Newbie Micro Player

markontap

Evening,

Long time lurker, first time poster for help. I'm newish to online poker and play 6max on Stars where I deposited $30 about a month ago. ATM, I've played about 7000 hands from which I've won about $30.. My BR (If you can call it that) has fluctuated quite a bit though, I've reached about $100 several times only to lose it again. I find I usually win quite a bit in the first hour or so and then gradually lose it by making stupid calls/chasing draws I wasn't getting enough value to chase etc. To stop this I'm trying limit any session to 45 mins and take a break before playing again. Is that the best way to tackle this problem and does anyone else experience it?

Also, I feel I have trouble extracting value from monster/big hands, particularly from small pocket pairs. I usually limp/call small raises with small PPs 88/77-22 in any position to try and hit trips/straight/full house whatever, however this leads to pots being very small on the flop and its fairly hard to get players to put in money with only a small pot to play for. I know players are more likely to spew money in raised/larger pots. It's not that I'm overly tight either, I play about 30-35% of hands. Should I be raising these types of hands from any position? There are a couple of examples below;


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

BB ($12.40)
UTG ($15.45)
MP ($8.85)
Hero ($23.65)
Button ($12.55)
SB ($9.75)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 3, 3.
2 folds, Hero calls $0.10, 2 folds, BB checks.

Flop: ($0.25) A, T, 3(2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

Turn: ($0.25) J(2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.1, BB folds.

Final Pot: $0.35



PokerStarsNo-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (4 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

Button ($23.35)
SB ($5.25)
Hero ($9.30)
UTG ($10.40)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5, 5.
2 folds, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: ($0.20) 5, 3, 3(2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks.

Turn: ($0.20) 6(2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks.

River: ($0.20) 9(2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.2, SB folds.

Final Pot: $0.40

One final question (for the moment!) on stack sizes. There has been a few times when I've had a fairly large stack ($25+ at .05/.10) compared to the rest of the table and have had everyone well covered. In this situation, is it better to continue playing with such a large stack or should I removed some $ and rebuy for a smaller amount?

Again, I'm quite new so I'd appreciate and help you boffins can give.

Thanks,

shoutman

I'm by no means a cash game boffin but I think that having a larger stack is always a good thing, so no problems there. As for the two hands you've posted I had this problem as well when it came to sngs at the start of my poker life, by checking all the way along with your set/full house you are doing two things, not putting money into the pot and more importantly not making your opponents pay for trying to catch any draws (.ie get a card to fill their straight or flush draw) if thats what they were looking for, for example if in hand 2 the sb happened to have A2, if you bet there he might of called even though he needed a 4 to beat you, at this level many players will do such a thing, by checking to the river you are never going to get anything out of him.

Also some of the times when you get a big hand like a full house or quads your opponent isn;t going to put any more money in the pot no matter what you do,

edit: I only skimmed through your post and will try and offer more "advice" tommorrow when I get a proper chance to read it etc.

phantom_lord

wow, bet those flops! in these particular hands the other guy probably didn't have anything so you weren't gonna get paid.

I like raising pairs lots, so that when I hit sets I get paid, and when I miss I can still take it down with a continuation bet.

read the bit on open limping in this post

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=52770435&postcount=3

and this one on pairs.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=52770481&postcount=8

shoutman

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055053966&referrerid=&highlight=

Yea P_L's guide to low stakes poker should help you along markontap.

Captain Tom

flat calling raises with pocket pairs is standard but if folded around i raise with any pair 6 handed(including utg).

the best way to get value out of big hands like these is betting out on the flop.this allows you to build a big pot and is very profitable.especially at this level where many players are of poor standard and will call you down with a wide range of hands which you beat.

in these hands you are just unlucky neither villian seemingly caught any of the board.

mewso

I've been playing the micro stakes for a while and I'm convinced you need to be very tight, raising to thin a field is pointless as you are nearly always called so I have become more passive pre-flop and much more aggressive post flop when I hit.
The only way to play very tight imo is to multi-table to counter the boredom so I 3 table now. I'm considering 4 tabling but that would mean no room towatch tv
Anyway I haven't been playing that long so I may be wrong I just think that maybe PL's advice would work better once you hit the 10/20, 25/50, 50/1 limits etc. I have a feeling the micros like 2c/4c, 5c/10c are verging on play money like games.

dingle

A guide posted a while back by Jaden which may be more applicable to micro-limits. Basically details Musician's strategy in more detail.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=210582&referrerid=&highlight=

RoadSweeper

I've been lurking round micro limits a while now due to being a student living away from home. And i had this problem too, now if i hit trips in this situation i usually bet, and if they have a draw they'll call (4 outers etc). And generally at 6 handed they they might not have a hand and fold.

so i say, bet your flops.

markontap

Thanks for the responses.

phantom_lord wrote:

wow, bet those flops! in these particular hands the other guy probably didn't have anything so you weren't gonna get paid.

Yeah, I probably should be betting here to build a pot but my thinking was that I should be giving the other players every opportunity to catch something or to bluff into me. Should I forget about that and just do the betting myself hoping players come along?

Also, about 6max vs FR. What are the fundamental differences between them? I'm assuming it's simply that FR suits tighter players and that 6max is for the more aggressive types though I know this is a bit of a generalisation. What do people base their choice on when picking between the two?

cooker3

markontap wrote:

Thanks for the responses.

Yeah, I probably should be betting here to build a pot but my thinking was that I should be giving the other players every opportunity to catch something or to bluff into me. Should I forget about that and just do the betting myself hoping players come along?

You should be interested in betting and building pots for so many reasons. In hand 1 you should also be betting because you don't want to be given free cards for the flush. You want to bet because people with aces will call and maybe even raise you. In hand 2, people with overpairs and who have trip 3s will also call and raise you when you bet.

You have big hands and want stack your opponants, the best way to do this is not do check and wait for the river as it's quite hard to get the whole stack then, it is much easier to get an opponants stack by decent sized increments, that being bets on each street!