[avfletch]

Most of your money at micro stakes comes from two sources. The preflop raise followed by a cbet bet on the flop and pounding calling machines for as big a bet as you can get away with on every street. So let's take a look at these two situations.

(I'd like to note that these are over simplified but serve to prove a point)

1. C-bets

If you could guarantee that your opponents would fold the flop every time you cbet for any amount then you'd want as much money in the pot already and to then make a tiny bet to pick up the huge pot. Sadly this isn't the case because there is an upper limit to what most limping donkeys will call and the amount you need to bet to get them to lay down on the flop.

At a typical micro stakes table you will find the limpers happy to call raises up to around the 4BB + 1 per limper range. After that the amount they fold goes up dramatically, so what we are doing is putting as much as we can in the pot now so we can take an equal amount from them on the flop with our cbets. If you were to bet 3BB + 1 per limper when you could be making it 4BB then you are missing 1BB every time you take it with the cbet.


2. Pounding calling stations

You have AK and are up against a calling machine with KQ and you know that he can't let go of top pair unless you overbet the pot. Voila! The magic of creating whatever situation I want brings a flop of K82 rainbow. He checks, you pot it, he calls and the turn blanks. He checks, you pot it, he calls and the river blanks. You get as much as you can into the pot.

So how much is as much as you can?

Let's imagine the SB disappears in rake and that villain is in the BB to make the numbers easier. You raise the button to 3BB and he calls (pot is 6BB).

Going by the sequence above -

Flop (6BB) -> You bet 6BB he calls 6BB.
Turn (18BB) -> You bet 18BB he calls 18BB.
River (54BB) -> You bet 54BB he calls 54BB.

You take just over 80BBs from him but have to pot every street to do it. But when was the last time you were able to pot *every* street against someone like this?

Now imagine the same thing happens but you raise to 4BB preflop and he calls.

Flop (8BB) -> You bet 8BB, he calls 8BB.
Turn (24BB) -> You bet 24BB, he calls 24BB.
River (72BB) -> You push and he calls.

By raising 1BB more preflop we were able to pound the calling station for nearly 20BB more by the end (assuming 100BB stacks of course).

Yes, these numbers and situations are greatly simplified but hopefully they show the point of squeezing out that extra big blind preflop and why 4BB+1 per limper is better than 3BB+1per limper.