Poker Articles

While perhaps not as respected as much as low, middle, and high limit players, micro grinders face the same trials and tribulations of the others.  It is my contention, in fact, that they face the as the most challenges of the group.  Of great importance, therefore, is our acknowledgement of their contribution to the vitality of forums like p5s; if it weren’t for them, there’d be no p5s community!

For this reason, I’d like to address some of the difficulties common to micro players.  I hope to remove some of the stigma associated with those players, as well as providing them with some useful suggestions for bankroll building.

Micro limits are not necessarily easy to beat.  Cash games, in particular, give a lot of players trouble even at $25 NL.  Making reads, at times, is very easy at these levels; other times, however, it is harder than reading more skilled opponents.  And I'm not necessarily just talking about their hands.  No need for disguise here; most villains don’t even know what it is they’re doing.  This is clear not just from my experience, but on all the training sites as well (i.e. Cardrunners) where videos clearly show a baffled hero losing a pot to an all-in call with top pair, 3 kicker.  I’d like to consider how difficult micro cash games are from two different perspectives: a beginner’s and an amateur’s. 

Beginner: Consider the beginner having little experience playing poker.  Perhaps they take part in a home game, once a week.  He is interested in becoming better, say, out of competitive nature.  He might win some money when he begins to play online.  Surprisingly enough, I feel this player is in the best boat to have short-term success in these games.  He is likely to develop bad habits, however, such as limping like a bandit, which will make building very difficult thereafter.

Amateur:  The student of the game has shifted his recreational approach to poker to a more serious one.  He will inevitably become mixed up, however, from watching higher stakes poker, be it railing on the internet or live, or just watching on TV. He compares his play to others on a wide scale.  As a result, he will probably fail to understand a reasonable win rate that he should expect from his micro game (very few $25 NL players realize that winning $5 per 100 hands is a phenomenal win rate). 

The amateur might play with poor perspective on the game as a whole.  Consider the wide range of talent at these levels, for example: there are beginners, amateurs (some with a moderate understanding of the game, and believe it or not, a small percentage with a great understanding!), and those who have taken a shot, gone bust, and are returning to micros.  That said, “making plays” in this game will probably only work 1/3 of the time. 

The experienced player will want to multi-table, though, requiring him to pay a lot of attention to all the players at each table to determine his/her skill level.  This is a far cry from the “ABC poker” that’s so easy to implement, according to so many.  So the simple solution is to take notes, right?  Not really, as only a few players are in your games with regularity at these stakes. There are so many tables in general, making multi-tabling quite the brain frying experience at times, particularly if you want to most optimally exploit those players you can, while picking your spots carefully against those you cannot.  In short, micro grinding at the cash tables is not easy at all.  While the skill level for many of the players is low, the situation an amateur grinder finds himself in is no easier than that of the higher limit player.

Based on my experiences, I’d like to make three suggestions to the micro grinder, as I have been a grinder for 4 years, although only recreationally until this summer, and I'm interested in trying to help those who experience all the same frustrations. 

1.  Track your stats.  Use pokertracker or similar programs.  Do the math, and determine where you stand against your goals.  This will give you a realistic outlook on how you’re really doing at your game, and it can help you see what areas you can improve.

2.  Train yourself to be an all-around player.  If you started off with SNGs, mix in some cash.  If the opposite, learn cash, as it will prepare you best, in my opinion, for all the other types of poker. 

3.  Ask around for guidance.  I have met some friends in the online community (especially through this forum) who have helped me expand my poker knowledge more than I ever thought I would.  Guidance has led me to begin satelliting into larger mtt’s, rather than continuing on the same dull path of grinding away the micro cash games, which is just not for me in the longrun.  So I encourage you to make friends with whom to discuss hands and ask for guidance from time to time.

Micro limits are a grind, and with the wrong approach, you can get grinded down yourself.  Hopefully some of the information here will help those struggling at the low limits to get on the right track.