Most online poker players will start at the microstakes Texas Hold'em. The microstakes are the limits between .01/.02 and .25/.50. These are the absolute easiest limits to beat, but they still require some amount of skill. Remember that there will always be a few losers for every winner in poker; all you have to do is be better than those losers. As a microstakes player your objective should be to create an edge that separates you from the other microstakes players. Often times you will run into players who are trying to apply high stakes concepts against microstakes players. In theory it might sound like it would work, but more often than not you will be better off sticking to the basics when playing the microstakes.
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Playing ABC poker
What makes beating the microstakes so easy is the weak competition that you will face. It does not take a whole lot to beat the vast majority of the players who you will encounter when playing in the microstakes. Some of them will just be there for a good time and not care about the money involved, others will simply not know how to play better, and still others will be playing relatively well, but at a level that allows for you to gain a big edge.
What exactly is ABC poker? A major aspect of ABC poker is the elimination of bluffs. There is no need to bluff at the microstakes because your opponents will generally not be capable of making a solid fold. No matter how great your play might be, if you are playing against a huge calling station it will never work. I suppose that making bluffs at the microstakes would be the best way to lose your money.
The next step in playing ABC poker is sticking to a solid range of hands. There is no need to play random suited connector type hands at the microstakes. It makes much more sense to focus on pocket pairs and AJ+ pre flop than it does to try and get tricky. The reason that suited connectors work at the higher limits is because of the presence of things like fold equity. Playing random weak hands at the microstakes is the equivalent of doing a reverse layup in basketball when the net was wide open. Why make things harder than they have to be?
The final step in mastering ABC poker is a little bit of hand reading mixed with a lot of value betting. As mentioned above, players at the microstakes hate folding. In fact I am not sure that some microstakes would be able to locate the fold button on their screen if you put a gun to their head. It is just not in their blood to fold. You already know to cut out the bluffs, now you should also be implementing value bets. Since they hate folding you will be able to get all kinds of calls out of them. If you make a moderately strong hand you should be betting close to the pot on all three streets. If they won’t fold to your bluffs, why would they start folding to your value bets? Capitalize on each and every made hand that you can. Value betting will be rather easy to accomplish when your opponents are ready and willing to hand their money over.