What is ABC Poker

What is ABC Poker? What does the acronym stand for?

ABC is a reference to fundamentals, i.e. "your ABC's." It just means a very basic, tight, textbook style of poker with no fancy play or adjustments. Beginners should learn and adhere to an ABC style until they have the experience to advance their game beyond that stage. An ABC style is generally profitable at the micro to small stakes over a long term, but as you progress in stakes and go up against better players, it can be easily exploited.

dmorris68 said:

ABC is a reference to fundamentals, i.e. "your ABC's." It just means a very basic, tight, textbook style of poker with no fancy play or adjustments. Beginners should learn and adhere to an ABC style until they have the experience to advance their game beyond that stage. An ABC style is generally profitable at the micro to small stakes over a long term, but as you progress in stakes and go up against better players, it can be easily exploited.

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Couldn't have said it better myself.

In general, ABC poker is optimal over even more advanced strategies at the small stake levels. This is because players at smaller stakes are generally only playing their hole cards and not against their specific opponent. If you try to make a move (bluff) against him because you have been playing very tight likely won't work against a player like this because he is not taking into account your previous actions.

A good player will realize that you have been playing tight and only betting made hands, so a bluff against a more experienced opponent might be an optimal play in such a scenario.

Thanks everyone for the answers.

There are some people that play poker by the book and make a profit. AAAAALLIN on Merge plays this way and tends to be profitable. He mutil-tables a lot of tournaments at once.