Best tactic for micro limits?

[killing_random]

Today I stumbled upon some super-duper elite reg of microlimits Ari Araujo



You can look at his win-rate at sharkscope:
https://sharkscope.com/#Player-Statistics//networks/PokerStars/players/Ari Araujo

And what do you think he's doing? Just siting a whole match with no 3beting, no blinds defend, no c-beting. Few times op-min-raise from BU and insta check-fold to any bet. After becoming 12bb like that, he repushes AJo into a small pocket and bust out of the tourney.

Farm like a brainless bot, just abuse big equity hands in coin flip at the latest state you can reach with a started stack and this is it, you're elite?!
You don't even need to know anything about poker, maybe besides HU, for that. And he's not the first, every time I spot an elite huge plus player and expect to learn something, all I saw is do nothing, fold everything and bust with AJ+ at the end.

 

[Navin Sarabjeet]

Today I stumbled upon some super-duper elite reg of microlimits Ari Araujo

View attachment 291798

You can look at his win-rate at sharkscope:
https://sharkscope.com/#Player-Statistics//networks/PokerStars/players/Ari Araujo

And what do you think he's doing? Just siting a whole match with no 3beting, no blinds defend, no c-beting. Few times op-min-raise from BU and insta check-fold to any bet. After becoming 12bb like that, he repushes AJo into a small pocket and bust out of the tourney.

Farm like a brainless bot, just abuse big equity hands in coin flip at the latest state you can reach with a started stack and this is it, you're elite?!
You don't even need to know anything about poker, maybe besides HU, for that. And he's not the first, every time I spot an elite huge plus player and expect to learn something, all I saw is do nothing, fold everything and bust with AJ+ at the end.

Yup i know this type and although his graph at sharkscope is good I still find these players very exploitable and easy to beat hu.
I do think that if he changes a few steps here and there he will be crushing it like making more than 10k a year.

 

[fundiver199]

He was probably just card dead in this particular SnG, which you cant really do anything about. The last 8 tournaments, he played, were 1,5$ 9-man SnGs, and he actually won 4 of these, which is pretty good. That being said he is obviously one of those regs, who have gotten stuck in the low end of the micros. 17.887 games played over a period of 9 years, and he is still grinding 1,5$ SnGs. Thats not, where you want to be, if you are serious about online poker. You want to move up at least a little bit, so that it wont take you 9 years to win your first 8.500$.

 

[Alekxandrovi3]

I will say if I play hot. Call allin with A ten ss. Ajqk. Then comes the money stage. Do not change your tactics against aggressors. When there is less than half of the prizes left, you should have a good stack. From a starting stack of 5000, you should have about 80,000. Gradually, your stack should grow. In the 3-table stage, your stack should be above 300,000 or so. It should only grow. Blinds with suited kings and other hands that have potential like suited connectors will often be stealing at this stage. At the final table, play like cardchat when you reach the final. Don't rush anywhere. Play good hands and remember that each new spot will bring you a new payout. Don't miss the chance to increase your stack with good hands or steal the blinds from someone who folds against you.

 

[Ellvira]

He was probably just card dead in this particular SnG, which you cant really do anything about. The last 8 tournaments, he played, were 1,5$ 9-man SnGs, and he actually won 4 of these, which is pretty good. That being said he is obviously one of those regs, who have gotten stuck in the low end of the micros. 17.887 games played over a period of 9 years, and he is still grinding 1,5$ SnGs. Thats not, where you want to be, if you are serious about online poker. You want to move up at least a little bit, so that it wont take you 9 years to win your first 8.500$.

Well said, I want to learn, but there seems to be no rules or strategy on the micro limit, what do you recommend in order to play well on micro limits

 

[MAGICUZ]

Best tactic for micro limits, don't play micro limits)))

 

[eetenor]

Well said, I want to learn, but there seems to be no rules or strategy on the micro limit, what do you recommend in order to play well on micro limits

Thank you for posting.

The very first thing to do to be better at micros is be very specific about your own situation.

So what we do at 9 man SNG micros and what we do at MTT micros and what we do at cash game micros are all the same generally but not specifically.

In order to speed up our growth we want to target exactly what will help us grow faster.

A general recommendation would be focusing on knowing board texture reads very well and player pool tendencies as micro players do not play GTO.

Hope this helps

 

[Vinao182]

Buddy , i preffer to play tight and shove ever when i have power hands , because there is a lot of donkey players into the lower limits,

 

[killing_random]

He was probably just card dead in this particular SnG, which you cant really do anything about.

If you want to have vpip below 25 and always be in position (in short - play easy mode), of course you gonna be constantly dead on cards.

 

[Ellvira]

A general recommendation would be focusing on knowing board texture reads very well and player pool tendencies as micro players do not play GTO.

wow, thank you very much, I've started reading books now, I've started studying on cardchat, I hope my game will get better soon

 

[Zapahlohotrona]

There is no poker on micro stakes. It's the same as playing on play money. No strategy works. Lucky one is great. Do as I do, delete the client and don't waste time on this bullshit.

 

[ammje]

In the micro limits there are a lot of crazy players, so you should play good hands, and not bluff too much.

 

[fundiver199]

If you want to have vpip below 25 and always be in position (in short - play easy mode), of course you gonna be constantly dead on cards.

Few winning players have an overall VPIP higher than 25%, unless they are playing 6-max or even more shorthanded games. It seems to me, you are more focused on fancy play than winning money. This likely wont help you build your bankroll, but you will probably have a lot of fun while losing money

 

[fundiver199]

Well said, I want to learn, but there seems to be no rules or strategy on the micro limit, what do you recommend in order to play well on micro limits

What do you mean, there "are no rules or strategy"? Its still poker, regardless if you play for a million dollar or play money games. If games play very loose, like you will often see in play money, freerolls and the low end of the micros, then the best strategy is actually stupidly simple. You just wait for good hands and get it in with more equity than your opponents. Thats pretty much it.

The problem for many people, who just started to take the game serious, is, that they dont have their expectations aligned with the mathematical realities of poker. If for instance you get AKo all-in preflop against A7o, QTo and 54s, you actually only have 30% equity, so 7 out of 10 times you are expected to lose. But a lot of people feel, that when they had the best hand, they should win 10 out of 10 and not just 3 out of 10.

The other common problem is fancy play syndrome. People have watched high stakes poker and seen Phil Ivey or some other hero make a sick check-raise bluff on the river, which got the opponent to lay down a flush on a paired board. But those moves dont work so well, when you are playing for a dollar, and most of your opponents are basic level 1 thinkers, who would rather sell their children to medical experiments than fold a flush.

This hand is from my most recent session, and I am sure, all micro stakes players can relate to the situation. And the point is pretty simple. If people are going to call you down with third pair in a situation, where you essentially have an uncapped range, then dont try to bluff them on the river! Just bet thin for value instead and safe yourself the chips and frustration.

CardsChat Poker Hands Converter

 

[eetenor]

wow, thank you very much, I've started reading books now, I've started studying on cardchat, I hope my game will get better soon

Thank you for responding.

The 30 day course here on cardschat is a great way to improve your skills. It will be better for you than most books as it is a step by step approach to learning the exact skills you need to begin being good at poker.

Hope this helps

 

[Ellvira]

There is no poker on micro stakes. It's the same as playing on play money. No strategy works. Lucky one is great. Do as I do, delete the client and don't waste time on this bullshit.

I like poker, everything is like in life, there is a good hand couldn't get it from the hand, it's my own fault, but I caught the moment in life, I missed it, don't look for the guilty ones

 

[ph_il]

Today I stumbled upon some super-duper elite reg of microlimits Ari Araujo

View attachment 291798

You can look at his win-rate at sharkscope:
https://sharkscope.com/#Player-Statistics//networks/PokerStars/players/Ari Araujo

And what do you think he's doing? Just siting a whole match with no 3beting, no blinds defend, no c-beting. Few times op-min-raise from BU and insta check-fold to any bet. After becoming 12bb like that, he repushes AJo into a small pocket and bust out of the tourney.

Farm like a brainless bot, just abuse big equity hands in coin flip at the latest state you can reach with a started stack and this is it, you're elite?!
You don't even need to know anything about poker, maybe besides HU, for that. And he's not the first, every time I spot an elite huge plus player and expect to learn something, all I saw is do nothing, fold everything and bust with AJ+ at the end.

if they're mass multi-tabling, then this is a pretty solid strategy. You don't have a lot of time to be thinking of a lot of play, so you just go for the very basic route and play abc poker which is going to involve a lot of folding pre/post flop. He probably just check/folds any flops he misses and plays flops he hits very strong. He also likely pushes a lot of spots where he might have an equity edge a lot. Sometimes he drops down to 12 bbs or lower, but there could be a number of reasons for that.

But, even if he isn't multi-tabling, playing a tight strategy will do well in the microstakes. Obviously if you aren't mulit-tabling, you'll want to include things like 3betting, cbetting, blind steals, etc but, overall, playing tighter and having a much tighter range than your opponents is a decent basic strategy.

 

[ph_il]

Well said, I want to learn, but there seems to be no rules or strategy on the micro limit, what do you recommend in order to play well on micro limits

Play tighter ranges, player tighter ranges utg, don't limp in too often, don't spew off your chips calling off raises with mediocre hands, don't call off too lightly in the blinds, play your big hands for big value, don't be afraid to stack off when you have lots of equity vs your opponent, steal more from the button/later position, put yourself in positions where you'll have an advantage of your opponent, whether that's an equity advantage (playing tighter range) or a positional advantage, or both.

This is all very general information, but it's also very basic stuff for the micros. You just have to play tighter than your opponents, make less mistakes than them, get paid off for your big hands, and run good.

 

[ph_il]

There is no poker on micro stakes. It's the same as playing on play money. No strategy works. Lucky one is great. Do as I do, delete the client and don't waste time on this bullshit.

This is just false.

 

[AKQ]

heres the thing
he hasnt won a tourney since 2016
he plays sit and gos
his roi is 16%

if you wanna watch a game watch the venom

 

[AKQ]

you can watch me if you like https://www.cardschat.com/forum/poker-staking-64/40-1-5-50-noss-98-a-487352/
and fyi in micro you find bad and great players
you must know how to beat your opponents at your table and nothing else matters

 

[MakTrue]

Today I stumbled upon some super-duper elite reg of microlimits Ari Araujo

View attachment 291798

You can look at his win-rate at sharkscope:
https://sharkscope.com/#Player-Statistics//networks/PokerStars/players/Ari Araujo

And what do you think he's doing? Just siting a whole match with no 3beting, no blinds defend, no c-beting. Few times op-min-raise from BU and insta check-fold to any bet. After becoming 12bb like that, he repushes AJo into a small pocket and bust out of the tourney.

Farm like a brainless bot, just abuse big equity hands in coin flip at the latest state you can reach with a started stack and this is it, you're elite?!
You don't even need to know anything about poker, maybe besides HU, for that. And he's not the first, every time I spot an elite huge plus player and expect to learn something, all I saw is do nothing, fold everything and bust with AJ+ at the end.

The best micromilim tactic is to play on the card, as we rarely see bluffs at these limits.
If you find an exploitable opponent at the table, go ahead.
And the most important rule is not to bluff the fish or the phone, and there are plenty of them at micro-stakes.

 

[fundiver199]

This is all very general information, but it's also very basic stuff for the micros. You just have to play tighter than your opponents, make less mistakes than them, get paid off for your big hands, and run good.

Exactly. The single biggest reason, why serious players struggle in the micros, is tilt. But the second biggest reason is fancy play syndrom. People have such a desire to make the game complicated, but when you are playing for insignificant money against recreational opponents, poker is almost stupidly simple. Just fastplay your big hands and let them make some ridiculous hero call with whatever, they have. Like this hand, which was from the first blind level in a 3,5$ 45 man SnG.

CardsChat Poker Hands Converter

 

[ph_il]

Exactly. The single biggest reason, why serious players struggle in the micros, is tilt. But the second biggest reason is fancy play syndrom. People have such a desire to make the game complicated, but when you are playing for insignificant money against recreational opponents, poker is almost stupidly simple. Just fastplay your big hands and let them make some ridiculous hero call with whatever, they have. Like this hand, which was from the first blind level in a 3,5$ 45 man SnG.

CardsChat Poker Hands Converter

I wouldn't say an 'insignificant amount' because we don't know how much value that money has to someone, but I will agree that the lower stakes are very simple to beat just by making a few basic adjustments.

Even as a very casual player that puts in low volume, I've managed to make 5 final tables, with 1 win, in the last 7 days playing ~3 mtts a day. I also have a bunch of cashes that cushions the bankroll during downswings as well On top of that, I late register into all of my mtts late (personal choice) and I still do well enough in my games because I follow a very basic strategy of playing tighter, make less mistakes, get paid off on my big hands, and running hot (sometimes). This is not a brag, it's just to say micro-mtts really simple to be profitable in. I watch movies or play call of duty at the same time I play mtts, that's how basic and abc the strategy is.

I admit I do it myself sometimes but I'm also willing to say that it was a stupid play on my part and learn from it, but if microstakes players could learn to avoid fancy plays and not get caught up so much their 'bad beats' and standard spots where they lose a big hand/big pot, and focus more on what is important in the long run, they'd probably do better.

 

[fundiver199]

I wouldn't say an 'insignificant amount' because we don't know how much value that money has to someone

Thats true, but in my opinion its still fair to say, that if someone have the means to play online poker, then losing 3,5$ is probably not going to have a significant impact on their life. After all even in poor areas of the world this is not even the price of a cup of coffee in Starbucks or similar places.

but if microstakes players could learn to avoid fancy plays and not get caught up so much their 'bad beats' and standard spots where they lose a big hand/big pot, and focus more on what is important in the long run, they'd probably do better.

Exactly. That hand, I shared, usually ends up in a poker forum, if the fish makes trips or two pair on the river, and then the player, who got his aces cracked, is on crazy monkey tilt. But as you say, we need to stay focused on the long run, and far more often this is, what happen. We get the full dubble up, and the fish essentially just donated his 3,5$ to the pricepool.