Poker Articles

My route to NLH cash games was circuitous; unlike most people, I started playing NLH MTT’s online and only recently tried my hand at NLH cash games.  I have enjoyed my cash game experiment.  I am still a rookie, obviously, having only played about 6000 hands (usually 2-tabling the 25$ max (.10-.25) level).  While my winnings are modest in terms of total dollars, the win rate of about 28BB /100 hands makes me think I am doing something right.  My goal for this short article is to explain what I think were the key sources of my profit.

Source of Profit #1: When you have a good hand, on whatever street, bet huge and raise even more!  Never be amazed at the action people call for their entire stack, including marginal holdings like underpairs to the top card on the board (or worse).  When the pot is small and 5 people are checking down the board, if the river brings you the nut straight, then you should bet huge--even consider betting straight out all in!   Frequently it will be the case that all five opponents fold, but a surprising number of times it will be the case that the river card made someone bottom two pair, and they think, “he has got to be bluffing!” and call. 

Never be surprised with the curiosity level of your opponents; they really want to see your cards and will pay handsomely for the opportunity.  These horrendous calls by players with marginal holdings are enormous sources of profit.  Think of the large bets you make with the nuts on the river as a ‘max-min’ problem: your goal is to bet the largest amount of $ that you think will be called frequently enough such that it will more than compensate you for the times no one calls (the texture of the board can help you make the decision: was it likely that the river gave someone two pair?).   If you reason that a pot-sized bet will be called 50% of the time, but a 5-times-pot bet will be called 20% of the time, then you make more money over the long run by firing out the ridiculously huge bet.

Source of Profit #2: The flip side of Source #1: Don’t bluff!  Without a clear read on an opponent, never be amazed at the action players at these stakes will call on the turn or river with all sorts of bad hands and bad draws.  I quickly learned that “creative” and aggressive moves with a weak holding hardly ever work at these limits.   Am I saying you only put money in the middle when your pocket connects with the flop?  Of course not: make continuation bets in position most of the time; be willing to semi-bluff re-raise when you flop a nut flush draw and there is a bit of a pot worth stealing.  But don’t make stone cold bluffs unless you have a very good read on an opponent! 

Source of Profit #3: Perhaps the largest source of profit came via game selection.  What type of player makes a game a good one?  When I think back on all my sessions, the sessions where I had the biggest wins were ones that included one or more aggressive bad players at the table (or, at least, an aggressive player playing poorly).  It is easy to find these players: they try to see many flops, they raise pre flop straight out to 10 BB with, it turns out, a7s (or k10, or 44, or etc), they get it all in pre flop with 68s for their entire buy in, etc. 

In short, these players throw their chips around with, it appears, no rhyme or reason.  While it does sting to have kjs beat your AA all in pre flop for your entire buy in, the good thing about these aggressive maniacs is that you’ll have another chance at their stack: they often stick around when they get lucky and take down a big pot.  These small stakes limits are populated with many such players as I have described, and, so long as you play solid post flop poker, your good hands will be paid off.

Best of luck at the virtual felt,

--tc