MICRO GAMES & LOW BUY IN TOURNAMENTS
Why do we need another guide? The reason is because the style of play is very different from a free roll. In a free roll, your play in the beginning should be loose in order to build a large chip stack early. This is not the case in a ring game or buy in tournament where your play has to be tight.
If you're reading this, you should understand all the strategies that we've discussed previously and apply them religiously to micro ring games which are the ring games where the big blind is less than $0.50. You should know at least the group 1 and 2 by memory. You should be getting to know the group 3 and 4 hands by now so you will have an idea of what you may be up against if you find yourself on a table of loose players.
Playing "loose" basically means that you pay to see the flop the majority of times regardless of what hole cards you have. If you're lucky the flop may give you something big. If you're not lucky, you just paid for nothing or paid to almost get a hand which will result in chasing something that may not hit. Playing tight means that you selectively choose to put money in the pot with certain starting hands. This is the whole purpose of the Hand Rankings. Your decision to play certain hands (and how much to bet) will most certainly be influenced by your Position. If you play (put money into the pot) as often as you fold
pre-flop, you are definitely playing loose. Tight play is considered less than 20% of the hands that you play. Train yourself to play TIGHT. The last thing you want to do is chase something that is not a winner. For example, if you chose to play 8, 9 suited and the flop comes down T, J, K (mixed suit) you have an open straight, depending on the betting someone may have an ace and chasing the Q as well (if there was a raise there is a the probability that they have AQ already or AK, in which case if you hit the Q you lose, if you don't hit the Q you lose. Your only chance to win in this example is to hit the 7. What will you decide to do? If there are a few players in this pot, you should be very careful to call any bets and fold to any raises. So do you put more money into the pot in hopes to win (either by lucking out or bluffing) or do you fold and save yourself some money for a better hand? Remember any losses directly influence your bankroll. I hope you're thinking that you shouldn't have put yourself in this situation.
Choose your game (table limit carefully). The reason being is that if your bankroll is small, let's say $2.00 and you put it all on a $0.10/$0.20 limit table, you have to pay a total of $0.15 per round in blinds alone (the big blind is usually 1/2 of the smaller amount listed for the table limit in a limit game). That will last you roughly 13 rounds. Even less if you're playing heads up, as you're paying every hand, if you don't win you will get busted rather quickly. Therefore with a small bankroll you should pick a table with as many people as possible to prevent your bankroll from the blinds or find a smaller table like $0.02/$0.04 limit.
A successful poker player is one who wins consistently. Usually by accumulating small pots and not going for the one time "all the marbles" pot. So be especially selective in your hands and be aggressive. This is especially true for ring games because you won't be forced by the blinds to play a weaker hand as you would in a tournament. You must be able to fold a hand that was strong pre-flop but made make by the board, or know when to quit. There may be times when it seems you cannot win with anything. Consider changing tables, changing sites or stop playing for a few hours..
REMEMBER . . . If you don't put your chips in, you can't lose them!
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