It’s no secret the year 2020 has seen a resurgence in online poker interest. The coronavirus pandemic has shut down mainstream sports and people are looking for things to do. While poker players are smarter today than in 2001, there are still several fundamental ways to crush these games. Here are my Top 7 Ways to Beat Microstakes NLHE Poker in 2020!
Choppodong is an avid poker player, both online and live, and brought a strong background advising beginners to us at DFS Army five years ago with parallels, analogies, and many of the similarities between poker and DFS. As a senior contributor, and editor, his advice has helped many of our members shore up leaks of all kinds and take their games to new heights. Follow him on Twitter, and use his code, CHOP, for a 20% discount at DFS Army when signing up for his coaching. His main areas of focus are NFL, MLB, NHL, and poker. Bankroll management, The Ladder System, and contest selection are a few more areas he helps our members on a daily basis.
1 – Value, Value, Value
The microstakes are ripe with players overvaluing their holdings. Don’t play a tricky game at these stakes. If you figure to have the best hand, bet it often, bet it strongly, and bet it until you’re opponent pushes back. Making bad calls is the hallmark of the microstakes fish. A good poker player exploits his opponent’s weakness. If that weakness is calling too often, you need to be betting and allowing him the chance to make his most common mistake.
2 – Know Who the Fish Is
Tried and true poker adage: “If you can’t find the fish at the table, it’s you” is not just something people laugh about. It’s another important fundamental of poker. You don’t need to be the best player there, but you better not be the worst. And, if you can’t find the worst player in a couple of orbits, it might be you. Practice paying attention, profiling those you sit with, and identifying quickly the players you likely have an edge on at the table. Make sure you are in a profitable situation first and foremost. Open limping, calling raises, and showing down second best hands are just a couple indicators you have spotted a poor player.
3 – Keep Tighter Players on Your Left, Looser Players on Your Right
You don’t have total control here at a poker table, but you do have more than most people think. Most just sit and start playing. The profitable poker player is always evaluating his situation, the players around him, and if his situation makes his life easier or harder. Tight players are easier to bluff and steal pots from. They aren’t in as many pots splashing around. Keeping them to your left might give them position on you, but it also puts you in profitable positions like the cutoff and button when these tight players are in the blinds….a perfect spot from which to steal small bits of money from them.
Conversely, keeping the active players on your right gives you position most times, forces them to act before you, and allows you to raise and isolate them to yourself. And, if an active/aggressive player is on your right, your life will be less of a hell if you get to see what he does before you have to put money into a pot.
4 – Don’t Go Crazy, But Bluff Weaker Players on Later Streets
In 2001, no one advocated bluffing at such small stakes. The games were ripe with calling stations that just didn’t fold. And, bluffing these players is definitely a mistake. However, many players are more educated in 2020, and a common weak player you will find is tighter…..but folds too much. Finding these players gives you an outstanding bluffing opportunity time and time again. Just like value betting players that call too much, bluffing players that fold too much exploits their biggest leaks.
Example –
You raise a suited connector like 67hh from early position, and a weak/tight player to your left (where he should be) calls your raise. The flop comes Qs 8d 4c giving you as little as a gutshot. You know your opponent plays fairly “fit or fold” and you make a small continuation bet. He calls you. The turn is the Ah. This card scares him as much as you, even if he has a Q. This presents a great opportunity to bluff again. You still have your gutshot draw, but really you are aiming to fold out holdings like 89s, TT, JJ, or even a hand like QTs against the tightest of players. Getting weak/tight players to fold out better hands is a big part of beating the microstakes, and recognizing the right scare cards will increase your profitability in 2020.
5 – Avoid Complex Poker Situations Leaving You Wondering Where You Stand in a Hand
Many weaker players make the common mistake of building pots with weaker hands. Often they are following up bluffing opportunities with middling holdings like a medium pocket pair with two overcards on board. Other times they are betting incorrect scare cards that help their opponents’ ranges more than their own. And, sometimes, they are simply bluffing in big, multiway pots that just don’t present profitable bluffing opportunities. Have a plan before you enter a pot….and work your plan! Playing too many hands, or weak hands, from early position is a big contributor to this leak. Trappy hands like KQ, AJ, and QT are great examples. If you can’t lay off these hands up front, you might want to review your positional awareness and make an adjustment. Even the best players have trouble playing these hands out of position in raised pots. Keep your decisions as simple as you can, and keep yourself in the most profitable situations. Save the fancy stuff for games and competition that require such adjustments. The microstakes are just not these games.
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6 – 3Bet More Often and Resteal Late Position Opens from Aggressive Poker Players
Finding players opening too many hands from early position is a great opportunity to impose your will. From the cutoff and button, you can easily isolate these players with a 3bet, take initiative in the hand, and represent very strong hands on the right flops against weaker poker players willing to fold when they don’t have super strong hands. Another very profitable spot when facing chronic late position openers is from the blinds. You simply reraise their opens big and put them to a test. If they are opening the weaker ends of their range, they can’t stand a lot of heat/pushback. Your aggression is enough to make them fold fairly often. Winning pots uncontested is always a good thing! As you do this fairly often, these weaker openers start playing more honest when they have position on you…another great benefit for your session. Hands like A4s, 89s, and the occasional small pocket pair like 33 provide you just enough frequency, along with your legitimate value-raising hands, to keep your weak opponent guessing and take him off his original gameplan. When he makes mistakes, you profit.
7 – Bet Large on Cooler Cards
This last tip is one of my favorites! These days, players are conditioned to think overbetting is a bluff. So, balance this tendency with your super strong hands. If your opponent is calling a 3/4 pot value bet, if he thinks you are bluffing, he will call a full pot sized bet…..or more. If he isn’t folding, you should be maxing your profit by overbetting.
Example –
You raise preflop with 55 and get a caller you have labeled a calling station. The flop comes 5s 8s 4h. You, of course, avoid slowplaying this opponent and make a large continuation bet. The calling station instantly makes the call. The turn brings the 4d. You bet again, and the calling station obliges with another call. The river drops the lovely 9s. You realize your calling station friend loves chasing draws and might have just completed his straight or his flush. You know if he calls a small bet here, he’s calling a large bet. So, you go for the homerun and overbet shove this pot. Not only does this bet look like it could be a bluff, your fishy friend isn’t going to laydown any strong hand. You are stacking the deck in your favor for a maximum payday.
Most of your friends make smaller bets in these spots because they want a call. Realize fish don’t fold. And, get paid!! Your winrate goes through the roof in these spots if you maximize your gains.
The River
Remember, this is 2020, and things have changed from the early days. Players are a little smarter, but they are still very beatable. Stop thinking about all the fancy things you are reading and focus on the fundamentals. Focus on maximum exploitation of the weaker players in your games. Identify them, isolate them, and punish them. If they like to call, value bet…value bet…value bet. If they like to fold, bluff…bluff…bluff. Do this with impunity until they adjust to you. If they don’t, you have just turned on the poker printing machine.
Play in position as much as possible, but 3bet more often vs the right types of players. Keep the right kinds of players to the correct side of you, and really push the exploit button when an overbetting situation presents itself. These fundamentals will present opportunity day in and day out as your work on your own game. Just remember to find those fish at your tables because, if you can’t…..it’s you.
Happy playing, and remember to visit us at DFS Army if you want to take any gambling game to the next level from any of the daily fantasy sports to horseracing to poker. We cover all sports, offer many research tools, and have gurus covering every sport for one price! And, the coupon code CHOP unlocks the world for a 20% discount, too. There is simply no better value in the industry. I hope to see you inside!!