Micro Stakes Strategy
To win big, you first need to win small. And for that, here's our micro stakes strategy.
You don't have to be strictly better, but you have to be better for longer
Many pros, like TJ Cloutier and Tommy Angelo, agree that poker is all about playing your "A" game longer than your opponent. Some people will be able to play their best poker for 30 minutes, 1 hour, 3 hours, etc. But at some point, they lose their patience and play poorly. No-limit hold'em is perfect for exploiting these lapses in judgement quickly, because you can punish your opponent immediately and for their entire stack. At micro stakes, the players' "A" game may not even be very good, but it's still important to keep on your toes and try not to give away pots unnecessarily. Relax, and make the best decision time and time again. Don't get caught up in straight gambling or craziness. Play your "A" game one hand at a time, until your opponents crack.
Value Bet
A huge weakness with low/micro stakes players is that they don't value bet enough and their value bets are too small: they try and "trap" their opponents. The problem is that their opponents are using the same strategy, so you'll see monster hands get checked down or min-bet the whole way! If you think your hand is better than your opponents' hand, bet an amount you'll think he'll call (even if it doesn't make sense). For example, say you have top 2 pair on a pretty dry board: pot bet the flop, pot bet the turn, and shoving the river is absolutely fine. This is where you make your money over time against micro stakes players: simply better more on your good hands.
OMG! My fish opponents won't fold!!!
Simple solution: don't bluff people who can't fold. Ever. Don't complain about these people, because they are the most profitable opponents you can find. Just value bet larger when you do have a hand. Top pair against someone who can't fold any pair? All-in, baby. It's like printing money.
Big cards pay big dividends
Since most micro-stakes players can't fold, cards like small suited connectors and suitedness in general go down in value while big random cards go up in value. Many players will play any hand with an ace, like A6 or even K7 types of hands. By choosing to play 5-6 suited and similar, you make your opponents' play correct. It's very easy to punish their hand selection by playing slightly better cards than they do: KT might be a problem hand at higher limits, but at micro stakes it's perfect to punish people playing garbage like 9-6 suited. What tends to happen is that both of you will make pairs, and your call-station opponent will call down the whole way with a worse hand.
Every player will get the same cards in the long run, but not every player will make the same amount on their good hands.
Effects of the rake at micro stakes
The rake sizes really matter at micro stakes. While the players are going to by absolutely abysmal in terms of skill, the rake is taking so much off of the table that you really want to move up in limits ASAP. Here's an example rake chart from Pokerstars compared to the rake chart from Party Poker, which is good to get familiar with.
The general takeaway from looking at these charts is that Party Poker is far better to play 6-handed micro stakes at than Pokerstars because of the effect of the rake. While both have the same rate ($0.01 per $0.20), Party Poker's rake is capped at $1.00 instead of $2.00 per hand for a 6-handed table. When you're talking about each player at micro stakes having only $5-$10 in chips, you can see what a huge difference that makes!
The lesson: pick a site with good micro stakes rake for the type and size of game you're playing, like Party Poker 6-max NL. At some sites, the rake is so high it's incredibly difficult to win at micro stakes.
Summary
- Play your "A" game every. single. hand.
- Get more value on your good hands
- Don't bluff people who can't fold
- Play big cards, throw away suited cards
- Pay attention to the rake! Choose a room where the rake is good for your game and limits, and sign up there!
