Too often do I hear my friends and colleagues talking about starting to play poker online and get their hands on some money. These people aren’t completely terrible players. They understand the basics of what beats what, and some intuition of how bluffs and odds work. Even though I tell them they are an online donkey, their pride and ego smoke screens them and they go on to do their terrible live plays online.
When you are playing micro stakes/low stakes poker there is only one thing you need to remember. K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple, Stupid. Keep it so simple that it is stupid, and it directly applies to these limits. Keeping it simple is all you need to do to win money and learn the online game. Quite often you find players trying to collaborate their simple poker styles with the bluffs and moves you see pros use on T.V. What most of these players don’t understand is professionals have set their opponent up for a huge move like this during the non-televised hands.
A few rules while applying K.I.S.S to your game are: 1)Raise your premium hand pre-flop. When you are dealt those pocket aces Under-the-Gun, raise them. In these micro/low limits, people will limp with any two cards if they aren’t confronted with a raise. 2) Don’t get fancy. When players get fancy in these limits by checking big hands, or limping into pots in hopes of a raiser in front of them, too often do they end up getting out flopped. Which leads to not winning the hand and sometimes going bust. 3) Bet bet BET!!! When you do get a hand, you need to bet. You can’t win any money if you decide not to commit any of your money in the middle. Even if they don’t call your bet and you take it down, winning multiple small pots equal that one big pot you are looking for.
The reason why this strategy is so effective and can be applied, because the micro/low stakes poker community is HUGE. There are too many players to notice, as well as pick up on all the plays people make. Players join and leave at a rapid rate. You won’t be noticed in the online community as a micro/low stakes player, and that works out to your advantage.
So when you deposit that $100 and decide to make a run at building a bank roll, remember: K.I.S.S. Keeping it simple will win you money and help you win some of that online money.
August 2nd, 2009 at 2:06 am
I’ve seen some players do quite poorly at the micro-limits tables only to move up a few tables and perform a lot better. For people that can analyze the table, the players, and use a few “moves”, they might be better off playing on a more expensive table.
But the rules still apply, go up to only $0.25/$0.50 and you’ll still keep it moderately simple. Watch the players at the table, isolate which ones aren’t crazy, and try the moves on them.