare Ace-Ten to Ace-King, the lower hand is said to be dominated. This can be expensive, particularly when you do not know whether your hand is the best after the flop. A great example is if someone calls a raise with ace-seven. If an ace flops then you could easily be beaten, if a 7 comes then you could be dominated by a higher pair – a nasty situation! Avoid unsuited high cards and the lower aces – especially when someone else raises before you act. Your decisions will be clearer and by sticking to the higher aces you are more likely to reverse the situation and dominate your opponent.
4. Be The Aggressor, Not The Caller
A big mistake that beginning players make is to call too often. When you play passive ‘calling’ poker you have to show the best hand to win the pot. Conversely, when you are the aggressor, betting and raising instead of calling, you will win a surprising amount of small pots when none of your opponents have very much. You can give up if your opponents re-raise you or keep calling, though positive poker is the only way to profit in the long term.
5. Bluff Less, Value Bet More
A caveat to number 4 above, you need to note the opponents who never fold and make sure you only bluff them once! Some players will keep calling and calling with surprisingly weak hand (or even something like an inside straight draw). Others will almost always call before the flop but quickly give up if they miss their hand. Identifying which players behave in which way is key to improving your profit. Stop bluffing the calling types so much, instead wait until you have a hand and then take their stack in 3 small chunks, in other words – bluff less and value bet more!
