An objective analysis: Why doesn’t small ball work at micro stakes?

[Marshall28]

An objective analysis: Why doesn’t small ball work at micro stakes?

Basically, the reasons I am writing this article have to do with my lengthy struggle to defeat the micro stakes. I know most of you make this same struggle everyday, otherwise why would you be here, right? I am hoping that through this essay, I can convey the results of my own experiences to you, which should better cement my own understanding of the game, and hopefully help some of you along the way.

So we know what small ball is, right? It’s a method the pros use to nickel and dime away at other players and a way to use their image in order to get action from weaker hands. It’s really successful for them because they have the experience to know when a marginal hand is best, and when it’s not. So when most of us try to imitate this style at the micro stakes, we fall flat on our faces, why is this? Other than the fact that we don’t have the experience that the pros do, I think the problem is that we are attempting to use this method in the wrong medium.

Micro stakes is no place for small ball, for high vpip/pfr play, for making moves. These things just don’t work at micro stakes for a few reasons. One reason, the other players are so erratic that most of the time we can’t categorize their play well enough in order to know the right play to make against them. A second reason, they don’t understand the value of their cards… You can know that a player at micro stakes is c-betting a 9 high flop w/ just ace high, but you can also know that even if you do raise, HES NOT GOING TO FOLD! I’ve been in this situation so many times myself.

I’ve struggled with these problems for months mainly because my friends who play higher stakes explain to me that it’s the way to get good, that eventually it’s going to click and it will work. Another reason is I watch the CardRunners.com videos and I try to emulate what I see, yet have extremely minimal success (this is not to say anything negative about CR, I happen to think it’s a great resource, obviously they are teaching us how to be better poker players in general, but its just not the way to beat the micro stakes games consistently at the skill level we are currently at).

So this is kind of the epiphany that I had. Playing a loose aggressive style is not optimal at micro stakes. I’ve done it myself for a couple of months, I’ve won with it and I’ve lost with it, but that’s not the reason I don’t condone it. The reason it’s not optimal is because it’s not necessary.

Consider this: Winning 3 buy-ins in a day is a pretty good day, wouldn’t you agree? So if you were to play 1000 hands in a day, a very modest task, basically what you would need to do is get yourself into 3 good situations. 3 out of 1000. If you try to play small ball and put yourself in a bunch of marginal situations where you have to make borderline decisions against erratic opponents, it’s just going to cause minor fluctuations in your bankroll (well, sometimes major too, but in most cases where its major, it ends up being in the wrong direction). Sure you may get paid off on a few more occasions than you might have had you been playing tighter, but there are other problems. It causes very high variance, which is extremely conducive to high stress, and there’s always the chance of going bust.

So basically this is what I’m advocating… First, relax; you don’t need to play a lot of pots to win a lot of money. Second, tighten up; stop calling pre-flop raises in marginal situations. Third, stop trying to put a move on a guy you know isn’t going to fold, because most of the time they won’t. And fourth, when you do wake up with a hand, bet the hell out of it.

Guys, this is sooooo easy, I wish I had understood this a few months ago, it would have saved me a lot of undue stress and frustration. The reason playing like this works is because micro stakes players make their own mistakes for you. You don’t have to do anything fancy to cause them to make mistakes, you don’t have to have a high vpip/pfr to get action. Let me repeat this because it’s the most important message here: MICRO STAKES PLAYERS MAKE THEIR OWN MISTAKES FOR YOU! You don’t have to do anything but play solid and they will do all the work. All you have to do is be patient, wait for a hand, and when you do get one in an extremely favorable situation, bet it as strongly as you can. These players are so bad that they will think you are bluffing enough of the time even if you haven’t shown down one weak hand (Remember, if they think you are bluffing just three times in one session, that’s three buy-ins). There are plenty of other occasions though when you do have a set and will nail someone w/ tptk or two pair, so they don’t even have to think you are bluffing every time, they will just overvalue their hand (one of their common mistakes). When a donk sees like a pot sized bet, the first thing he thinks is you are trying to buy the pot. Capitalize on this and it will pay great dividends, I promise.

So anyways, I have been considering making a video where I play both styles, 26/22 for a half an hour and 15/13 for a half an hour to illustrate why the tighter way to go is the better way, if any of you would be interested in this, please respond and let me know.

Thanks for reading.
MF28