Nuggets of Information - Part 1

I'm finding it really difficult to play micro stakes (2/5c) poker online at the moment. I started off fairly well, but recently I've had a series of bad beats. How do you play against players who go all in pre-flop? How do you play against someone who doesn't play with the bankroll in their poker account, rather the bankroll in their bank account? It's all very well putting $4 into the pot when you have top pair, but when there's a straight or flush on the board, surely that's insane?

I got talking to a fellow struggler last night, who wants to play poker the right way but is also finding it hard playing against these types of players. He offered up some nuggets of information:

pokerplayer: You're playing the micro limits where 99% of the players are retarded enough to call any sized bet to the river even with ace-high or bottom pair.

behindontheflop: Yea there are some weird bet sizes here.

pokerplayer: And when you play every hand to the river the best hand on the flop is going to be the worst hand by the river a good portion of the time. My point being just that you’re going to take a lot more bad beats than you would at better tables.

behindontheflop: So if I can ask... how do you counter that?

pokerplayer: Well mostly you can't. Which sucks. However me personally, I counter it by playing a very low variance style of poker. Look up Daniel Negreanu's line of books. He talks all about small ball poker. It's useful anywhere, but I've found it to be really useful at the micros. The idea being basically that you avoid playing big pots in marginal situations. And you don't try to raise, raise, raise every single time you hit the board.

behindontheflop: Ok...I get you...bet big when you have a hand.

pokerplayer: Like playing obscenely tight poker. And whenever you get a hand you bet super hard.

behindontheflop: No semi bluffing.... and what about drawing hands...

pokerplayer: That might actually be a better way. But it's less fun. I prefer to play lots of hands but avoid playing big pots when I can. Except when I'm pretty sure I have the best hand.

behindontheflop: I see.... it's a shame not being able to bluff here at the micros.

pokerplayer: I pretty much never bluff. There's definitely a time for it. Higher limits are different. People tend to respect raises.

behindontheflop: EXACTLY.... no-one respects the value of the bet.

pokerplayer: That's the price of playing poker for pennies.